Investigating student understanding of quantum physics: Spontaneous models of conductivity

American Journal of Physics

Volumn 70, Issue 3, 2002, Pages 218-226

  Wittmann, Michael C ^a   Steinberg, Richard N ^b   Redish, Edward F ^c  

^a University of Maine   (United States)

^b CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK   (United States)

^c Bldg 142   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 23044529873     PISSN: 00029505     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1119/1.1447542     Document Type: Article

References (38)

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3. E. Whittaker, A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity, Vol. 1: The Classical Theories (T. Nelson and Sons, Ltd., London, 1951).
4. Figure 1(a) is from H. D. Young and R. A. Freedman, University Physics, 10th ed. (Addison Wesley, New York, 2000), Figures 1(b) and 1(c) are from R. A. Serway, Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics, 4th ed. (Saunders College Publishing, Philadelphia, PA, 1996).
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9. Even students at Harvard encounter similar difficulties after studying introductory circuits. See E. Mazur, "Understanding or memorization: Are we teaching the right thing?", in Conference on the Introductory Physics Course, edited by Jack Wilson (Wiley, New York, 1997), p. 113.
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12. These students used R. Chabay and B. Sherwood, Electric and Magnetic Interactions (Wiley, New York, 1995).
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15. For additional information on this topic, see E. F. Redish, L. Bao, and P. Jolly, "Student difficulties with energy in quantum mechanics," presented at the American Association of Physics Teachers Winter Meeting, Phoenix, AZ, 1997 (unpublished, available online at http://www.physics.umd.edu/ rgroups/ripe/perg/quantum/aapt97qe.htm).
16. See, for example, J. Piaget and B. Inhelder, The Child's Conception of Space (W. W. Norton, New York, 1967);
17. B. Inhelder and J. Piaget, The Growth of Logical Thinking From Childhood to Adolescence; An Essay on the Construction of Formal Operational Structures (Basic Books, New York, 1958).
18. See D. E. Trowbridge and L. C. McDermott, "Investigations of student understanding of the concept of velocity in one dimension," Am. J. Phys. 48, 1020-1028 (1980);
19. D. E. Trowbridge and L. C. McDermott, "Investigations of students' understanding of the concept of acceleration in one dimension," ibid. 49, 242-253 (1981).
20. Note that we use alias names throughout this paper. Furthermore, all quotes are from students who had not yet received instruction on conductivity in Physics 420, but two of the four students who had completed instruction gave answers consistent with those described here. All quoted students were in the top quarter of their class.
21. A transcript of this discussion can be found in the example of student-student interactions during Tutorial instruction, shown in the teacher's guide section of Ref. 2.
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34. The applied homework problems were inspired by work on introductory physics alternative homework assignments: E. F. Redish and the University of Maryland Physics Education Research Group, Alternative Homework Assignments, available at http://www.physics.umd.edu/perg/abp/aha/
35. G. M. Novak, E. T. Patterson, A. D. Gavrin, and W. Christian, Just-in-Time-Teaching: Blending Active Learning with Web Technology (Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1999).
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38. Note that the difference in class sizes does not reflect drop rates, but that the instructor in the modified 1 class was well known and many students sought his class out. Drop rates in all classes were roughly equal at 20% from original enrollment.