Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 4, 020102 (2008) [11 pages]

Accounting for variability in student responses to motion questions

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Brian W. Frank
Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA

Stephen E. Kanim
Department of Physics, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003, USA

Luanna S. Gomez
Department of Physics, University at Buffalo (SUNY), Buffalo, New York 14222, USA

Received 29 May 2007; revised 27 May 2008; published 23 September 2008

We describe the results of an experiment conducted to test predictions about student responses to questions about motion based on an explicit model of student thinking in terms of the cuing of a variety of different physical intuitions or conceptual resources. This particular model allows us to account for observed variations in patterns of student responses in a way that positing the existence of fixed student conceptions about motion does not. As a result of the experiment, we suggest refinements of our model in order to better account for additional features of the student responses.


©2008 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.4.020102
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.4.020102
PACS: 01.40.Fk

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