Solved problems concerning RL and DC circuits in college textbooks

Abstract

In this paper, we describe and characterize the solved problems concerning LR circuits in direct current that are present in twelve college textbooks commonly used in Argentine Republic. These books were examined through content analysis. The results indicate that in the analyzed sample, in general terms, the explicitness is deficient for the physic systems studied, the proposed hypotheses, their limits of validity and for the verbalized explanations. On the other hand, the displayed resolution of the problems has little coherence with the research work conducted, and this would not promote the scientific work in students. Based on these outcomes and implications for teaching, we noticed that reinforcing the conceptual issues in the classroom that are not enough emphasized in the textbooks is an avoidable task for Physics professors of the basic college cycle.