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Teacher interventions and student strategies for circular motion problems : A matrix representation

Pendrill, Ann Marie LU orcid (2022) In Physics Education 57(3).
Abstract

Students' understanding of forces in circular motion is often incomplete. The problems are not limited to confusions about centripetal acceleration and centrifugal forces. This paper considers possible effects of different interventions by a teacher who has discovered the many types of free-body diagrams drawn by students for circular motion in a vertical plane. Students' free-body diagrams often show a lack of attention to lengths of force arrows and to the direction and size of the sum of forces. The strategies used by students may differ depending on the situation and questioning by the teacher can remind students of critical aspects they have overlooked. The revisions of responses following interventions reveal information that is... (More)

Students' understanding of forces in circular motion is often incomplete. The problems are not limited to confusions about centripetal acceleration and centrifugal forces. This paper considers possible effects of different interventions by a teacher who has discovered the many types of free-body diagrams drawn by students for circular motion in a vertical plane. Students' free-body diagrams often show a lack of attention to lengths of force arrows and to the direction and size of the sum of forces. The strategies used by students may differ depending on the situation and questioning by the teacher can remind students of critical aspects they have overlooked. The revisions of responses following interventions reveal information that is not available from just a single response. This paper discusses how a matrix can be used to express the probability for revisions of responses for different teacher interventions and also help teachers decide on future interventions.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
acceleration, circular motion, free-body diagrams, matrix representation, multiple-choice, student conceptions, teacher intervention
in
Physics Education
volume
57
issue
3
article number
035003
publisher
IOP Publishing
external identifiers
  • scopus:85125858931
ISSN
0031-9120
DOI
10.1088/1361-6552/ac4987
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
166a24be-4e57-45b0-9266-60261c033fd4
date added to LUP
2022-04-05 16:00:56
date last changed
2022-06-02 11:09:25
@article{166a24be-4e57-45b0-9266-60261c033fd4,
  abstract     = {{<p>Students' understanding of forces in circular motion is often incomplete. The problems are not limited to confusions about centripetal acceleration and centrifugal forces. This paper considers possible effects of different interventions by a teacher who has discovered the many types of free-body diagrams drawn by students for circular motion in a vertical plane. Students' free-body diagrams often show a lack of attention to lengths of force arrows and to the direction and size of the sum of forces. The strategies used by students may differ depending on the situation and questioning by the teacher can remind students of critical aspects they have overlooked. The revisions of responses following interventions reveal information that is not available from just a single response. This paper discusses how a matrix can be used to express the probability for revisions of responses for different teacher interventions and also help teachers decide on future interventions. </p>}},
  author       = {{Pendrill, Ann Marie}},
  issn         = {{0031-9120}},
  keywords     = {{acceleration; circular motion; free-body diagrams; matrix representation; multiple-choice; student conceptions; teacher intervention}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  publisher    = {{IOP Publishing}},
  series       = {{Physics Education}},
  title        = {{Teacher interventions and student strategies for circular motion problems : A matrix representation}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361-6552/ac4987}},
  doi          = {{10.1088/1361-6552/ac4987}},
  volume       = {{57}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}