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Student understanding of Symmetry and Gauss's law
Helping students learn why Gauss's law can or cannot be easily applied to determine the strength of the electric field at various points for a particular charge distribution, and then helping them learn to determine the shape of the Gaussian surfaces if sufficient symmetry exists can develop their reasoning and problem solving skills. We investigate the difficulties that students in calculus-based introductory physics courses have with the concepts of symmetry, electric field and electric flux that are pivotal to Gauss's law of electricity. Determination of the electric field using Gauss's law requires discerning the symmetry of a particular charge distribution and being able to predict the direction of the electric field everywhere if a high symmetry exists. It requires a good grasp of how to add the electric field vectors using the principle of superposition, and the concepts of area vector and electric flux. We administered free response and multiple-choice questions and conducted interviews with individual students using a think-aloud protocol to elucidate the difficulties students have with the concepts of symmetry, electric field and electric flux. Here we discuss student responses to some questions on a multiple-choice test administered to them. The test can be used both as a teaching and assessment tool.
Physics Education Research Conference 2004
Part of the PER Conference series Sacramento, California: August 4-5, 2004 Volume 790, Pages 65-68
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Record Link
<a href="https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=9533">Singh, Chandralekha. "Student understanding of Symmetry and Gauss's law." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2004, Sacramento, California, August 4-5, 2004.</a>
AIP Format
C. Singh, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2004, Sacramento, California, 2004, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9533&DocID=3438).
AJP/PRST-PER
C. Singh, Student understanding of Symmetry and Gauss's law, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2004, Sacramento, California, 2004, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9533&DocID=3438>.
APA Format
Singh, C. (2004, August 4-5). Student understanding of Symmetry and Gauss's law. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2004, Sacramento, California. Retrieved December 5, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9533&DocID=3438
Chicago Format
Singh, Chandralekha. "Student understanding of Symmetry and Gauss's law." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2004, Sacramento, California, August 4-5, 2004. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9533&DocID=3438 (accessed 5 December 2024).
MLA Format
Singh, Chandralekha. "Student understanding of Symmetry and Gauss's law." Physics Education Research Conference 2004. Sacramento, California: 2004. 65-68 Vol. 790 of PER Conference. 5 Dec. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9533&DocID=3438>.
BibTeX Export Format
@inproceedings{
Author = "Chandralekha Singh",
Title = {Student understanding of Symmetry and Gauss's law},
BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2004},
Pages = {65-68},
Address = {Sacramento, California},
Series = {PER Conference},
Volume = {790},
Month = {August 4-5},
Year = {2004}
}
Refer Export Format
%A Chandralekha Singh %T Student understanding of Symmetry and Gauss's law %S PER Conference %V 790 %D August 4-5 2004 %P 65-68 %C Sacramento, California %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9533&DocID=3438 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2004 %O August 4-5 %O application/pdf
EndNote Export Format
%0 Conference Proceedings %A Singh, Chandralekha %D August 4-5 2004 %T Student understanding of Symmetry and Gauss's law %B Physics Education Research Conference 2004 %C Sacramento, California %V 790 %P 65-68 %S PER Conference %8 August 4-5 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9533&DocID=3438 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. Student understanding of Symmetry and Gauss's law:Know of another related resource? Login to relate this resource to it. |
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