"Research on student understanding of engineering statics: The development of instructional materials to improve student understanding of center of mass"

University students who have studied physics at the introductory level and beyond are often unable to apply basic concepts from mechanics to account for the motion of an extended object.Findings from an in-depth, systematic investigation were used to guide the design of curriculum to address the underlying conceptual and reasoning difficulties.Ongoing assessment was an integral part of the development cycle.The instructional sequence that evolved from this iterative process has proved effective in helping students learn to apply basic concepts from mechanics to extended objects in equilibrium. IntroductionIn this paper, I describe the design and development of a tutorial sequence on the equilibrium of rigid bodies.This tutorial, Equilibrium of rigid bodies, is one of the tutorials in Tutorials in Introductory Physics by L. C. McDermott, P. S. Shaffer, and the U. Wash.P. E. G. published in 2000 that make up the set of tutorials on rotations.The tutorial described has been written to address student difficulties with the equilibrium of rigid bodies.These materials are intended for use in an introductory physics course for engineering majors prior to them taking sophomore-level engineering statics.The context is balancing.Each tutorial sequence, which includes pretests, worksheets, and homework, has been carefully designed to address specific difficulties that have found to be widespread among students in introductory physics.The final version of the tutorial sequence will be described.I summarize the findings from research, which includes post-test data for the tutorial.The tutorial has been tested in the introductory calculus-based physics course (mechanics) at the University of Washington and universities that are pilot sites for the curricula.The work described is part of the ongoing effort of the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington to improve student learning in physics through research and research-based curriculum development.Most of the students were enrolled in the introductory physics course for science and engineering majors.The study also includes two other populations: undergraduates in a sophomore-level engineering statics course and K-12 teachers.The research described here was conducted between 1996 and 1997.However, relevant data accumulated since 1992 have been analyzed and included.Some of the instructional materials produced are contained in the First Edition of Tutorials in Introductory Physics.Testing at pilot sites generally precedes publication of all materials by the U. Wash.P. E. G.