Student conceptual resources for understanding mechanical wave propagation

Much of the literature contributing to physics instructors’ knowledge of student ideas (KSI) reports common patterns of reasoning that are framed as discontinuous with canonical concepts. Our work contributes new KSI about mechanical wave propagation from a resources perspective, framing student thinking in terms of context-sensitive pieces of knowledge that are continuous with canonical physics concepts. The intent of this work is to inform instruction on mechanical waves by identifying and illustrating some of the conceptual resources that instructors might expect their students to use. To support instructor predictions about student thinking, we identify resources that are common across multiple samples and questions. Our data include written responses to three versions of a conceptual question about mechanical pulse propagation. We use an emergent coding scheme to characterize a total of 851 written responses from 6 universities in the United States. Our analysis reveals three common conceptual resources: (i) properties of the medium either impede or facilitate the motion of the pulse, (ii) the speed or duration of transverse motion affects pulse speed, and (iii) the speed of the pulse is affected by its kinetic energy. We show how each of these resources can be viewed as continuous with formal understandings of pulse propagation.

Figure 1

String-and-bead model.

Figure 2

Three versions of the pulse-flick question. The original question is drawn from Tongchai et al. and is modified from Wittmann’s Waves Diagnostic Test.

Figure 3

Fraction of responses using three common resources for the original pulse-flick question.

Figure 4

Fraction of responses using three common resources for the tension question.

Figure 5

Fraction of responses using three common resources for the mass density question.