Upper-division students' difficulties with Ampère's law
written by
Colin S. Wallace and Stephanie Viola Chasteen
This study presents and interprets some conceptual difficulties junior-level physics students experience with Ampère's law. We present both quantitative data, based on students' written responses to conceptual questions, and qualitative data, based on interviews of students solving Ampère's law problems. We find that some students struggle to connect the current enclosed by an Ampèrian loop to the properties of the magnetic field while some students do not use information about the magnetic field to help them solve Ampère's law problems. In this paper, we show how these observations may be interpreted as evidence that some students do not see the integral in Ampère's law as representing a sum and that some students do not use accessible information about the magnetic field as they attempt to solve Ampère's law problems. This work extends previous studies into students' difficulties with Ampère's law and provides possible guidance for instruction.
Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research: Volume 6, Issue 2, Pages 020115
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Record Link
<a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=10749">Wallace, Colin, and Stephanie Viola Chasteen. "Upper-division students' difficulties with Ampère's law." Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 6, no. 2, (September 27, 2010): 020115.</a>
AIP Format
C. Wallace and S. Chasteen, , Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 6 (2), 020115 (2010), WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10749&DocID=2208).
AJP/PRST-PER
C. Wallace and S. Chasteen, Upper-division students' difficulties with Ampère's law, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 6 (2), 020115 (2010), <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10749&DocID=2208>.
APA Format
Wallace, C., & Chasteen, S. (2010, September 27). Upper-division students' difficulties with Ampère's law. Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res., 6(2), 020115. Retrieved December 6, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10749&DocID=2208
Chicago Format
Wallace, Colin, and Stephanie Viola Chasteen. "Upper-division students' difficulties with Ampère's law." Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 6, no. 2, (September 27, 2010): 020115, https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10749&DocID=2208 (accessed 6 December 2024).
MLA Format
Wallace, Colin, and Stephanie Viola Chasteen. "Upper-division students' difficulties with Ampère's law." Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 6.2 (2010): 020115. 6 Dec. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10749&DocID=2208>.
BibTeX Export Format
@article{
Author = "Colin Wallace and Stephanie Viola Chasteen",
Title = {Upper-division students' difficulties with Ampère's law},
Journal = {Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.},
Volume = {6},
Number = {2},
Pages = {020115},
Month = {September},
Year = {2010}
}
Refer Export Format
%A Colin Wallace %A Stephanie Viola Chasteen %T Upper-division students' difficulties with Ampère's law %J Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. %V 6 %N 2 %D September 27, 2010 %P 020115 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10749&DocID=2208 %O application/pdf
EndNote Export Format
%0 Journal Article %A Wallace, Colin %A Chasteen, Stephanie Viola %D September 27, 2010 %T Upper-division students' difficulties with Ampère's law %J Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. %V 6 %N 2 %P 020115 %8 September 27, 2010 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10749&DocID=2208 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.
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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. |