Students' difficulties with unit vectors and scalar multiplication of a vector

Barniol, Pablo

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Students' difficulties with unit vectors and scalar multiplication of a vector

written by Pablo Barniol

In this article we report an investigation on students' understanding of: 1) unit vectors and, 2) scalar multiplication of a vector. We administered two different tests to a total of 850 students after taking their first introductory physics course on mechanics at a large private Mexican university. The first test about unit vectors was taken by 270 students and the second test about scalar multiplication of a vector by 580 students. In the first part of this article, we analyze students' difficulties sketching the unit vector in the direction of a vector in the Cartesian coordinate plane. In the second part, we analyze students' responses in two types of problems: positive and negative scalar multiplication of a vector. In both parts of this article we describe frequent errors that have not been reported in the literature.

Physics Education Research Conference 2011
Part of the PER Conference series
Omaha, Nebraska: August 3-4, 2011
Volume 1413, Pages 115-118

download 285kb .pdf
Published: February 6, 2012

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Education Foundations - Alternative Conceptions - Assessment Mathematical Tools - Vector Algebra	- Lower Undergraduate - Graduate/Professional	- Reference Material = Research study

Intended Users	Formats	Ratings
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Mirror:: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3680007
Access Rights:: Free access and
Available for purchase; A preprint of the work is available. A hard copy of the PERC 2011 proceedings is available for purchase from the AIP.
Restriction:: © 2011 American Institute of Physics
DOI:: 10.1063/1.3680007
PACS:: 01.40.Fk
Keywords:: PERC 2011, difficulties, misconceptions, scalar multiplication of a vector, unit vector
Record Cloner:: Metadata instance created April 24, 2012 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:: April 24, 2012 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update when Cataloged:: February 6, 2012
Other Collections:: The PER-Central

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<a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=11827">Barniol, Pablo. "Students' difficulties with unit vectors and scalar multiplication of a vector." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2011, Omaha, Nebraska, August 3-4, 2011.</a>

AIP Format

P. Barniol, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2011, Omaha, Nebraska, 2011, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11827&DocID=2677).

AJP/PRST-PER

P. Barniol, Students' difficulties with unit vectors and scalar multiplication of a vector, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2011, Omaha, Nebraska, 2011, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11827&DocID=2677>.

APA Format

Barniol, P. (2011, August 3-4). Students' difficulties with unit vectors and scalar multiplication of a vector. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2011, Omaha, Nebraska. Retrieved April 26, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11827&DocID=2677

Chicago Format

Barniol, Pablo. "Students' difficulties with unit vectors and scalar multiplication of a vector." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2011, Omaha, Nebraska, August 3-4, 2011. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11827&DocID=2677 (accessed 26 April 2024).

MLA Format

Barniol, Pablo. "Students' difficulties with unit vectors and scalar multiplication of a vector." Physics Education Research Conference 2011. Omaha, Nebraska: 2011. 115-118 Vol. 1413 of PER Conference. 26 Apr. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11827&DocID=2677>.

BibTeX Export Format

@inproceedings{ Author = "Pablo Barniol", Title = {Students' difficulties with unit vectors and scalar multiplication of a vector}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2011}, Pages = {115-118}, Address = {Omaha, Nebraska}, Series = {PER Conference}, Volume = {1413}, Month = {August 3-4}, Year = {2011} }

Refer Export Format

%A Pablo Barniol %T Students' difficulties with unit vectors and scalar multiplication of a vector %S PER Conference %V 1413 %D August 3-4 2011 %P 115-118 %C Omaha, Nebraska %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11827&DocID=2677 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2011 %O August 3-4 %O application/pdf

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%0 Conference Proceedings %A Barniol, Pablo %D August 3-4 2011 %T Students' difficulties with unit vectors and scalar multiplication of a vector %B Physics Education Research Conference 2011 %C Omaha, Nebraska %V 1413 %P 115-118 %S PER Conference %8 August 3-4 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11827&DocID=2677

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