Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: S. Flores-García
Format: Artículo científico
Language:en
Published: Sociedad Mexicana de Física A.C. 2008
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=57028301002
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Table of Contents:
  • Students’ understanding of vectors in the context of forces S. Flores-García L.L. Alfaro-Avena O. Dena-Ornelas M.D. González-Quezada Física, Astronomía y Matemáticas forces as vectors Newton’s second law conceptual difficulties A functional understanding of Newton’s second law as a vector equation requires that students be able to reason about forces as vectors. In this paper, we present data describing students’ conceptual difficulties with forces as vectors. These data suggest that after traditional instruction in introductory physics, some students do not recognize the vector nature of this quantity. Other students do not have the necessary procedural knowledge to determine net force or acceleration, and are therefore unable to reason qualitatively about Newton’s second law. We describe some specific procedural and reasoning difficulties we have observed in the students’ use of vectors in the context of forces and Newton’s second law. In addition, we encourage modifications in the instruction of mechanics that we designed on the basis of our research into student understanding. These modifications are intended to improve the students’ understanding of vector addition and subtraction and to promote the students’ use of vectors insolving mechanics problems. 2008 artículo científico 0035-001X https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=57028301002 en http://www.redalyc.org/revista.oa?id=570 Revista Mexicana de Física application/pdf Sociedad Mexicana de Física A.C. Revista Mexicana de Física (México) Num.1 Vol.54