PERC 2018 Abstract Detail Page
Previous Page | New Search | Browse All
Abstract Title: | How students describe infinitesimal sources as infinitesimal spaces in integrals |
---|---|
Abstract: | Many students who have completed a full year of calculus continue to demonstrate a weak understanding of the role of the infinitesimal in an integral. This lack of understanding has implications for learning in introductory calculus-based physics, where students must integrate contributions from spatially-distributed sources. Symbolically, a student who constructs such an integral in terms of small chunks of sources, like dm or dq, will need to relate their infinitesimal to a small chunk of space, like dx. In order to better understand how students use the integration infinitesimal, I collected and analyzed written solutions from 39 upper-division physics majors who solved for the electric field of a charged bar. I have identified several categories of ways students handled the infinitesimal when constructing an integral including: small pieces, d as an operator, and incomplete translation. |
Abstract Type: | Contributed Poster Presentation |
Session Time: | Poster Session III |
Poster Number: | C55 |
Contributed Paper Record: | Contributed Paper Information |
Contributed Paper Download: | Download Contributed Paper |
Author/Organizer Information | |
Primary Contact: |
Gregory Mulder Oregon State University 442 NW 12th St Corvallis, OR 97330 Phone: 5419084025 Fax: 5419174755 |
Contributed Poster | |
Contributed Poster: | Download the Contributed Poster |