Determining Students' Preconceptions/Misconceptions in Electricity ...

Demirci & Çirkinoğlu / TÜFED-TUSED / 1(2) 2004

mrat TÜRK FEN EĞİTİMİ DERGİSİ Yıl 1, Sayı 2, Aralık 2004

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Journal of TURKISH SCIENCE EDUCATION Volume 1, Issue 2, December 2004

http://www.tused.org

Determining Students’ Preconceptions/Misconceptions in Electricity and Magnetism Neşet DEMİRCİ1, Ayşegül ÇİRKİNOĞLU2 1,2

Balıkesir Üniversitesi, Necatibey Eğitim Fakültesi, OFMA Fizik Eğitimi, Balıkesir

SYPNOSIS Introduction In the last quarter of the 20th century, many studies (Thornton ve Sokoloff, 1990; Van Heuvelen, 1991; Hestenes ve ark., 1992; Poon, 1993; Palmer ve Flanagan, 1997; McDermott, 1997; Mazur, 1997; Redish ve ark., 1997; Duit ve ark., 1997; Mutimucio 1998; Hake, 1998; Tatlı ve Eryılmaz, 2001) in physics education showed that students have many preconceived ideas due to their experiences in their surrounding environments before entering the classroom, and those ideas negatively affect their further physics learning. To determine students’ preconceived ideas, many conceptual tests have been developed and applied. Maloney at al. (2001) developed a conceptual test consisting of 32 questions to evaluate students’ eleven different concepts about Electricity and Magnetism. Purpose The main aim of this study is to determine students’ preconceptions/misconceptions about Electricity and Magnetism, and therefore to answer the following research questions: 1. According to Electricity and Magnetism Concept pretest result, is there any difference between male and female students’ preconception/misconception? 2. According to Electricity and Magnetism Concept pretest result, is there any difference in students’ preconception/misconception between the grades? Methodology The sample of this study was chosen from all students enrolled on general physics II course in Necatibey Faculty of Education (NFE) and the Faculty of Science and Liberal Art (FSLA) at Balıkesir University at the beginning of Spring Semester in 2004. Of the 614 students, 318 (%51.8) were male, and 296 (%48.2) were female. Electricity and Magnetism Concept Test was the one instrument in the study was applied as pretest to determine students’ preconceptions/misconceptions about electricity and magnetism


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concept in physics. This test has a high reliability coefficient (r = 0.75) and measures students’ eleven concepts in electricity and magnetism (Maloney et al., 2001). Results Participating students’ mean scores (in percents) and standard deviation according to their grades are given in Table 1. Table 1: Electricity and Magnetism Concept pretest mean scores and standard deviation (in %) according to students’ grades. FSLA Mathematics FSLA Physics FSLA Chemistry NFE Physics Education NFE Chemistry Education NFE Math. Education NFE Comp. and Tech. Education NFE Junior H.S. Math. Education FSLA Physics- SE FSLA Chemistry- SE NFE Comp. And Tech.Edu- SE NFE Junior H.S Math Edu.- SE NFE Science Teacher Edu. NFE Science Teacher Edu. SE Total

N 39 29 47 26 30 46 37 84 26 40 34 79 55 42 614

% 6.4 4.7 7.7 4.2 4.9 7.5 6.0 13.7 4.2 6.5 5.5 12.9 9.0 6.8 100

Mean scores (in %) 26.795 26.379 20.702 33.807 24.700 29.065 25.6216 31.7024 24.8462 21.875 25.500 25.7342 30.4545 28.4524 27.104

S.D. 1.605 1.330 1.172 1.990 1.424 1.582 2.0531 0.9883 1.9851 1.3054 1.8949 0.8716 1.3031 1.2870 9.849

Note: N=614; SE: “Secondary Education Section”; FSLA: Faculty of Science and Liberal Art; NFE: Necatibey Faculty of Education

According to Electricity and Magnetism Concept pretest results, the mean score was 27.104 %, and standard deviation was 9.849. While the highest mean score obtained from the Physics Education department in Necatibey Faculty of Education with 33.8 %, the lowest mean score obtained from Chemistry department in Faculty of Science and Liberal Art with 20.7 %. To answer the question of “According to Electricity and Magnetism Concept pretest result, is there any difference between male and female students’ preconception/ misconception”, the t-test was performed. The t-test result was given in Table 2. Table 2: The summary table of Electricity and Magnetism Concept pretest t-test results according to gender.

