Students' Reasoning When Tackling Electric Field and Potential in Explanation of DC Resistive Circuits

Autor/inn/en	Leniz, Ane; Zuza, Kristina; Guiasola, Jenaro
Titel	Students' Reasoning When Tackling Electric Field and Potential in Explanation of DC Resistive Circuits
Quelle	In: Physical Review Physics Education Research, 13 (2017) 1, S.010128-1 (12 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	2469-9896
DOI	10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.13.010128
Schlagwörter	Questionnaires; Thinking Skills; Skill Analysis; Student Surveys; Scientific Concepts; Scientific Literacy; Scientific Principles; Electronic Equipment; Electromechanical Technology; Cues; Cognitive Processes; Cognitive Ability; Physics; College Students; Foreign Countries; Spain + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Fragebogen; Denkfähigkeit; Schülerbefragung; Elektronisches Gerät; Elektrotechnik; Stichwort; Cognitive process; Kognitiver Prozess; Physik; Collegestudent; Ausland; Spanien
Abstract	This study examines the causal reasoning that university students use to explain how dc circuits work. We analyze how students use the concepts of electric field and potential difference in their explanatory models of dc circuits, and what kinds of reasoning they use at the macroscopic and microscopic levels in their explanations. This knowledge is essential to help instructors design and implement new teaching approaches that encourage students to articulate the macroscopic and microscopic levels of description. A questionnaire with an emphasis on explanations was used to analyze students' reasoning. In this analysis of students' reasoning in the microscopic and macroscopic modeling processes in a dc circuit, we refer to epistemological studies of scientific explanations. We conclude that the student explanations fall into three main categories of reasoning. The vast majority of students employ an explanatory model based on simple or linear causality and on relational reasoning. Moreover, around a third of students use a relational reasoning that relates two magnitudes current and resistance or conductivity of the material, which is included in a macroscopic explanatory model based on Ohm's law and the conservation of the current. In addition, few students situate the explanations at the microscopic level (charges or electrons) with unidirectional cause-effect reasoning. This study looks at a number of aspects that have been little mentioned in previous research at the university level, about the reasoning types students use when establishing macro-micro relationships and some possible difficulties with complex reasoning. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01