Related papers: Learning difficulties among students when applying…

This is a report on a qualitative study of students' learning where a physics computer simulation session is used to supplement lectures on the topic. Drawing on phenomenography as the analytical framework, the students' learning-focuses…

We present an educational path on the magnetic vector potential A addressed to undergraduate students and to pre-service physics teachers. Starting from the generalized Ampere-Laplace law, in the framework of a slowly varying time-dependent…

Teaching magnetism is one of the most challenging topics at undergraduate level in programmes with scientific background. A basic course includes the description of the magnetic interaction along with empirical results such as the…

We propose a novel framework that interprets the electromagnetic field as a manifestation of spacetime pseudo-curvature, bridging electromagnetism with the geometric principles of general relativity. By introducing modified field equations,…

Dirac notation is used commonly in quantum mechanics. However, many upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in physics have difficulties with representations of quantum operators corresponding to observables especially when using…

There are diverse teaching methodologies to promote both collaborative and individual work in undergraduate physics courses. However, few educational studies seek to understand how students learn and apply new knowledge through open-ended…

The traditional approach to studying student understanding presents a question and uses the student answers to make inferences about their knowledge. However, this method does not capture the range of possible alternative ideas available to…

Research-validated multiple-choice questions comprise an easy-to-implement instructional tool that serves to scaffold student learning and formatively assess students knowledge. We present findings from the implementation, in consecutive…

Similarities between quantum systems and analogous systems for classical waves have been used to great effect in the physics community, be it to gain an intuition for quantum systems or to anticipate novel phenomena in classical waves. This…

Teaching electromagnetism by demonstrating a practical application associated with learning content is an important teaching technique. Demonstrations are often performed through video-assisted procedures, and are usually limited to a…

The problem of unification of Gravitation and Electromagnetism in four dimensions; some new ideas involving mixtures of commuting and anti-commuting co-ordinates. Maxwell's equations are extracted in terms of the curvature of the…

We administered written free-response and multiple-choice questions and conducted individual interviews to investigate the difficulties that upper-level undergraduate and graduate students have with quantum states while translating state…

Kepler's 2nd law, the law of the areas, is usually taught in passing, between the 1st and the 3rd laws, to be explained "later on" as a consequence of angular momentum conservation. The 1st and 3rd laws receive the bulk of attention; the…

We report on our study of student understanding of the physics of mechanical waves, specifically the propagation and superposition of simple wavepulses traveling on long, taut strings. We introduce the terms "particle pulses mental model"…

This study presents a review of the current state of research on teaching quantum mechanics in secondary and lower undergraduate education. A conceptual approach to quantum mechanics is being implemented in more and more introductory…

We investigated physics students' learning experience and behaviour in a second-year laboratory by analyzing transcribed audio recordings of laboratory sessions. One student group was given both a problem and procedure and asked to analyze…

The concept of electromotive force (emf) may be introduced in various ways in an undergraduate course of theoretical electromagnetism. The multitude of alternate expressions for the emf is often the source of confusion to the student. We…

Throughout all years of study, students of physics are confronted with the question 'what exactly is light?' - a question that is impossible to answer correctly and, therefore, continuously discussed within the framework of models. Numerous…

We express Maxwell's equations as a single equation, first using the divergence of a special type of matrix field to obtain the four current, and then the divergence of a special matrix to obtain the Electromagnetic field. These two…

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…