Students’ Responses to Different Representations of a Vector Addition Question

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written by Jeffrey M. Hawkins, John R. Thompson, Michael C. Wittmann, Eleanor C. Sayre, and Brian W. Frank

We investigate if the visual representation of vectors can affect which methods students use to add them. We gave students one of four questions with different graphical representations, asking students to add the same two vectors. For students in an algebra-based class the arrangement of the vectors had a statistically significant effect on the vector addition method chosen while the addition or removal of a grid did not.

Physics Education Research Conference 2010
Part of the PER Conference series
Portland, Oregon: July 21-22, 2010
Volume 1289, Pages 165-168

download 321kb .pdf
Published: August 24, 2010

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Education Foundations - Learning Theory = Representations Education Practices - Pedagogy Mathematical Tools - Algebra - Vector Algebra	- High School	- Reference Material = Report = Research study

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Mirror:: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3515188
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:: 10.1063/1.3515188
NSF Number:: 0633951
PACS:: 01.40.Fk
Keywords:: graphical, method, vector addition, vectors, PERC 2010, representation
Record Cloner:: Metadata instance created October 25, 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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Record Link

<a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=10442">Hawkins, J, J. Thompson, M. Wittmann, E. Sayre, and B. Frank. "Students’ Responses to Different Representations of a Vector Addition Question." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, July 21-22, 2010.</a>

AIP Format

J. Hawkins, J. Thompson, M. Wittmann, E. Sayre, and B. Frank, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, 2010, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10442&DocID=1899).

AJP/PRST-PER

J. Hawkins, J. Thompson, M. Wittmann, E. Sayre, and B. Frank, Students’ Responses to Different Representations of a Vector Addition Question, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, 2010, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10442&DocID=1899>.

APA Format

Hawkins, J., Thompson, J., Wittmann, M., Sayre, E., & Frank, B. (2010, July 21-22). Students’ Responses to Different Representations of a Vector Addition Question. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon. Retrieved April 16, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10442&DocID=1899

Chicago Format

Hawkins, J, J. Thompson, M. Wittmann, E. Sayre, and B. Frank. "Students’ Responses to Different Representations of a Vector Addition Question." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, July 21-22, 2010. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10442&DocID=1899 (accessed 16 April 2024).

MLA Format

Hawkins, Jeffrey, John Thompson, Michael Wittmann, Eleanor Sayre, and Brian Frank. "Students’ Responses to Different Representations of a Vector Addition Question." Physics Education Research Conference 2010. Portland, Oregon: 2010. 165-168 Vol. 1289 of PER Conference. 16 Apr. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10442&DocID=1899>.

BibTeX Export Format

@inproceedings{ Author = "Jeffrey Hawkins and John Thompson and Michael Wittmann and Eleanor Sayre and Brian Frank", Title = {Students’ Responses to Different Representations of a Vector Addition Question}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2010}, Pages = {165-168}, Address = {Portland, Oregon}, Series = {PER Conference}, Volume = {1289}, Month = {July 21-22}, Year = {2010} }

Refer Export Format

%A Jeffrey Hawkins %A John Thompson %A Michael Wittmann %A Eleanor Sayre %A Brian Frank %T Students' Responses to Different Representations of a Vector Addition Question %S PER Conference %V 1289 %D July 21-22 2010 %P 165-168 %C Portland, Oregon %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10442&DocID=1899 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2010 %O July 21-22 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %A Hawkins, Jeffrey %A Thompson, John %A Wittmann, Michael %A Sayre, Eleanor %A Frank, Brian %D July 21-22 2010 %T Students' Responses to Different Representations of a Vector Addition Question %B Physics Education Research Conference 2010 %C Portland, Oregon %V 1289 %P 165-168 %S PER Conference %8 July 21-22 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10442&DocID=1899

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