Students making sense of motion in a vertical roller coaster loop

• Describing the motion in a vertical roller coaster loop requires a good understanding of Newton's laws, vectors and energy transformation. This paper describes how first-year students try to make sense of force and acceleration in this example of non-uniform circular motion, which was part of a written exam. In addition to an analysis of the exam solutions by about 60 students, a group interview was performed a couple of weeks later with four students, who had all passed the exam. The interview allowed the students to reflect on assumptions made and information missed.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Didaktik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Didactics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Acceleration

amusement park physics

force and motion

Publikations- och innehållstyp

art (ämneskategori)

ref (ämneskategori)