Revealing Differences Between Curricula Using the Colorado Upper-Division Electrostatics Diagnostic

TL;DR

This paper uses the CUE diagnostic to compare upper-division electrostatics understanding at Oregon State University with other institutions, identifying persistent conceptual difficulties and curriculum differences.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of student understanding across institutions using the CUE, highlighting specific conceptual challenges and curriculum impacts.

Findings

OSU students show similar overall patterns to CU in CUE scores

Students struggle with separation of variables and boundary conditions

Differences in curriculum may influence specific conceptual difficulties

Abstract

The Colorado Upper-Division Electrostatics (CUE) Diagnostic is an exam developed as part of the curriculum reform at the University of Colorado, Boulder (CU). It was designed to assess conceptual learning within upper-division electricity and magnetism (E&M). Using the CUE, we have been documenting students' understanding of E&M at Oregon State University (OSU) over a period of 5 years. Our analysis indicates that the CUE identifies concepts that are generally difficult for students, regardless of the curriculum. The overall pattern of OSU students' scores reproduces the pattern reported by Chasteen et al. at CU. There are, however, some important differences that we will address. In particular, our students struggle with the CUE problems involving separation of variables and boundary conditions. We will discuss the possible causes for this, as well as steps that may rectify the situation.