Variables Gender differences scores (in %)

df 612

t 3.761

p .000*

*p< 0.05

According to the results, it is found that there is a significant difference between male and female students’ electricity and magnetism concept in the pretest (t612= 3.761; p< 0.05) in favour of the male participants. To answer the question of “According to Electricity and Magnetism Concept pretest result, is there any difference in students’ preconception/misconception between their grades”, the ANOVA and follow up “HSD post hoc” tests were performed. The ANOVA test results were given in Table 3.


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Table 3: The summary of ANOVA test results according to students’ grades Dependent variables: percent scores

Sources corrected Model Intercept Classes Error Total

SS 7477.189 390443.528 7477.189 51994.140 510540.000

df 13 1 13 600 614

MS 575.168 390443.528 575.168 86.657

F p 6.637 .000 4505.625 .000 6.637 .000*

*p< 0.05

According to Table 3 results, when it is looked at students’ pretest percentage scores there are significant differences between students’ grades. To find out what causes these differences, the Tukey’s “HSD Post Hoc” test was performed and its result is given in Table 4. Table 4: The summary table of “Tukey’s HSD Post Hoc” test results among students’ grades Dependent Variable: percent scores (I) Classes (J) Academic classes NFE Physics Education FSLA Mathematics FSLA Physics FSLA Chemistry NFE Chemistry Education NFE Math. Education NFE Comp. and Tech. Education NFE Junior H.S. Math. Education FSLA Physics- SE FSLA Chemistry- SE NFE Comp. And Tech.Edu- SE NFE Junior H.S Math Edu.- SE NFE Science Teacher Edu. NFE Science Teacher Edu. -SE

mean difference (I-J)

S. Error

p

7.0128 7.4284 13.1056 9.1077 4.7425 8.1861 2.1053 8.9615 11.9327 8.3077 8.0735 3.3531 5.3553

2.3569 2.5142 2.2752 2.4943 2.2840 2.3822 2.0892 2.5818 2.3451 2.4252 2.1047 2.2155 2.3230

.147 .155 .000* .018* .718 .038* .999 .034* .000* .040* .009* .966 .551

Note: *p< 0.05, SE: “Secondary Education Section”; FSLA: Faculty of Science and Liberal Art; NFE: Necatibey Faculty of Education

According to Table 4, it can be seen that there are significant differences between the students of NFE Physics Education class and FSLA Chemistry class, NFE Chemistry education class, FSLA Physics-SE class, FSLA Chemistry-SE class, Computer and technology education classes, and NFE Junior high school mathematics education class. Conclusion, Discussion, and Recommendations According to the results, it is found that there is a significant difference between male and female students’ preconception/misconceptions pretest scores in favor of male students about electricity and magnetism concepts in physics. Also students’ pretest scores differentiate according to their grade levels. Generally electricity and magnetism topics include many abstract concepts and this may affect the pretest results. At the end of the course, applying the electricity and magnetism concept test as posttest, the students’ conceptual change and/or misconceptions could be investigated in


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great details. According to pre- and post electricity and magnetism concept test results, to reduce or overcome students’ misconceptions about electricity and magnetism concepts, new instructional design or/and activities can be developed about electricity and magnetism concepts. Based on the results of this study we can make the following recommendations: • Students have to be careful while studying and preparing for exams of any physics concepts as well as for electricity and magnetism concepts. They should not study only to pass the examination; they have to be curios and inquire to learn. • The parents as well as teachers should support and encourage female pupils to study science or related subjects. • While the physics teachers or instructors teach any physics concept as well as electricity and magnetism concepts, they have to be careful, well-planned and well-prepared using new approaches or teaching methods. They have to update their knowledge by attending the conferences, seminars or following the research journals or events. • The authors or publishers of physics textbooks have to be careful in choosing, preparing and presenting the physical concepts, and aware of gender differences and misconceptions about any physics concepts as well as electricity or magnetism concepts. While presenting the knowledge, they have to choose interesting and colorful contents that students may enjoy while studying. The Ministry of Education has many responsibilities, starting from developing the up-dated research based physics curriculum to implementing these contents with new approaches or methods. The curriculum should encourage and direct students to discovery and inquire based learning instead of just leading them to memorize the facts or knowledge. Also incorporating the universities, the Ministry of Education should held in-service courses as frequently as possible to renew teachers’ knowledge and acquaint them with new developments and teaching methods to overcome any physics misconceptions as well as electricity and magnetism concepts.