Title: |
Mental Models in Energy —
Mechanics Contexts* |
Meeting: |
126th AAPT National Meeting:
Austin, TX |
Location: |
Trinity A |
Date: |
Monday, Jan. 13 |
Time: |
10:30 a.m. |
Author: |
Salomon F. Itza-Ortiz,
Kansas State Univ.
785-532-1824,
sitza@phys.ksu.edu |
Co-Author(s): |
Benjamin Lawrence, N. Sanjay
Rebello, Dean A. Zollman |
Abstract:
|
Energy is a central concept
in science. In an introductory physics course this concept is often
introduced in mechanics contexts such as kinetic and potential energy.
What are students’ mental models of energy and how do these models
change with context? We are investigating students’ mental models of
energy in these various contexts in mechanics. Our research participants
include students in a first-semester calculus-based physics course as
well as students in a conceptual physics course. We contrast our results
from these two groups of students. We will present details of our
research method and preliminary results. |
Footnotes:
|
*Supported in part by NSF
grant #REC-0087788. |