| 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. |