A phenomenographic analysis of students’ experience of the mohr circle: a case study in research-led engineering education

• Autores: L. C. Woollacott, J. Van Der Merwe
• Localización: The International journal of engineering education, ISSN-e 0949-149X, Vol. 33, no. 4, 2017, 1282 págs.
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The case study presented in this paper was motivated by a teacher’s desire to understand better the conceptual difficultieshis students were experiencing with the topic of the Mohr Circle in a materials engineering course. To gain such anunderstanding, a phenomenographic study was undertaken based on student interviews. The findings of the studyidentified four categories of qualitatively different conceptions about the Mohr Circle that were evident among thestudents.These, togetherwitha number of subcategories, provideda conceptualstructurefor modifyingthe waythe coursewas taught and also highlighted particular aspects of the topic that required pedagogical attention. Although the studyderives from a specific group of students and relates to a specific context, the insights reported in the paper may haverelevance to other contexts and groupings of students. In particular, it demonstrates the utility of phenomenography as auseful methodology in research-led engineering education.