Students' Models of Newton's Second Law in Mechanics and Electromagnetism
Physics Education
2016-09-08 v1 General Physics
Abstract
We investigated students' use of Newton's second law in mechanics and electromagnetism contexts by interviewing students in a two-semester calculus-based physics course. We observed that students' responses are consistent with three mental models. These models appeard in mechanics contexts and were transferred to electromagnetism contexts. We developed an inventory to help instructors identify these models and direct students towards the correct one.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.physics/0308109,
title = {Students' Models of Newton's Second Law in Mechanics and Electromagnetism},
author = {Salomon Itza-Ortiz and N. Sanjay Rebello and Dean A. Zollman},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:physics/0308109},
year = {2016}
}
Comments
15 pages, 3 figues and 4 tables