Student Understanding of Taylor Series Expansions in Statistical Mechanics
PHYSICAL REVIEW SPECIAL TOPICS - PHYSICS EDUCATION RESEARCH 9, 020110 (2013) Student understanding of Taylor series expansions in statistical mechanics Trevor I. Smith,1 John R. Thompson,2,3 and Donald B. Mountcastle2 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania 17013, USA 2Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA 3Maine Center for Research in STEM Education, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA (Received 2 March 2012; revised manuscript received 23 May 2013; published 8 August 2013) One goal of physics instruction is to have students learn to make physical meaning of specific mathematical expressions, concepts, and procedures in different physical settings. As part of research investigating student learning in statistical physics, we are developing curriculum materials that guide students through a derivation of the Boltzmann factor using a Taylor series expansion of entropy. Using results from written surveys, classroom observations, and both individual think-aloud and teaching interviews, we present evidence that many students can recognize and interpret series expansions, but they often lack fluency in creating and using a Taylor series appropriately, despite previous exposures in both calculus and physics courses. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.9.020110 PACS numbers: 01.40.Fk, 05.20.Ày, 02.30.Lt, 02.30.Mv students’ use of Taylor series expansion to derive and I. INTRODUCTION understand the Boltzmann factor as a component of proba- Over the past several decades, much work has been done bility in the canonical ensemble. While this is a narrow investigating ways in which students understand and learn topic, we feel that it serves as an excellent example of physics (see Refs.
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