Connecting symbolic difficulties with failure in physics
Connecting symbolic difficulties with failure in physics
复制标题
将象征性困难与物理学失败联系起来
DOI：
--
复制
发表时间：
2011
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
G. Gladding
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Eugene T. Torigoe;G. Gladding
我们发现，符号物理问题比它们的类似数值版本要难得多。很少有误差是由于符号方程的处理误差造成的。相反，大多数错误是由于混淆了象征意义。我们还发现，在符号问题上的成绩与整体成绩的相关性比在数字问题上的成绩更高。我们设计了一种编码方案，只根据解决方案的数学结构来区分问题。该编码方案既可用于识别难解的物理问题，也可用于区分物理问题。这种编码方案识别的问题需要代数表示，并且不鼓励不需要理解符号方程的问题解决策略。我们的结果表明，不能解释物理方程可能是导致学生在物理学入门课程中失败的主要原因。
We find that symbolic physics questions are significantly more difficult than their analogous numerical versions. Very few of the errors are due to manipulation errors of the symbolic equations. Instead, most errors are due to confusions of symbolic meaning. We also find that performance on symbolic questions is more highly correlated with the overall performance than performance on numeric questions. We devised a coding scheme that distinguishes questions based only on the mathematical structure of the solutions. The coding scheme can be used to identify both difficult and discriminating physics questions. The questions identified by this coding scheme require an algebraic representation and discourage problem solving strategies that do not require an understanding of symbolic equations. Our results suggest that an inability to interpret physics equations may be a major contributor to student failure in introductory physics.