An Experimental Approach of Nodes Towards the Electric Potential for Students and Teachers

Electricity is a common learning topic. Early research on students’ difficulties on circuits pointed out that the concept of potential does not have role nor meaning and referred it to the link between electrostatics and circuits. Subsequent research highlighted how potential is not recognized as a significant quantity for charge transfer or in activities to bridge electrostatics and circuits, micro and macro view. Starting from these outcomes a teaching/learning proposal was designed on charge transfer with simple hands-on experiments and sensors. It aims at realizing the students’ cognitive need for an interpretative quantity (potential) driving the charge transfer, with a meaning of energy. $$ S_{i, j}^{m,t} = (1 - \alpha )S_{i, j}^{m, t - 1} \,{ + }\,\alpha S_{i, j}^{n, t, u, v} $$