Dificultades de entendimiento en el uso de vectores en cursos introductorios de mecánica

Abstract

An understanding of the basic properties of vectors is fundamental to understand vector operations. Many students in the introductory physics courses do not develop a meaningful understanding of the vector nature of some physical quantities such as: Force, acceleration, tension and velocity. To foster a conceptual understanding of these quantities, an exploration of the cognitive problems is necessary through a traditional or a modified instruction. This investigation shows the students' difficulties detected and characterized during the teaching process of the operations of addition and subtraction of vectors in their context. The information sources are some universities in the United States and one university in Mexico.