Honors Theses and Capstones

Date of Award

Spring 2025

Project Type

Senior Honors Thesis

College or School

CEPS

Department

Physics

Program or Major

Physics

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

First Advisor

Dawn Meredith

Second Advisor

Nathaly Santiesteban

Abstract

This study explores how life science students reason about exponential functions in the context of an introductory physics course. While exponential functions are essential in both physics and biology—appearing in scenarios like population growth and temperature cooling—students often encounter challenges in interpreting them. Using a resources framework, we examined the cognitive resources these students bring to exponential reasoning, focusing on what ideas and strategies they already possess. Our methodology involved conducting think-aloud interviews with nine students from PHYS 402. Interviews were coded using a framework informed by prior research on covariational reasoning and exponential understanding. Results show that students generally have a strong foundation in interpreting graphs and identifying key features like rate of change and initial value. They could differentiate between linear and exponential growth but often confused exponential and quadratic functions. Familiarity with exponential growth was higher than with decay, suggesting a need for more instructional emphasis on decay scenarios. These findings point to opportunities for instruction that leverages students’ existing resources—such as their intuitive use of rate language (“faster,” “slows down”), recognition of initial values, and comfort with numerical patterns—and incorporates biologically relevant contexts to improve engagement and conceptual understanding.

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