Relations between Representational Consistency, Conceptual Understanding of the Force Concept, and Scientific Reasoning.

Previous physics education research has raised the question of ‘‘hidden variables’’ behind students’ success in learning certain concepts. In the contextof the force concept, it has been suggested that students’ reasoning ability is one such variable. Strong positive correlations between students’ preinstruction scores for reasoning ability (measured by Lawson’s Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning) and their learning of forces [measured by the Force Concept Inventory (FCI)] have been reported in high school and university introductory courses. However, there is no published research concerning the relation between students’ ability to interpret multiple representations consistently (i.e., representational consistency) and their learning of forces. To investigate this, we collected 131 high school students’ pre- and post-test data of the Representational Variant of the Force Concept Inventory(for representational consistency) and the FCI. The students’ Lawson pretest data were also collected. We found that the preinstruction level of students’ representational consistency correlated strongly with student learning gain offorces. The correlation (0.51) was almost equal to the correlation between Lawson prescore and learning gain offorces (0.52). Our results supportearlierfindingswhichsuggestthatscientificreasoningabilityisahiddenvariablebehindthelearning of forces. In addition, we suggest that students’representational consistency may also be such a factor, and that this should be recognized in physics teaching.

[1]  AN INTERVENTION FOR USING M ULTIPLE REPRESENTATIONS OF MECHANICS IN UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL COURSES , 2010 .

[2]  Douglas C. Giancoli.  Physics: Principles with Applications , 1999 .

[3]  R. Kozma.  The material features of multiple representations and their cognitive and social affordances for science understanding , 2003 .

[4]  Jeffery A. Phillips,et al.  FCI normalized gain, scientific reasoning ability, thinking in physics, and gender effects , 2012 .

[5]  Rodney L. Doran,et al.  Basic measurement and evaluation of science instruction , 1980 .

[6]  Jeffrey A. Phillips,et al.  Interpreting force concept inventory scores: Normalized gain and SAT scores , 2007 .

[7]  Jouni Viiri,et al.  Force Concept Inventory-based multiple-choice test for investigating students' representational consistency , 2010 .

[8]  Anton E. Lawson,et al.  Self-efficacy, reasoning ability, and achievement in college biology , 2007 .

[9]  Philip Scott,et al.  Using a Bridging Representation and Social Interactions to Foster Conceptual Change: Designing and Evaluating an Instructional Sequence for Newton's Third Law. , 2005 .

[10]  Tina Seufert.  Supporting Coherence Formation in Learning from Multiple Representations , 2003 .

[11]  D. Schunk,et al.  Self-Efficacy and Academic Motivation , 2002 .

[12]  Xueli Zou,et al.  Multiple representations of work-energy processes , 2001 .

[13]  Learning of Content Knowledge and Development of Scientific Reasoning Ability: A Cross Culture Comparison , 2008, 0807.2061.

[14]  David E. Meltzer,et al.  The relationship between mathematics preparation and conceptual learning gains in physics: A possible “hidden variable” in diagnostic pretest scores , 2002 .

[15]  R. Hake.  Interactive-engagement versus traditional methods: A six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses , 1998 .

[16]  Noah D. Finkelstein,et al.  Student representational competence and self-assessment when solving physics problems , 2005 .

[17]  A. Savinainen,et al.  The Force Concept Inventory as a Measure of Students Conceptual Coherence , 2008 .

[18]  D. Hestenes,et al.  Force concept inventory , 1992 .

[19]  Philip Scott,et al.  Using the Force Concept Inventory to monitor student learning and to plan teaching , 2002 .

[20]  N. Finkelstein,et al.  Patterns of multiple representation use by experts and novices during physics problem solving , 2008 .

[21]  Jeffrey A. Phillips,et al.  Why You Should Measure Your Students' Reasoning Ability , 2007 .

[22]  Noah D. Finkelstein,et al.  Strongly and Weakly Directed Approaches to Teaching Multiple Representation Use in Physics , 2007 .

[23]  Anton E. Lawson,et al.  The development and validation of a classroom test of formal reasoning , 1978 .

[24]  Jeffrey A. Phillips,et al.  Interpreting FCI scores: Normalized gain, preinstruction scores, and scientific reasoning ability , 2005 .

[25]  Noah D. Finkelstein,et al.  Effects of Representation on Students Solving Physics Problems: A Fine-Grained Characterization. , 2006 .

[26]  Jennifer Docktor,et al.  Synthesis of Discipline-Based Education Research in Physics. , 2014 .

[27]  David E. Meltzer,et al.  Relation between students’ problem-solving performance and representational format , 2005 .

[28]  David Hestenes,et al.  Interpreting the force concept inventory: A response to March 1995 critique by Huffman and Heller , 1995 .

[29]  David Hestenes,et al.  Modeling methodology for physics teachers , 2008 .