Students' understanding of direct current resistive electrical circuits

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written by Paula V. Engelhardt and Robert J. Beichner

Both high school and university students' reasoning regarding direct current resistive electric circuits often differ from the accepted explanations. This journal article reports on the study of a newly-developed diagnostic test, the Determining and Interpreting Resistive Electric Circuit Concepts Test (DIRECT), designed to evaluate student understanding of a variety of DC resistive circuit concepts. The analysis indicates that students, especially females, tend to hold multiple misconceptions, even after instruction. The main source of misconception, as reported by the article, is with confusion about the underlying mechanism of electric circuits and the meaning of "current".

American Journal of Physics: Volume 72, Issue 1, Pages 98-115

https://doi.org/10.1119/1.1614813

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Education Foundations - Alternative Conceptions - Assessment = Instruments Electricity & Magnetism - DC Circuits General Physics - Physics Education Research	- High School - Lower Undergraduate	- Instructional Material = Instructor Guide/Manual - Reference Material = Research study

Appropriate Courses	Categories	Ratings
- Conceptual Physics - Algebra-based Physics - AP Physics	- Assessment - New teachers	Currently 0.0/5 Want to rate this material? Login here!

Intended User:: Educator
Formats:: application/pdf
text/html
application/postscript
Access Rights:: Available by subscription
Restriction:: © 2004 American Journal of Physics
Additional information is available.
DOI:: 10.1119/1.1614813
Keywords:: DC circuits, electrical resistivity, networks (circuits), teaching
Record Creator:: Metadata instance created June 13, 2005 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:: August 14, 2016 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update when Cataloged:: January 1, 2004
Other Collections:: The PER-Central

Difficult to access

Author: Jennifer Broekman
Posted: April 18, 2008 at 4:16PM

This sounds like an excellent article. Unfortunately, you need to either subscribe to AJP Online or pay for the article in order to read it, as far as I can tell.

» reply

Re: Difficult to access

Author: Caroline Hall-Managing Editor
Posted: May 8, 2008 5:26PM UTC

> On Apr 18, 2008, Jennifer Broekman posted:
>
> This sounds
> like an excellent article. Unfortunately, you need
> to either subscribe to AJP Online or pay for the article
> in order to read it, as far as I can tell.

Jennifer,
When you click on the URL link, it takes you to a web page with an abstract of the article. If you scroll down a bit, it gives you the option to link to the full text. You can choose HTML, PDF, or zipped formats to download the full article. I clicked on "PDF" and the complete article downloaded with no problem. Hope this helps,
Caroline Hall, Associate Editor

» reply

Re: Re: Difficult to access

Author: Lyle
Posted: Jun 6, 2008 10:53AM UTC

Hello Caroline,

This is likely because you accessed the document from a University campus. Many campuses are set up so that access is automatically granted through the university's library agreement.

From home, I, like Jennifer, am not able to access the article.

Thank you,
-Lyle

» reply

Post a new comment on this item

This resource is part of a Physics Front Topical Unit.

Topic: Electricity and Electrical Energy
Unit Title: Moving Charges and Electric Circuits

This is a research article investigating high school and college students' understanding of how DC circuits work. The analysis indicates that students, especially females, tend to hold multiple misconceptions, even after instruction. The main source of misconception, as reported by the article, is with confusion about the underlying mechanism of electric circuits and the meaning of "current".

Link to Unit:

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Record Link

<a href="https://www.compadre.org/precollege/items/detail.cfm?ID=2299">Engelhardt, Paula, and Robert Beichner. "Students' understanding of direct current resistive electrical circuits." Am. J. Phys. 72, no. 1, (January 1, 2004): 98-115.</a>

AIP Format

P. Engelhardt and R. Beichner, , Am. J. Phys. 72 (1), 98 (2004), WWW Document, (https://doi.org/10.1119/1.1614813).

AJP/PRST-PER

P. Engelhardt and R. Beichner, Students' understanding of direct current resistive electrical circuits, Am. J. Phys. 72 (1), 98 (2004), <https://doi.org/10.1119/1.1614813>.

APA Format

Engelhardt, P., & Beichner, R. (2004, January 1). Students' understanding of direct current resistive electrical circuits. Am. J. Phys., 72(1), 98-115. Retrieved September 7, 2024, from https://doi.org/10.1119/1.1614813

Chicago Format

Engelhardt, Paula, and Robert Beichner. "Students' understanding of direct current resistive electrical circuits." Am. J. Phys. 72, no. 1, (January 1, 2004): 98-115, https://doi.org/10.1119/1.1614813 (accessed 7 September 2024).

MLA Format

Engelhardt, Paula, and Robert Beichner. "Students' understanding of direct current resistive electrical circuits." Am. J. Phys. 72.1 (2004): 98-115. 7 Sep. 2024 <https://doi.org/10.1119/1.1614813>.

BibTeX Export Format

@article{ Author = "Paula Engelhardt and Robert Beichner", Title = {Students' understanding of direct current resistive electrical circuits}, Journal = {Am. J. Phys.}, Volume = {72}, Number = {1}, Pages = {98-115}, Month = {January}, Year = {2004} }

Refer Export Format

%A Paula Engelhardt %A Robert Beichner %T Students' understanding of direct current resistive electrical circuits %J Am. J. Phys. %V 72 %N 1 %D January 1, 2004 %P 98-115 %U https://doi.org/10.1119/1.1614813 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Journal Article %A Engelhardt, Paula %A Beichner, Robert %D January 1, 2004 %T Students' understanding of direct current resistive electrical circuits %J Am. J. Phys. %V 72 %N 1 %P 98-115 %8 January 1, 2004 %U https://doi.org/10.1119/1.1614813

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

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