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Instruction-based clinical eye-tracking study on the visual interpretation of divergence: How do students look at vector field plots?

  • Relating mathematical concepts to graphical representations is a challenging task for students. In this paper, we introduce two visual strategies to qualitatively interpret the divergence of graphical vector field representations. One strategy is based on the graphical interpretation of partial derivatives, while the other is based on the flux concept. We test the effectiveness of both strategies in an instruction-based eye-tracking study with N = 41 physics majors. We found that students’ performance improved when both strategies were introduced (74% correct) instead of only one strategy (64% correct), and students performed best when they were free to choose between the two strategies (88% correct). This finding supports the idea of introducing multiple representations of a physical concept to foster student understanding.Relevant eye-tracking measures demonstrate that both strategies imply different visual processing of the vector field plots, therefore reflecting conceptual differences between the strategies. Advanced analysis methods further reveal significant differences in eye movements between the best and worst performing students. For instance, the best students performed predominantly horizontal and vertical saccades, indicating correct interpretation of partial derivatives. They also focused on smaller regions when they balanced positive and negative flux. This mixed method research leads to new insights into student visual processing of vector field representations, highlights the advantages and limitations of eye-tracking methodologies in this context, and discusses implications for teaching and for future research. The introduction of saccadic direction analysis expands traditional methods, and shows the potential to discover new insights into student understanding and learning difficulties.

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Metadaten
Author:Pascal Klein, Jouni Viiri, Saleh Mozaffari, Andreas DengelORCiD, Jochen KuhnORCiD
URN:urn:nbn:de:hbz:386-kluedo-55789
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.14.010116
ISSN:1554-9178
Parent Title (English):Physical Review Physics Education Research (PRPECZ)
Publisher:APS
Document Type:Article
Language of publication:English
Date of Publication (online):2018/03/28
Year of first Publication:2018
Publishing Institution:Technische Universität Kaiserslautern
Date of the Publication (Server):2019/04/08
Tag:Assessment; Concepts & Principles; Physics Education Research; Research Methodology; Undergraduate Students
GND Keyword:Wissensrepräsentation; Physikdidaktik; Lernen; Kognitives Lernen
Page Number:17
Source:Physical review physics education research 14, 010116 (2018)
Faculties / Organisational entities:Kaiserslautern - Fachbereich Physik
DDC-Cassification:3 Sozialwissenschaften / 370 Erziehung, Schul- und Bildungswesen
5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 530 Physik
Collections:Open-Access-Publikationsfonds
Licence (German):Zweitveröffentlichung