Investigating the Knowledge of Vector Concepts of First Year Medical Students

Abstract

Purpose: We report in this article the results of a study conducted on our first year medical students. This study is supposed to serve as an initial general survey of students' knowledge of vector concepts. Our goal here is to get initial insights on students’ misconceptions when about vectors. The results from this study should help plan our next stage of this particular research project. Method: Our test tool was the test of understanding vectors “TUV” first developed by Pablo Barniol and Genaro Zavala in 2014.1 The test was given to a total of 240 students at the beginning of the semester before they were exposed to any vector related instruction (pre-test). Results: We found weak overall performance of our students represented in very low scores in the test (average score 26%). We were also able to determine the major misconceptions held by students by examining their wrong answers for each question. Some of the misconceptions found were: using tip-to-tip method rather than tail-to-tip to add or subtract vectors, the component of a vector (x or y) has a magnitude equal to the vector magnitude, and multiplying a vector with a negative sign doesn't change its direction. Full list of vectors misconceptions is reported in the discussion. Discussion: Results reveal some serious problems in vector concepts understanding that require some attention and careful future planning. Based on the results, we recommended adding a special section on vector concepts to be given to students right at the start of the semester to prepare them better for the course.

Keywords

• Physics education research
• First year medical students
• Test of understanding vectors
• Vector misconceptions
• Students' performance