Fluctuations in Student Understanding of Newton’s 3rd Law

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written by Jessica Clark, Eleanor C. Sayre, and Scott V. Franklin

We present data from a between-student study on student response to questions on Newton's Third Law given throughout the academic year. The study, conducted at Rochester Institute of Technology, involved students from the first and third of a three-quarter sequence. Construction of a response curve reveals subtle dynamics in student learning not captured by simple pre/post testing. We find a a significant positive effect from direct instruction, peaking at the end of instruction on forces, that diminishes by the end of the quarter. Two quarters later, in physics III, a significant dip in correct response occurs when instruction changes from the vector quantities of electric forces and fields to the scalar quantity of electric potential. Student response rebounds to its initial values, however, once instruction returns to the vector-based topics involving magnetic fields.

Physics Education Research Conference 2010
Part of the PER Conference series
Portland, Oregon: July 21-22, 2010
Volume 1289, Pages 101-104

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Published: August 24, 2010

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Classical Mechanics - Newton's Third Law Education Foundations - Assessment Education Practices - Active Learning	- Lower Undergraduate - Upper Undergraduate	- Reference Material = Report = Research study

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Mirror:: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3515171
Access Rights:: Limited free access and
Available for purchase; A preprint of the work is available. A hard copy of the PERC 2010 proceedings is available for purchase from the AIP.
Restriction:: © 2010 American Institute of Physics
DOI:: 10.1063/1.3515171
NSF Numbers:: 0941889; 0941378
PACSs:: 01.40.Fk; 01.30.Cc; 01.30.1b
Keywords:: PERC 2010, forgetting, introductory physics, learning, newton's third law
Record Cloner:: Metadata instance created October 11, 2010 by Alea Smith
Record Updated:: May 1, 2013 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update when Cataloged:: August 24, 2010
Other Collections:: The PER-Central

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<a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=10399">Clark, J, E. Sayre, and S. Franklin. "Fluctuations in Student Understanding of Newton’s 3rd Law." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, July 21-22, 2010.</a>

AIP Format

J. Clark, E. Sayre, and S. Franklin, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, 2010, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10399&DocID=1871).

AJP/PRST-PER

J. Clark, E. Sayre, and S. Franklin, Fluctuations in Student Understanding of Newton’s 3rd Law, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, 2010, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10399&DocID=1871>.

APA Format

Clark, J., Sayre, E., & Franklin, S. (2010, July 21-22). Fluctuations in Student Understanding of Newton’s 3rd Law. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon. Retrieved May 1, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10399&DocID=1871

Chicago Format

Clark, J, E. Sayre, and S. Franklin. "Fluctuations in Student Understanding of Newton’s 3rd Law." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, July 21-22, 2010. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10399&DocID=1871 (accessed 1 May 2025).

MLA Format

Clark, Jessica, Eleanor Sayre, and Scott Franklin. "Fluctuations in Student Understanding of Newton’s 3rd Law." Physics Education Research Conference 2010. Portland, Oregon: 2010. 101-104 Vol. 1289 of PER Conference. 1 May 2025 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10399&DocID=1871>.

BibTeX Export Format

@inproceedings{ Author = "Jessica Clark and Eleanor Sayre and Scott Franklin", Title = {Fluctuations in Student Understanding of Newton’s 3rd Law}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2010}, Pages = {101-104}, Address = {Portland, Oregon}, Series = {PER Conference}, Volume = {1289}, Month = {July 21-22}, Year = {2010} }

Refer Export Format

%A Jessica Clark %A Eleanor Sayre %A Scott Franklin %T Fluctuations in Student Understanding of Newton's 3rd Law %S PER Conference %V 1289 %D July 21-22 2010 %P 101-104 %C Portland, Oregon %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10399&DocID=1871 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2010 %O July 21-22 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %A Clark, Jessica %A Sayre, Eleanor %A Franklin, Scott %D July 21-22 2010 %T Fluctuations in Student Understanding of Newton's 3rd Law %B Physics Education Research Conference 2010 %C Portland, Oregon %V 1289 %P 101-104 %S PER Conference %8 July 21-22 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10399&DocID=1871

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