Using two models in optics: Students' difficulties and suggestions for teaching

摘要

This paper focuses on difficulties linked to situations in physics involving two models: geometrical optics and wave optics.' The starting point is an investigation of university-level students' difficulties. Excerpts from textbooks are given, to illustrate potential difficulties. A content analysis is then presented, underlining two important features required for dealing with such situations: awareness of the status of the drawings, and the "backward selection" of paths of light. These features could provide some guidelines for the designing of innovative teaching strategies. (C) 2001 American Association of Physics Teachers. [References: 23]