Speaker
Dr
John Airey
(MND)
Description
In this study we are interested in how undergraduate physics students in three
countries experience the equations they meet in their education. We asked over 350
students in the US, Australia and Sweden the same simple question: How do you
know when you understand a physics equation? Students wrote free-text answers to
this question and these were transcribed and coded. Qualitative analysis resulted in
eight distinct themes: significance, origin, description, prediction, parts, relationships,
calculation and explanation. Drawing on diSessa’s theory of knowledge in pieces, we
argue that each theme represents a different disciplinary aspect of student
understanding of physics equations. Educationally, we wondered how best to highlight
the more holistic view of equations that analysis of the combined datasets revealed.
This prompted us to write a set of questions that reflect the original data with respect
to the eight themes. We suggest that when students meet a new physics equation
they may ask themselves these questions in order to check their holistic
understanding of what the equation represents.
Primary authors
Dr
John Airey
(MND)
Ms
Josefine Grundström Lindqvist
(Uppsala University)
Dr
Rebecca Lippmann Kung
(Independent researcher)
