Student thinking about the divergence and curl in mathematics and physics contexts
Date
16/12/2016Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Undergraduate physics students are known to have difficulties with understanding mathematical tools, and with applying their knowledge of mathematics to physical contexts. Using survey statements based on student interviews and written responses to open-ended questions, we investigated the prevalence of correct and incorrect conceptions regarding the divergence and curl of vector fields, among both mathematics and physics students. We compare and contrast pre-instruction responses from intermediate-level E&M students at KU Leuven and the University of St Andrews, with post-instruction responses from St Andrews students enrolled in a vector calculus course. The differences between these student populations were primarily in areas having to do with physics-related concepts and graphical representations of vector fields. Our comparison of pre- and post-instruction responses from E&M students shows that their understanding of the divergence and curl improved significantly in most areas, though not as much as would be desired.
Citation
Baily , C , Bollen , L , Pattie , A , van Kampen , P & De Cock , M 2016 , Student thinking about the divergence and curl in mathematics and physics contexts . in A D Churukian , D Jones & L Ding (eds) , 2015 Physics Education Research Conference . PER Conference series , American Association of Physics Teachers , pp. 51-54 , Physics Education Research Conference 2015 , College Park , United States , 29/07/15 . https://doi.org/10.1119/perc.2015.pr.008 conference
Publication
2015 Physics Education Research Conference
ISSN
2377-2379Type
Conference item
Rights
© 2015 American Association of Physics Teachers and the article authors. This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the published article's author(s), title, proceedings citation, and DOI.
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