Events

Event Information:

• Tue

  03

  Oct

  2017

  Colloquium: Investigating Student Understanding at the Physics-Mathematics Interface

  4:00 pmLewis 101

  John Thompson
  Department of Physics and Astronomy
  University of Maine

  Investigating Student Understanding at the Physics-Mathematics Interface
  

  Because learning physics concepts often requires the ability to construct, interpret, and manipulate mathematical representations and formalism
  (e.g., equations, graphs, and diagrams), researchers in physics education and mathematics education have been examining how students navigate
  this interface between mathematics and physics. Our own research into student conceptual understanding of physics has led us to investigate how
  students use and reason about mathematics, especially calculus, to solve physics problems in several upper-division physics domains. Examples
  coming from thermal and statistical physics as well as from vector calculus as used in electromagnetism will be given. Instructional materials
  development and implementation will be discussed.