Electrical Interactions and the Structure of Matter: Qualitative Reasoning in an Electricity and Magnetism Course

一门全新的电学和磁学课程， 正在开发中。 这门课的目标是教学生 一个统一的方法来定性地推理一个广泛的 各种各样的电磁相互作用。 学生 然后在解决这两个问题的过程中使用这种方法 质和量的问题。定性工作是 基于基本的库仑相互作用和 物质的原子结构。这是在最初没有 使用次要概念，如电场，电 基尔霍夫定律（Kirchhoff's rules）有一个沉重的强调 教学生如何构建严谨的，定性的 物理现象的解释，包括如何构建 并使用好的图表作为推理和 解释。实验工作是课程的核心，但 不需要特殊的实验室会议。 学生工作 在演讲厅进行桌面实验， 静电学和直流电路的统一分析， 这些实验，包括电路，在基本方面， 库仑相互作用和物质的原子结构。的 从这一点出发， 定性工作是更传统的基础， 更多数量的材料，形成剩余的 当然了 正在编写和完善教学材料， 并被用来详细评估教学效果 学生的推理和解决问题的过程。

A fundamentally new course on electricity and magnetism is being developed. The goal of the course is to teach students a unified approach to reasoning qualitatively about a wide variety of electrical and magnetic interactions. The students then use this approach in the process of solving both qualitative and quantitative problems. The qualitative work is based on the physics of the basic Coulomb interaction and of the atomic structure of matter. This is done initially without the use of secondary concepts such as electric field, electric potential, and Kirchhoff's rules. There is a heavy emphasis on teaching students how to construct rigorous, qualitative explanations of physical phenomena, including how to construct and use good diagrams as tools for both reasoning and explaining. Experimental work is central to the course, but does not require special laboratory sessions. Students work collaboratively in the lecture hall on desktop experiments in electrostatics and DC circuits, and on the unified analysis of these experiments, including circuits, in terms of the basic Coulomb interaction and of the atomic structure of matter. The fundamental physical understanding that results from this qualitative work is the foundation for the more traditional and more quantitative material that forms the remainder of the course. Instructional materials are being created and refined, and are being used evaluate in detail the effect of instruction on the reasoning and problem-solving processes of students.