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Elementary Electrostatic Phenomena: Historical Hindrances and Students’ Difficulties1

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Abstract

Categories of explanation for electrostatic phenomena derived from a brief historical survey are used to interpret the responses of students aged 17 to 21 to questionnaire items describing five experimental situations. Most of the students’ interpretations of electrostatic phenomena used ideas about the electric nature of matter that recalled pre-Newtonian explanations.

Résumé

Cette recherche se penche sur les explications des phénomènes électrostatiques fournies par les étudiants. Dans la conception de l’apprentissage qu’ont les auteurs, les idées des étudiants ne sont autres que les relations entre ces étudiants et les phénomènes naturels ou scientifiques qu’ils étudient (Marion et Booth, 1997). En effet, sur le plan qualitatif, les étudiants élaborent différentes manières de comprendre un phénomène donné, qui peuvent être classées en catégories générales de description. Les auteurs montrent également qu’il est important de procéder à une étude critique de l’histoire de l’électrostatique si l’on veut prévoir les explications que peuvent donner les étudiants lorsqu’ils tentent d’interpréter les phénomènes électrostatiques. Une brève analyse historique a fait ressortir les problèmes fréquemment relevés dans l’évolution de la théorisation en électrostatique, problèmes dont les auteurs se servent pour analyser les explications de certains faits fournis par les étudiants d’aujourd’hui. Les résultats indiquent que les étudiants utilisent plusieurs types de notions et de liens pour expliquer les phénomènes, et que ces notions peuvent être classées en fonction de plusieurs catégories de description. De plus, le choix des catégories de la part des étudiants dépend de la complexité de la tâche. La plupart des interprétations des phénomènes électrostatiques fournies par les étudiants impliquent des notions sur la nature électrique de la matière qui diffèrent de la théorie de Newton (qui considère l’électricité comme un ensemble de charges qui agissent à distance). Plutôt, elles rappellent les explications pré-newtoniennes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Valencia, Spain

    Carlos Furió

  2. University of the Basque Country, Spain

    Jenaro Guisasola & José M. Almudí

Authors
  1. Carlos Furió
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  2. Jenaro Guisasola
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  3. José M. Almudí
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Additional information

This paper is the final report of our research into how students understand basic electrostatic theory. The initial report of the preliminary study, ‘Problemas históricos y dificultades de aprendizaje en la interpretación newtoniana de fenómenos electrostáticos considerados elementales [Historical Problems and Learning Difficulties in the Newtonian Interpretation of Supposedly Elementary Electrostatic Phenomena],’ was published in Spanish, in the Brazilian journal, Investigações em Ensino de Ciências /Investigations in Science Education, available http://www.if.ufrgs.br/public/ensino/vol3/n3/v3_n3_a2.htm (accessed April 27, 2004). For the benefit of those who don’t read Spanish, parts of that report, necessary to understanding the research, have been translated and incorporated into the present article.

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Furió, C., Guisasola, J. & Almudí, J.M. Elementary Electrostatic Phenomena: Historical Hindrances and Students’ Difficulties1. Can J Sci Math Techn 4, 291–313 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1080/14926150409556616

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