Investigate Students’ use of Boundary Conditions using Symbolic Forms

Ryan, Qing X.; Chau, Thu; Sadaghiani, Homeyra R.; Passante, Gina

home » Conference Proceedings Detail Page

Detail Page

Investigate Students’ use of Boundary Conditions using Symbolic Forms

written by Qing X. Ryan, Thu Chau, Homeyra R. Sadaghiani, and Gina Passante

As part of an effort to examine students' understanding about the structure of Boundary Conditions in upper division courses, think-aloud interviews were conducted in the context of both Quantum Mechanics and Electricity and Magnetism. In the quantum mechanics task, students were presented with a classic potential step question. In the electricity and magnetism task, students were given a classical question about electromagnetic waves at the boundary of two media. The analysis of the interviews was guided by the use of a theoretical framework: Symbolic forms. Similar symbolic forms were identified in students' work across both contexts. Preliminary analysis suggests that even within the same symbolic form, different conceptual schema can be used. In general, students were able to generate correct symbolic templates while having some difficulty with the underlying conceptual ideas.

Physics Education Research Conference 2017
Part of the PER Conference series
Cincinnati, OH: July 26-27, 2017
Pages 344-347

download 6141kb .pdf
Last Modified: March 30, 2018
previous versions

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Education Foundations - Learning Theory = Representations = Transfer - Problem Solving = Processes	- Upper Undergraduate - Graduate/Professional	- Reference Material = Research study

Intended Users	Formats	Ratings
- Researchers	- application/pdf	Currently 0.0/5 Want to rate this material? Login here!

Mirror:: https://doi.org/10.1119/perc.2017…
Access Rights:: Free access
License:: This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the published article's author(s), title, proceedings citation, and DOI.
Rights Holder:: American Association of Physics Teachers
DOI:: 10.1119/perc.2017.pr.081
NSF Number:: 1023208
Keyword:: PERC 2017
Record Creator:: Metadata instance created February 26, 2018 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:: March 30, 2018 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update when Cataloged:: March 1, 2018
Other Collections:: The PER-Central

Post a new comment on this item

ComPADRE is beta testing Citation Styles!

Record Link

<a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=14640">Ryan, Q, T. Chau, H. Sadaghiani, and G. Passante. "Investigate Students’ use of Boundary Conditions using Symbolic Forms." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2017, Cincinnati, OH, July 26-27, 2017.</a>

AIP Format

Q. Ryan, T. Chau, H. Sadaghiani, and G. Passante, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2017, Cincinnati, OH, 2017, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14640&DocID=4817).

AJP/PRST-PER

Q. Ryan, T. Chau, H. Sadaghiani, and G. Passante, Investigate Students’ use of Boundary Conditions using Symbolic Forms, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2017, Cincinnati, OH, 2017, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14640&DocID=4817>.

APA Format

Ryan, Q., Chau, T., Sadaghiani, H., & Passante, G. (2017, July 26-27). Investigate Students’ use of Boundary Conditions using Symbolic Forms. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2017, Cincinnati, OH. Retrieved April 25, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14640&DocID=4817

Chicago Format

Ryan, Q, T. Chau, H. Sadaghiani, and G. Passante. "Investigate Students’ use of Boundary Conditions using Symbolic Forms." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2017, Cincinnati, OH, July 26-27, 2017. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14640&DocID=4817 (accessed 25 April 2024).

MLA Format

Ryan, Qing, Thu Chau, Homeyra Sadaghiani, and Gina Passante. "Investigate Students’ use of Boundary Conditions using Symbolic Forms." Physics Education Research Conference 2017. Cincinnati, OH: 2017. 344-347 of PER Conference. 25 Apr. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14640&DocID=4817>.

BibTeX Export Format

@inproceedings{ Author = "Qing Ryan and Thu Chau and Homeyra Sadaghiani and Gina Passante", Title = {Investigate Students’ use of Boundary Conditions using Symbolic Forms}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2017}, Pages = {344-347}, Address = {Cincinnati, OH}, Series = {PER Conference}, Month = {July 26-27}, Year = {2017} }

Refer Export Format

%A Qing Ryan %A Thu Chau %A Homeyra Sadaghiani %A Gina Passante %T Investigate Students' use of Boundary Conditions using Symbolic Forms %S PER Conference %D July 26-27 2017 %P 344-347 %C Cincinnati, OH %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14640&DocID=4817 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2017 %O July 26-27 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %A Ryan, Qing %A Chau, Thu %A Sadaghiani, Homeyra %A Passante, Gina %D July 26-27 2017 %T Investigate Students' use of Boundary Conditions using Symbolic Forms %B Physics Education Research Conference 2017 %C Cincinnati, OH %P 344-347 %S PER Conference %8 July 26-27 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14640&DocID=4817

Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.

Citation Source Information

The AIP Style presented is based on information from the AIP Style Manual.

The APA Style presented is based on information from APA Style.org: Electronic References.

The Chicago Style presented is based on information from Examples of Chicago-Style Documentation.

The MLA Style presented is based on information from the MLA FAQ.