Abstract:

This paper reviews forty research studies linked to students’ conceptions about ‘Field Theory’. This theory includes gravitational, electric, magnetic and time-dependent fields. The studies considered a range of age groups, starting from secondary school students to the post-secondary age group, university students and also professionals who make use of this theory in their work.

The studies and their findings are classified and analyzed according to three types of representations that could be used to teach this concept. The three representations considered here are:

(i) the concrete representation of a ‘field’ – this relates to students’ use of sensory data in getting to know more about the concept,
(ii) the visual representation of a ‘field’ – this considers ‘field’ images presented as pictures of laboratory generated field patterns and electronic or textbook diagrams, and
(iii) the formal representation of a ‘field’ – this focuses mostly on the mental images generated by students. It includes students’ understanding of the scientific terms used in this area of study and of the mathematical descriptors related to it.

Furthermore, the study proposes a diagnostic teaching tool – a set of fifty ‘True-False’ [T-F] statements. These statements were inferred from the findings of these research studies. This tool when used in a classroom is meant to provoke discussion about students’ conceptions. An exemplar of this resource is presented in this paper. Some insights about the usefulness of the resource when used as a teaching strategy in a classroom are also discussed. The full set of T-F statements can be obtained from the author on request.

Keywords:

Forces, Fields, Field Theory, Magnetic Fields, Electric Fields, Gravitational Fields, Potential energy and Potential