Electricity and magnetism are fundamentally interconnected, as represented by the symmetry in Maxwell's equations. Much of the research on Gauss's and Ampere's laws has focused on their application in calculating electric or magnetic fields. However, there remains a significant gap in the literature in exploring these laws in a broader…

Electricity and magnetism are fundamental areas of physics and are integral to science curricula at various educational levels. However, this area has been reported to contain several concepts that students find challenging, leading to perspectives that diverge from scientifically accepted views. This study examines the errors made by physics…

Student learning in simple electric circuits has been extensively studied, which has revealed a large number of persistent misunderstandings. This study applies the conceptual framework model to investigate student difficulties in the knowledge integration perspective. The results are used to guide the design of a concept test that targets the…

Event-related potentials are used to test the hypothesis that an intuitive misconception persists in the mind even after the acquisition of scientific knowledge. We investigated the temporal dynamics of neural mechanisms in solving a scientific problem involving a common misconception. It showed that the increased P2 component was elicited by the…

Organic chemistry students struggle with understanding the energetics of chemical reactions. Reaction coordinate diagrams are one tool that is widely used in organic chemistry classrooms to assist students with visualizing and explaining the energy changes that take place throughout a reaction. Thirty-six students enrolled in organic chemistry II…

A small number of studies have investigated student understanding of vector addition and subtraction in generic or introductory physics contexts, but in almost all cases the questions posed were in the vector arrow representation. In a series of experiments involving over 1000 students and several semesters, we investigated student understanding…

The students' performance in various types of problems dealing with the conservation of matter during chemical reactions has been investigated at different levels of schooling. The participants were 499 ninth grade (ages 14, 15 years) and 624 eleventh grade (ages 16, 17 years) Greek students. Data was collected using a written questionnaire…

Energy is a critical concept in physics problem-solving but is often a major source of confusion for students if the presentation is not carefully crafted by the instructor or the textbook. The first article in this series discussed student confusion generated by traditional treatments of work. In any discussion of work, it is important to state…

Energy is a critical concept that is used in analyzing physical phenomena and is often an essential starting point in physics problem-solving. It is a global concept that appears throughout the physics curriculum in mechanics, thermodynamics, electromagnetism, and modern physics. Energy is also at the heart of descriptions of processes in biology,…

Energy is a critical concept in physics problem-solving, but is often a major source of confusion for students if the presentation is not carefully crafted by the instructor or the textbook. Confusion can be caused by the careless use of language in energy discussions. Students consciously or unconsciously imitate a teacher in their use of…

Energy is a critical concept in physics problem-solving, but is often a major source of confusion for students if the presentation is not carefully crafted by the instructor or the textbook. In the first three articles in this series we discussed several issues related to the teaching of energy concepts. We have saved a major single issue for this…

Focuses on teachers' research in their own classrooms and how teachers make sense of what they see and hear during open-ended technology construction projects. Traces aspects of learning trajectory as a teacher researcher in a year 6 classroom and aspects of improved classroom outcomes. (Contains 41 references.) (Author/YDS)

A discussion of what E=mc2 means and other issues associated with the equation are presented. The differences between matter, mass, and energy, a derivation of the equation, the history of the word mass and examples of how it is used, misconceptions surrounding the equation, and a discussion of uranium fission are included. (KR)

Describes an investigation that explores students' understanding of the translation, rotation, and deformation of an object. Findings illustrate that students have difficulty appreciating that these different phenomena can occur simultaneously. Discusses some implications for teaching. (DDR)

Analyzes student performance on solution calorimetry problems in an introductory university chemistry class. Includes data from written classroom exams for 207 students and an extensive longitudinal interview with a student. Indicates learning difficulties, most of which appear to originate from failure to understand, that net increases and…