PROCEEDINGS OF THE 20TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2017
San Diego, California
Students’ understanding of vectors and cross products: Results from a series of visualization tasks
Page: 991
Previous studies have explored student understanding of vectors in physics, engineering, orlinear algebra settings, but there has been scant research on student understanding of vectors ina multivariable calculus context. In this study, we begin to explore how students think aboutvectors and cross products by analyzing student responses to open-ended questions from anonline, conceptually-oriented multivariable calculus cross product activity. We identify severalthemes consistent with previous research on physics students including confusion between thecross product and its magnitude as well as difficulty identifying or communicating the directionof the cross product vector. This preliminary research begins to develop categories that couldoutline a conceptual model of student understanding of vectors and cross product. The analysisalso informs several recommendations for improving the cross product activity.Key words: