New ways of investigating the canonical coin toss acceleration problem

Wittmann, Michael C.; Hawkins, Jeffrey M.

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New ways of investigating the canonical coin toss acceleration problem

written by Michael C. Wittmann and Jeffrey M. Hawkins

Asking students about the acceleration of a tossed object is a well-studied problem in physics education research. Students frequently respond using reasoning that describes the velocity of the object, in particular that acceleration is zero at the top. We created new versions of the canonical multiple-choice Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation coin-toss questions to investigate what other reasoning students might use. Some students were asked "is the acceleration zero at the top?" Other students were told "the acceleration is not zero" and asked to explain. A third group answered the original multiple-choice version of the question. Our results suggest that some students give answers that they can explain are incorrect. We also find that some students' responses about the acceleration at the turnaround point are affected by question format.

Physics Education Research Conference 2012
Part of the PER Conference series
Philadelphia, PA: August 1-2, 2012
Volume 1513, Pages 422-425

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Published: January 24, 2013

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Classical Mechanics - Motion in One Dimension - Motion in Two Dimensions Education Foundations - Alternative Conceptions - Assessment = Conceptual Assessment	- Lower Undergraduate	- Reference Material = Research study

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Access Rights:: Free access and
Available for purchase; A preprint of the work is available. A hard copy of the PERC 2012 proceedings is available for purchase from the AIP.
Restriction:: © 2012 American Institute of Physics
DOI:: 10.1063/1.4789742
NSF Number:: 0941191
PACS:: 01.40.Fk
Keywords:: PERC 2012, acceleration, alternative questions, student reasoning
Record Cloner:: Metadata instance created July 1, 2013 by Zachary Davis
Record Updated:: December 17, 2013 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update when Cataloged:: January 24, 2013
Other Collections:: The PER-Central

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Record Link

<a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=12867">Wittmann, Michael, and Jeffrey Hawkins. "New ways of investigating the canonical coin toss acceleration problem." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, August 1-2, 2012.</a>

AIP Format

M. Wittmann and J. Hawkins, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, 2012, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12867&DocID=3399).

AJP/PRST-PER

M. Wittmann and J. Hawkins, New ways of investigating the canonical coin toss acceleration problem, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, 2012, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12867&DocID=3399>.

APA Format

Wittmann, M., & Hawkins, J. (2012, August 1-2). New ways of investigating the canonical coin toss acceleration problem. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA. Retrieved May 4, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12867&DocID=3399

Chicago Format

Wittmann, Michael, and Jeffrey Hawkins. "New ways of investigating the canonical coin toss acceleration problem." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, August 1-2, 2012. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12867&DocID=3399 (accessed 4 May 2025).

MLA Format

Wittmann, Michael, and Jeffrey Hawkins. "New ways of investigating the canonical coin toss acceleration problem." Physics Education Research Conference 2012. Philadelphia, PA: 2012. 422-425 Vol. 1513 of PER Conference. 4 May 2025 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12867&DocID=3399>.

BibTeX Export Format

@inproceedings{ Author = "Michael Wittmann and Jeffrey Hawkins", Title = {New ways of investigating the canonical coin toss acceleration problem}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2012}, Pages = {422-425}, Address = {Philadelphia, PA}, Series = {PER Conference}, Volume = {1513}, Month = {August 1-2}, Year = {2012} }

Refer Export Format

%A Michael Wittmann %A Jeffrey Hawkins %T New ways of investigating the canonical coin toss acceleration problem %S PER Conference %V 1513 %D August 1-2 2012 %P 422-425 %C Philadelphia, PA %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12867&DocID=3399 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2012 %O August 1-2 %O application/pdf

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%0 Conference Proceedings %A Wittmann, Michael %A Hawkins, Jeffrey %D August 1-2 2012 %T New ways of investigating the canonical coin toss acceleration problem %B Physics Education Research Conference 2012 %C Philadelphia, PA %V 1513 %P 422-425 %S PER Conference %8 August 1-2 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12867&DocID=3399

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