Students' Understanding of the Concept of the Electric Field through Conversions of Multiple Representations

Autor/inn/en	Campos, Esmeralda; Zavala, Genaro; Zuza, Kristina; Guisasola, Jenaro
Titel	Students' Understanding of the Concept of the Electric Field through Conversions of Multiple Representations
Quelle	In: Physical Review Physics Education Research, 16 (2020) 1, Artikel 010135 (19 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Campos, Esmeralda) ORCID (Zavala, Genaro) ORCID (Zuza, Kristina) ORCID (Guisasola, Jenaro)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	2469-9896
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Science Instruction; Energy; Teaching Methods; Physics; College Science; College Students; Scientific Concepts; Concept Formation; Magnets; Semiotics; Algebra; Visual Aids; Spain; Mexico + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Energie; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Physik; Collegestudent; Concept learning; Begriffsbildung; Stabmagnet; Semiotik; Anschauungsmaterial; Spanien; Mexiko
Abstract	We conducted a study with introductory and upper-division level physics students in a Mexican and a Spanish university to learn how students recognize the main characteristics of the electric field in three of its more widely used representations, namely, algebraic notation, vector field plot, and electric field lines, and how the students do conversions of them. The students' abilities to recognize the three representations of the electric field and do conversions gave insight into their understanding of this concept. We used the "theory of registers of semiotic representations" as a framework to analyze the data. Our results showed that the direction of the conversion is an essential factor in determining the students' success in performing conversions of electrical field representations. We found close synergy between the vector field plot and the algebraic notation of the electric field. However, we found that the conversions that involve electric field lines do not present synergy. The electric field lines representation is especially difficult for students, both as a "source" and as a "target" representation, specifically, the interpretation and representation of the magnitude of the field through the density of field lines. We recommend that teachers and researchers of electricity and magnetism be more conscious of the difficulties that some conversion tasks may present to their students. We specifically invite instructors to be attentive to how they approach the representation of electric field lines and be explicit when performing conversions that involve electric field lines. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	American Physical Society. One Physics Ellipse 4th Floor, College Park, MD 20740-3844. Tel: 301-209-3200; Fax: 301-209-0865; e-mail: assocpub@aps.org; Web site: http://prst-per.aps.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01