Conflict within dyadic interactions as a stimulant for conceptual change in physics

Research suggests that conventional teaching techniques have proved largely ineffective for dealing with the problem of science students’ misconceptions or alternative frameworks. This paper reports an investigation whereby inter‐personal conflict within dyadic interactions is used as a strategy for promoting development towards correct scientific conceptions in specific areas of electrical circuits and mechanics amongst first‐year tertiary physics students. The data indicate that a large number of physics students at the tertiary level hold non‐scientific conceptions of these physical phenomena. The dyadic interaction strategy proved effective as a means of encouraging students to actively and closely consider their own thinking about basic physical concepts. Further, results highlight the importance of inter‐personal conflict in the process of conceptual change.

[1]  S. Siegel,et al.  Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences , 2022, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Research Design.

[2]  D. Michael Watts A study of schoolchildren's alternative frameworks of the concept of force , 1983 .

[3]  L. McDermott Research on conceptual understanding in mechanics , 1984 .

[4]  L. Vygotsky Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes: Harvard University Press , 1978 .

[5]  Mariana G. Hewson,et al.  The role of conceptual conflict in conceptual change and the design of science instruction , 1984 .

[6]  P. Hewson,et al.  Accommodation of a scientific conception: Toward a theory of conceptual change , 1982 .

[7]  David Shipstone,et al.  A study of children's understanding of electricity in simple DC circuits , 1984 .

[8]  John K. Gilbert,et al.  Concepts, Misconceptions and Alternative Conceptions: Changing Perspectives in Science Education , 1983 .

[9]  B. Shore,et al.  Learning Basic Principles of Probability in Student Dyads: A Cross-Age Comparison. , 1975 .

[10]  R. Driver,et al.  Pupils and Paradigms: a Review of Literature Related to Concept Development in Adolescent Science Students , 1978 .

[11]  L. Kohlberg,et al.  The Effects of Classroom Moral Discussion upon Children's Level of Moral Judgment , 1975 .

[12]  Anne-Nelly Perret-Clermont Social interaction and cognitive development in children , 1980 .

[13]  J. K. Gilbert,et al.  A Method for Investigating Concept Understanding in Science , 1980 .

[14]  Audrey B. Champagne,et al.  Effecting Changes in Cognitive Structures Amongst Physics Students. , 1983 .

[15]  Chris Dawson,et al.  Laboratory counterexamples and the growth of understanding in science , 1983 .

[16]  Richard Gunstone,et al.  Circular motion: Some pre-instruction alternative frameworks , 1984 .

[17]  R. Driver,et al.  Theories-in-Action: Some Theoretical and Empirical Issues in the Study of Students' Conceptual Frameworks in Science , 1983 .

[18]  John K. Gilbert,et al.  Science teaching and children's views of the world , 1983 .