Sequential Reasoning in Electricity: Developing and Using a Three-Tier Multiple Choice Test
PDF (English)

Jak citovat

Urban, H. (2017). Sequential Reasoning in Electricity: Developing and Using a Three-Tier Multiple Choice Test. Scientia in Educatione, 8. https://doi.org/10.14712/18047106.755

Abstrakt

Electricity is one of the areas in physics most studied in terms of learning difficulties. Misconceptions are strongly-held, stable cognitive structures, which differ from expert conception and affect how students understand scientific explanations. Therefore, there is a need for tests of conceptual understanding tests which are useful in diagnosing the nature of students’ misconceptions related to simple electric circuits and, in consequence, can serve as a valid and reliable measure of students’ qualitative understanding of simple electric circuits. As ordinary multiple choice tests with one-tier may overestimate the students’ correct as well as wrong answers, two- and three-tier tests were developed by researchers. Although, there is much research related to students’ conceptions in basic electricity, there is a lack of instruments for testing basic electricity concepts of students at grade 7, especially addressing an electric circuit as a system for a simple circuit of resistors and lamps in series. To address this gap, the context of the present study is an extension to the development of an already existing instrument developed by the author for testing electricity concepts of students at grade 7, specifically focusing on only two specific aspects in depth: first, to develop three-tier items for figuring out sequential reasoning, and second, to distinguish between misconceptions and lack of knowledge. The participants of the study included 339 secondary school students from grade 7 to 12 after instruction on electricity. Surprisingly, there are no dependences on students’ misconceptions either according to their gender or to their age. In conclusion, the findings of the study suggest that four items for uncovering students’ sequential reasoning can serve as a valid and reliable measure of students’ qualitative understanding of the systemic character of an electric circuit.
https://doi.org/10.14712/18047106.755
PDF (English)

Reference

Bilal, E. & Erol, M. (2009). Investigating students’ conceptions of some electricity concepts. Latin American Journal for Physics Education, 3(2), 193–201.

Brna, P. (1988). Confronting misconceptions in the domain of simple electric circuits. Instructional Science, 17, 29–55.

Closset, J.L. (1983). Sequential reasoning in electricity. In Proceedings of the International Workshop on Research in Physics Education, La Londe les Maures. Paris: Editions du CNRS.

Dupin, J.J. & Johsua, S. (1987). Conceptions of French pupils concerning electric circuits: Structure and evolution. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 24(9), 791–806.

Hammer, D. (1996). More than misconceptions: Multiple perspectives on student. Knowledge and reasoning, and an appropriate role for educational research. American Journal of Physics, 64(10), 1316–1325.

Heller, P.M. & Finley, F.N. (1992). Variable uses of alternative conceptions: A case study in current electricity. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 29(3), 259–275.

McDermott, L.C. & Shaffer, P.S. (1992). Research as a guide for curriculum development: An example form introductory electricity. Part I: investigation of student understanding. American Journal of Physics, 60(11), 994–1003.

Pesman, H. & Eryilmaz, A. (2010). Development of a three-tier test to assess misconceptions about simple electric circuits. Journal of Education Research, 103(3), 208–222.

Riley, M.S., Bee, N.V. & Mokwa, J.J. (1981). Representations in early learning: the acquisition of problem-solving strategies in basic electricity and electronics. In Proceedings of the International Workshop on Problems Concerning Students’ Representations of Physics and Chemistry Knowledge, Ludwigsburg (107–173). Ludwigsburg: Pädagogische Hochschule.

Rosencwajg, P. (1992). Analysis of problem solving strategies on electricity problems in 12 to 13 year olds. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 7(1), 5–22.

Sebastia, J.M. (1993). Cognitive mediators and interpretations of electric circuits. In The proceedings of the third international seminar on misconceptions and educational strategies in science and mathematics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University.

Shipstone, D.M. (1984). A study of children‘s understanding of electricity in simple DCcircuits. European Journal of Science Education, 6, 185–198. Shipstone, D.M. (1988). Pupils’ understanding of simple electric circuits: Some implications for instruction. Physics Education, 23, 92–96.

Urban-Woldron, H. & Hopf, M. (2012). Entwicklung eines Testinstruments zum Verständnis in der Elektrizitätslehre [Developing a multiple choice test for understanding basic electricity]. Zeitschrift für Didaktik der Naturwissenschaften, 18, 201–227