Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Students making sense of motion in a vertical roller coaster loop

Pendrill, Ann-Marie LU orcid ; Eriksson, Moa LU orcid ; Eriksson, Urban LU orcid ; Svensson, Kim LU and Ouattara, Lassana LU (2019) In Physics Education 54(6).
Abstract
Describing the motion in a vertical roller coaster loop requires a good understanding of Newton's laws, vectors and energy transformation. This paper describes how first-year students try to make sense of force and acceleration in this example of non-uniform circular motion, which was part of a written exam. In addition to an analysis of the exam solutions by about 60 students, a group interview was performed a couple of weeks later with four students, who had all passed the exam. The interview allowed the students to reflect on assumptions made and information missed.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Acceleration, amusement park physics, force and motion
in
Physics Education
volume
54
issue
6
article number
065017
publisher
IOP Publishing
external identifiers
  • scopus:85076430212
ISSN
1361-6552
DOI
10.1088/1361-6552/ab3f18
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
71d3eb48-5686-4a9d-b760-284ce847a2da
date added to LUP
2019-12-11 14:35:21
date last changed
2022-04-18 19:28:13
@article{71d3eb48-5686-4a9d-b760-284ce847a2da,
  abstract     = {{Describing the motion in a vertical roller coaster loop requires a good understanding of Newton's laws, vectors and energy transformation. This paper describes how first-year students try to make sense of force and acceleration in this example of non-uniform circular motion, which was part of a written exam. In addition to an analysis of the exam solutions by about 60 students, a group interview was performed a couple of weeks later with four students, who had all passed the exam. The interview allowed the students to reflect on assumptions made and information missed.}},
  author       = {{Pendrill, Ann-Marie and Eriksson, Moa and Eriksson, Urban and Svensson, Kim and Ouattara, Lassana}},
  issn         = {{1361-6552}},
  keywords     = {{Acceleration; amusement park physics; force and motion}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{09}},
  number       = {{6}},
  publisher    = {{IOP Publishing}},
  series       = {{Physics Education}},
  title        = {{Students making sense of motion in a vertical roller coaster loop}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361-6552/ab3f18}},
  doi          = {{10.1088/1361-6552/ab3f18}},
  volume       = {{54}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}