Electric potential is one of the most challenging concepts taught in high school physics classes due to the abstract nature of the concept. When taught, electric potential is often taught using a poorly triangulated set of instructional analogies, each possessing different strengths and limitations. Within this paper we share our learning from a two-week electronic textiles (e-textiles) unit designed to help students in an AP high school physics course improve their understanding of electric potential through the construction of a project entitled “The Slouching T-shirt” (STS) (Fig. 1). The STS project was part of a larger instructional unit on electricity and energy that seeks to make connections between energy, electric potential, and computer programming central to student learning.
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January 2020
PAPERS|
January 01 2020
Potentially Electric: An E-Textiles Project as a Model for Teaching Electric Potential
Colby Tofel-Grehl
Colby Tofel-Grehl
Utah State University
, Logan, UT
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Phys. Teach. 58, 48–51 (2020)
Citation
Doug Ball, Colby Tofel-Grehl; Potentially Electric: An E-Textiles Project as a Model for Teaching Electric Potential. Phys. Teach. 1 January 2020; 58 (1): 48–51. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.5141973
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