Abstract
Introductory physics students favor algebraic solution procedures over graphical procedures, even when the former is not sufficient to solve the problem.
Highlights
One of the most prevailing and widely accepted objectives of physics education is promoting students’ problemsolving skills
We investigated student strategies for solving physics problems with graphical representations that require the use of the fundamental theorem of calculus (FTC)
Deeper questions emerged as we analyzed student problem-solving behavior, such as (a) What are the origins of the observed difficulties? (b) How deeply are they rooted? and (c) How do the students’ difficulties affect their problem-solving strategies? While analyzing student problem-solving strategies for the FTC-based physics problems in graphical representations, we found that students commonly used one particular strategy even when the strategy did not result in an adequate answer
Summary
One of the most prevailing and widely accepted objectives of physics education is promoting students’ problemsolving skills. A student’s strategy for solving a physics problem is often based on his or her prior knowledge and patterns of his or her reasoning. The resolutions are not trivial and require the use of some thinking process(es), skills, prior knowledge, and strategies. Students often learn most of the mathematical concepts and skills that are required to solve physics problems in their mathematics classes. We present a brief review on the relevance of the FTC in physics problem solving, previous studies on student understanding of the FTC and the definite integral in physics and mathematics education, and the epistemic game and epistemological framing frameworks and their relevance to this study. The fundamental theorem of calculus is one of the most frequently applied mathematical tools in physics reasoning and/or problem solving.
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