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Contrasting students’ understanding of electric field and electric force
written by
Alejandro Garza and Genaro Zavala
Students may have greater difficulties in understanding electric interactions because they have less day to day experience with them than with mechanics. There may also be differences in understanding of different electric concepts like electric force and field. This study presents the results of students' responses to two sequences of superposition principle isomorphic questions in which the only difference was that in one of the sequences, the electric force was used and in the other, the electric field. We administered one of the sequences to 249 students at a large private Mexican university after covering electrostatics in an Electricity and Magnetism class. The students' answers, reasoning and drawings were analyzed. We found that students who took the force sequence were better able to correctly answer the questions using the superposition principle than those students with the field sequence. The analysis of the students' reasoning and drawings helped us to examine their understanding of electric field and the use of electric field lines.
Physics Education Research Conference 2012
Part of the PER Conference series Philadelphia, PA: August 1-2, 2012 Volume 1513, Pages 142-145
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Record Link
<a href="https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=12793">Garza, Alejandro, and Genaro Zavala. "Contrasting students’ understanding of electric field and electric force." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, August 1-2, 2012.</a>
AIP Format
A. Garza and G. Zavala, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, 2012, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12793&DocID=3328).
AJP/PRST-PER
A. Garza and G. Zavala, Contrasting students’ understanding of electric field and electric force, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, 2012, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12793&DocID=3328>.
APA Format
Garza, A., & Zavala, G. (2012, August 1-2). Contrasting students’ understanding of electric field and electric force. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA. Retrieved December 14, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12793&DocID=3328
Chicago Format
Garza, Alejandro, and Genaro Zavala. "Contrasting students’ understanding of electric field and electric force." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, August 1-2, 2012. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12793&DocID=3328 (accessed 14 December 2024).
MLA Format
Garza, Alejandro, and Genaro Zavala. "Contrasting students’ understanding of electric field and electric force." Physics Education Research Conference 2012. Philadelphia, PA: 2012. 142-145 Vol. 1513 of PER Conference. 14 Dec. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12793&DocID=3328>.
BibTeX Export Format
@inproceedings{
Author = "Alejandro Garza and Genaro Zavala",
Title = {Contrasting students’ understanding of electric field and electric force},
BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2012},
Pages = {142-145},
Address = {Philadelphia, PA},
Series = {PER Conference},
Volume = {1513},
Month = {August 1-2},
Year = {2012}
}
Refer Export Format
%A Alejandro Garza %A Genaro Zavala %T Contrasting students' understanding of electric field and electric force %S PER Conference %V 1513 %D August 1-2 2012 %P 142-145 %C Philadelphia, PA %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12793&DocID=3328 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2012 %O August 1-2 %O application/pdf
EndNote Export Format
%0 Conference Proceedings %A Garza, Alejandro %A Zavala, Genaro %D August 1-2 2012 %T Contrasting students' understanding of electric field and electric force %B Physics Education Research Conference 2012 %C Philadelphia, PA %V 1513 %P 142-145 %S PER Conference %8 August 1-2 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12793&DocID=3328 Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.
Citation Source Information
The AIP Style presented is based on information from the AIP Style Manual. The AJP/PRST-PER presented is based on the AIP Style with the addition of journal article titles and conference proceeding article titles. The APA Style presented is based on information from APA Style.org: Electronic References. The Chicago Style presented is based on information from Examples of Chicago-Style Documentation. The MLA Style presented is based on information from the MLA FAQ. |
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