Conference Proceedings Detail Page
Teachers' explanations of student difficulties with gravitational potential energy
written by
Michael C. Wittmann, Carolina Alvarado, and Laura A. Millay
In a teacher professional development meeting, teachers were asked a question about potential energy and then to discuss why students might give a particular response to it. Working together in a large group, they came up with responses and explanations that touched on multiple ways of thinking about energy and how these might affect student responses. We observed that teachers were aware of common metaphors for thinking about energy (like energy-as-a-substance) and that they gave multiple explanations for how students might have difficulties in applying these metaphors (e.g., energy is "used up" because of travel time, travel distance, or the effort exerted during travel). Additional explanations showed that teachers recognized how students might bring these ideas to the classroom. We discuss the need for teachers to respond to multiple grain sizes of student thinking, including the metaphors they use and the different facets of each. Assessments that help with this will be of greater value to teachers than the assessment we present.
Physics Education Research Conference 2016
Part of the PER Conference series Sacramento, CA: July 20-21, 2016 Pages 396-399
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![]() <a href="https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=14278">Wittmann, M, C. Alvarado, and L. Millay. "Teachers' explanations of student difficulties with gravitational potential energy." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2016, Sacramento, CA, July 20-21, 2016.</a>
![]() M. Wittmann, C. Alvarado, and L. Millay, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2016, Sacramento, CA, 2016, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14278&DocID=4632).
![]() M. Wittmann, C. Alvarado, and L. Millay, Teachers' explanations of student difficulties with gravitational potential energy, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2016, Sacramento, CA, 2016, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14278&DocID=4632>.
![]() Wittmann, M., Alvarado, C., & Millay, L. (2016, July 20-21). Teachers' explanations of student difficulties with gravitational potential energy. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2016, Sacramento, CA. Retrieved February 9, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14278&DocID=4632
![]() Wittmann, M, C. Alvarado, and L. Millay. "Teachers' explanations of student difficulties with gravitational potential energy." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2016, Sacramento, CA, July 20-21, 2016. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14278&DocID=4632 (accessed 9 February 2025).
![]() Wittmann, Michael, Carolina Alvarado, and Laura Millay. "Teachers' explanations of student difficulties with gravitational potential energy." Physics Education Research Conference 2016. Sacramento, CA: 2016. 396-399 of PER Conference. 9 Feb. 2025 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14278&DocID=4632>.
![]() @inproceedings{
Author = "Michael Wittmann and Carolina Alvarado and Laura Millay",
Title = {Teachers' explanations of student difficulties with gravitational potential energy},
BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2016},
Pages = {396-399},
Address = {Sacramento, CA},
Series = {PER Conference},
Month = {July 20-21},
Year = {2016}
}
![]() %A Michael Wittmann %A Carolina Alvarado %A Laura Millay %T Teachers' explanations of student difficulties with gravitational potential energy %S PER Conference %D July 20-21 2016 %P 396-399 %C Sacramento, CA %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14278&DocID=4632 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2016 %O July 20-21 %O application/pdf ![]() %0 Conference Proceedings %A Wittmann, Michael %A Alvarado, Carolina %A Millay, Laura %D July 20-21 2016 %T Teachers' explanations of student difficulties with gravitational potential energy %B Physics Education Research Conference 2016 %C Sacramento, CA %P 396-399 %S PER Conference %8 July 20-21 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14278&DocID=4632 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.
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