Graduation Semester and Year
2011
Language
English
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Physics and Applied Physics
Department
Physics
First Advisor
Ramon E Lopez
Abstract
Physics and Space Science examine topics that are highly spatial in nature. Students are required to visualize a system, manipulate that system, and then solve a given problem. Doing all of this, simultaneously, can lead to a cognitive overload where the student is unable to correctly solve the problem. Some difficulties may be rooted in conceptual difficulties, whereas other difficulties may arise from issues with spatial intelligence and visual cognition. In some cases, students might have created an incorrect mental image of the problem to begin with, and it's this misconception, not the lack of content knowledge, that has caused an incorrect answer. It has been shown that there is a correlation between achievement in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields and spatial ability. My work focuses on several discrete investigations in topics that relate to student learning in physics and space science and the relationship to spatial ability.
Disciplines
Physical Sciences and Mathematics | Physics
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Cid, Ximena Clara Cuicatl, "Investigations In The Impact Of Visual Cognition And Spatial Ability Of Student Comprehension Of Physics And Space Science" (2011). Physics Dissertations. 21.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/physics_dissertations/21
Comments
Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington