As with Britain and America, mathematicians are separated from other scientists by a common language.  Casual discussions with those in other disciplines suggests far more agreement than exists in fact.  In a nutshell, mathematics is about functions, but science is about things.

Physics students often have trouble "bridging the gap" between the presentation of vector calculus in mathematics and the application of those concepts to electricity and magnetism.  In education research at Oregon State University, Mount Holyoke College, and Grinnell College, we have discovered radical differences in the ways in which mathematicians and physicists think about these concepts.  The unifying theme we have discovered is to emphasize geometric reasoning, not (just) algebraic computation.

In this talk, I will illustrate the language differences between mathematicians and physicists in particular, and report on the current status of the NSF-funded Vector Calculus Bridge Project.

Further information about the project can be found at either of:

      http://www.math.oregonstate.edu/bridge

      http://www.physics.oregonstate.edu/bridge