Student reasoning about electrostatic and gravitational potential energy: An exploratory study with interdisciplinary consequences

This paper describes an investigation into student reasoning about potential energy in the context of introductory electrostatics. Similar incorrect reasoning patterns emerged both in written questions administered after relevant instruction and in one-on-one interviews. These reasoning patterns are...

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Autor principal:	Beth A. Lindsey
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Physical Society 2014
Materias:	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/0e2337da7543415a91f9ab5886e1ac04
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:0e2337da7543415a91f9ab5886e1ac042021-12-02T10:59:44ZStudent reasoning about electrostatic and gravitational potential energy: An exploratory study with interdisciplinary consequences10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.10.0131011554-9178https://doaj.org/article/0e2337da7543415a91f9ab5886e1ac042014-01-01T00:00:00Zhttp://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.10.013101http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.10.013101https://doaj.org/toc/1554-9178This paper describes an investigation into student reasoning about potential energy in the context of introductory electrostatics. Similar incorrect reasoning patterns emerged both in written questions administered after relevant instruction and in one-on-one interviews. These reasoning patterns are also prevalent in responses to questions posed about gravitational potential energy in the context of universal gravitation in introductory mechanics. This finding is relevant for interdisciplinary research, because many courses in multiple disciplines first introduce the concept of electric potential energy in analogy to gravitational potential energy. The results suggest that in introductory courses students do not gain an understanding of potential energy that is sufficiently robust to apply in more advanced physics courses or in disciplines other than physics, in which students must frequently reason with energy in the context of interactions between atoms and molecules.Beth A. LindseyAmerican Physical SocietyarticleSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691PhysicsQC1-999ENPhysical Review Special Topics. Physics Education Research, Vol 10, Iss 1, p 013101 (2014)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999
spellingShingle	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999 Beth A. Lindsey Student reasoning about electrostatic and gravitational potential energy: An exploratory study with interdisciplinary consequences
description	This paper describes an investigation into student reasoning about potential energy in the context of introductory electrostatics. Similar incorrect reasoning patterns emerged both in written questions administered after relevant instruction and in one-on-one interviews. These reasoning patterns are also prevalent in responses to questions posed about gravitational potential energy in the context of universal gravitation in introductory mechanics. This finding is relevant for interdisciplinary research, because many courses in multiple disciplines first introduce the concept of electric potential energy in analogy to gravitational potential energy. The results suggest that in introductory courses students do not gain an understanding of potential energy that is sufficiently robust to apply in more advanced physics courses or in disciplines other than physics, in which students must frequently reason with energy in the context of interactions between atoms and molecules.
format	article
author	Beth A. Lindsey
author_facet	Beth A. Lindsey
author_sort	Beth A. Lindsey
title	Student reasoning about electrostatic and gravitational potential energy: An exploratory study with interdisciplinary consequences
title_short	Student reasoning about electrostatic and gravitational potential energy: An exploratory study with interdisciplinary consequences
title_full	Student reasoning about electrostatic and gravitational potential energy: An exploratory study with interdisciplinary consequences
title_fullStr	Student reasoning about electrostatic and gravitational potential energy: An exploratory study with interdisciplinary consequences
title_full_unstemmed	Student reasoning about electrostatic and gravitational potential energy: An exploratory study with interdisciplinary consequences
title_sort	student reasoning about electrostatic and gravitational potential energy: an exploratory study with interdisciplinary consequences
publisher	American Physical Society
publishDate	2014
url	https://doaj.org/article/0e2337da7543415a91f9ab5886e1ac04
work_keys_str_mv	AT bethalindsey studentreasoningaboutelectrostaticandgravitationalpotentialenergyanexploratorystudywithinterdisciplinaryconsequences
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Student reasoning about electrostatic and gravitational potential energy: An exploratory study with interdisciplinary consequences

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