An investigation of student difficulties in qualitative and quantitative physics problems: Examples from linear kinematics, rolling motion, fluid mechanics, and vector superposition

Abstract

This dissertation consists of two primary studies on student understanding of physics. These include a broad investigation of student understanding of the motion of different kinds of objects (particle, rigid body, and fluid) and results from two preliminary efforts of incorporate the use of technology into the learning and teaching of physics and physics education research. The first section of this dissertation presents results from several detailed studies into the existence and/or persistence of student understanding of particle, rigid body, and fluid motion. These studies, for the most part, began as investigations to examine research results that had previously been reported, but they led to the identification of additional student difficulties. In one case, the findings guided the design of instructional materials to promote student understanding of rolling motion. The second section of the dissertation consists of two preliminary studies: the first from a sequence of online instructional interventions designed to improve student understanding of vector superposition. The second study is on the use of natural language processing techniques to examine student reasoning in physics education research. The population across all these studies range from students in high school to those in algebra- and calculus-based introductory physics courses.