On the need to enhance physical insight via mathematical reasoning

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Autor principal: S. Rojas
Formato: Artículo científico
Lenguaje:en
Publicado: Sociedad Mexicana de Física A.C. 2008
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author S. Rojas
author_facet S. Rojas
contents On the need to enhance physical insight via mathematical reasoning S. Rojas Física, Astronomía y Matemáticas physics learning Physical intuition teaching of physics student performance mathematical reasoning It is becoming common to hear teaching advice about spending more time on the “physics of the problem” so that students will get more physical insight and develop a stronger intuition that can be very helpful when thinking about physics problems. Based on this type of justification, mathematical skills such as the ability to compute moments of inertia, center of mass, or gravitational fields from mass distri- butions, and electrical fields from charge distributions are considered “distracting mathematics” and therefore receive less attention. Based on published cited research on the subject, we’ll argue a) that this approach can have a negative influence on student reasoning when dealing with questions of rotational dynamics, a highly non-intuitive subject where even instructors may fail to provide correct answers, and b) that exposure of students to mathematical reasoning and to a wide range of computational techniques to obtain the moment of inertia of different mass distributions will make students more comfortable with the subject of rotational dynamics, thus improving their physical insight on the topic. 2008 artículo científico 0035-001X https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=57028301012 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
format Artículo científico
id redalyc_57028301012
institution Redalyc
language en
publishDate 2008
publisher Sociedad Mexicana de Física A.C.
spellingShingle On the need to enhance physical insight via mathematical reasoning
S. Rojas
Física, Astronomía y Matemáticas
physics learning
Physical intuition
teaching of physics
student performance
mathematical reasoning
On the need to enhance physical insight via mathematical reasoning S. Rojas Física, Astronomía y Matemáticas physics learning Physical intuition teaching of physics student performance mathematical reasoning It is becoming common to hear teaching advice about spending more time on the “physics of the problem” so that students will get more physical insight and develop a stronger intuition that can be very helpful when thinking about physics problems. Based on this type of justification, mathematical skills such as the ability to compute moments of inertia, center of mass, or gravitational fields from mass distri- butions, and electrical fields from charge distributions are considered “distracting mathematics” and therefore receive less attention. Based on published cited research on the subject, we’ll argue a) that this approach can have a negative influence on student reasoning when dealing with questions of rotational dynamics, a highly non-intuitive subject where even instructors may fail to provide correct answers, and b) that exposure of students to mathematical reasoning and to a wide range of computational techniques to obtain the moment of inertia of different mass distributions will make students more comfortable with the subject of rotational dynamics, thus improving their physical insight on the topic. 2008 artículo científico 0035-001X https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=57028301012 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
title On the need to enhance physical insight via mathematical reasoning
topic Física, Astronomía y Matemáticas
physics learning
Physical intuition
teaching of physics
student performance
mathematical reasoning
url https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=57028301012