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Investigating Student Understanding Of Vector Calculus In Upper-Division Electricity And Magnetism: Construction And Determination Of Differential Element In Non-Cartesian Coordinate Systems, Benjamin Schermerhorn
Investigating Student Understanding Of Vector Calculus In Upper-Division Electricity And Magnetism: Construction And Determination Of Differential Element In Non-Cartesian Coordinate Systems, Benjamin Schermerhorn
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Differential length, area, and volume elements appear ubiquitously over the course of upper-division electricity and magnetism (E&M), used to sum the effects of or determine expressions for electric or magnetic fields. Given the plethora of tasks with spherical and cylindrical symmetry, non-Cartesian coordinates are commonly used, which include scaling factors as coefficients for the differential terms to account for the curvature of space. Furthermore, the application to vector fields means differential lengths and areas are vector quantities. So far, little of the education research in E&M has explored student understanding and construction of the non-Cartesian differential elements used in applications …
Echoes Of The Past: The Effect Of Background Experience On Far Transfer, Graham H. Hummel-Hall
Echoes Of The Past: The Effect Of Background Experience On Far Transfer, Graham H. Hummel-Hall
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Far transfer is the application of knowledge learned in one setting to a problem in a very different setting. This multi-method study looked at far transfer in humans and whether it could be facilitated, inhibited, or remain unaffected by the number of courses or years a student at a university spent learning about the subject matter of the knowledge being transferred. Through quantitative and qualitative analysis of pretest and post-test data from an introductory undergraduate earth science course, I found that students with more physical science background experience more frequently engaged in successful and accurate transfer of physics information to …
Mississippians In Physics: Perspectives And Practice In A Search For Physics Excellence, Paul D. Rogers
Mississippians In Physics: Perspectives And Practice In A Search For Physics Excellence, Paul D. Rogers
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This mixed-method study represents a broad evaluation of the physics views of Mississippi physics students and physicists, along with an analysis of graduate school data, in a search for answers which might improve physics education in Mississippi. Descriptive statistics were calculated using data from eight graduate degree programs (from Fall 2003 through Full Summer 2012) at the University of Mississippi. This was done to find the percent of graduate degrees in each degree program which were awarded to in-state residents. It was found that of the eight University of Mississippi graduate degree programs in the study, two programs awarded a …