Student understanding of wave behavior at a boundary: The relationships among wavelength, propagation speed, and frequency

American Journal of Physics

Volumn 80, Issue 4, 2012, Pages 339-347

  Kryjevskaia, Mila ^a   Stetzer, MacKenzie R ^b,c   Heron, Paula R L ^b  

^a NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON   (United States)

^c University of Maine   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84858842307     PISSN: 00029505     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1119/1.3688220     Document Type: Article

References (21)

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2. Wittmann M. Steinberg R.N. Redish E.F. Making sense of how students make sense of mechanical waves. Phys. Teach. 1999, 37:15-21. 10.1119/1.880142.
3. Caleon I.S. Subramaniam R. Exploring student conceptualization of the propagation of periodic waves. Phys. Teach. 2010, 48:55-59. 10.1119/1.3274366.
4. Kryjevskaia M. Stetzer M.R. Heron P.R. L. Student understanding of wave behavior at a boundary: The limiting case of reflection at fixed and free ends. Am. J. Phys. 2011, 79:508-516. 10.1119/1.3560430.
5. The UW introductory calculus-based physics course consists of three 10-week quarters. The first quarter covers mechanics, the second covers electricity and magnetism, and the third covers mechanical waves, geometrical and physical optics, and some modern physics.
6. McDermott L.C. Shaffer P.S. Tutorials in Introductory Physics 2002, and the PEG at UW, 1st ed. (Pearson/Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River).
7. Giancoli D. Knight R.D. Tipler P.A. Mosca G. Physics for Scientists and Engineers 2008, Several different textbooks were in use in this course during the period of this investigation, including, 3rd ed. (Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, );, (Pearson/Addison-Wesley, San Francisco, ); and and 6th ed. (Freeman, New York). In this case as in others in our experience we did not observe any systematic variation in student responses to pretests or post-tests that could be attributed to the textbook in use at the time.
8. McDermott L.C. Shaffer P.S. Tutorials in Introductory Physics 2009, and The Physics Education Group at the University of Washington, Preliminary Second Edition (Pearson Custom Publishing, New York).
9. Kryjevskaia M. Stetzer M.R. Heron P.R. L. Research as a guide for the development of instructional materials on waves: Wave behavior at a boundary. Detailed discussion of the curriculum modifications will be presented in the follow-up paper: (unpublished).
10. The maximum transverse displacement of the spring, while a transverse pulse propagates through the spring, is referred as the amplitude of the pulse. In the tutorial, TAs generate transverse pulses of various widths and amplitudes on a stretched spring. Students do not observe a significant difference in the propagation speed of the pulses unless the spring itself is changed (e.g., stretched even more). The conclusion that the propagation speed only depends on the medium is valid to a good approximation for pulses of small amplitudes on a spring and in many other situations typically discussed in the introductory physics course.
11. See the supplementary material at EPAPS Document No. E-AJPIAS-80-006204 for student versions of each post-test.
12. r, respectively, in a manner consistent with the standard treatment of these topics in the course and in most introductory textbooks.
13. We also asked a variety of questions in which it was explicitly stated that the left region of the tank is unchanged. The explicit statement did not affect student performance on this type of question.
14. Kautz C.H. Heron P.R. L. Loverude M.E. McDermott L.C. Rozier S. Viennot L. Students' reasonings in thermodynamics. Int. J. Sci. Educ. 1991, 13:159-170. 10.1119/1.2049286, 10.1080/0950069910130203, For example.
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16. In order for a student response to be placed in the category of Correct with correct reasoning, it had to include the correct answer that the linear mass density of the left spring in experiment 2 is smaller than that of the left spring in experiment 1 with the correct reasoning. It did not have to contain explicit statements that the left spring is replaced or that the linear mass density of the left spring in experiment 2 is a quarter of that in experiment 1.
17. Although this statement is true under certain circumstances, it is not supported by the model for waves developed in typical introductory physics courses.
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19. Lindsey B.A. Heron P.R. L. Shaffer P.S. Student ability to apply the concepts of work and energy to extended systems. Am. J. Phys. 2009, 77:999-1009. 10.1119/1.3183889.
20. Wosilait K. Heron P.R. L. Shaffer P.S. McDermott L.C. Addressing student difficulties in applying a wave model to the interference and diffraction of light. Phys. Educ. Res., Am. J. Phys. Suppl. 1999, 67:S5-S15.
21. Tongchai A. Sharma M.D. Johnston I.D. Arayathanitkul K. Soankwan C. Consistency of students' conceptions of wave propagation: Findings from a conceptual survey in mechanical waves. Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 2011, 7:020101-1-11. 10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.7.020101.