An Investigation of Physics Teachers’ Multiple Representation Ability on Newton’s Law Concept

Masrifah Masrifah,Wawan Setiawan,Parlindungan Sinaga,Agus Setiawan

doi:10.21009/1.06112

Abstract

The ability of the teacher to represent a concept using various types of representation is a critical competency. Teachers who have limited multiple representation abilities will not be able to provide a holistic and appropriate learning experience because students have different abilities in constructing their knowledge. This study aims to determine the multiple representation ability of Physics teacher by using instruments to test multiple representations on the topic of Newton’s law consisting of text representations, images, pictorial diagrams, tables, graphs, and mathematical equations. The subjects in this study were 30 high school Physics teachers in North Maluku who were determined based on the purposive sampling technique. Data on multiple teacher representation abilities were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results of the data analysis showed that the multi-representation ability of high school physics teachers in Newton’s law concept was in the medium category (55.7%) with the highest achievement occurring in the type of mathematical representation and the lowest in the pictorial diagram representation types for both female and male teachers. Besides, based on data implemented using SPSS 2.0, it can be concluded that there are no significant differences with the ability of teacher’s multi-representation based on gender and teacher’s teaching experience.

Highlights

Physics, which is part of science, requires understanding and ability to represent a concept in different ways (Gunel et al 2006)
While participants involved in this study, namely 30 high school physics teachers consisting of 13 men and 17 women with teaching experience between 2-10 years
The results show that there is no significant difference in multiple representations of ability in all types of representations studied

Summary

Introduction

Physics, which is part of science, requires understanding and ability to represent a concept in different ways (Gunel et al 2006). According to (Hestenes 1997) that a good indicator of conceptual understanding is characterized by the ability to recognize and manipulate concepts in various representations. The multiple representations approach is effective in increasing conceptual understanding (Van Heuvelen 1991a). This opinion is reinforced by the results of research, which states that the multi-representation approach to the concept of mechanics can build a deep and coherent understanding of concepts (Wong 2011). Multiple representations can be interpreted as a way to represent the same concept in different formats, including verbal, mathematical, pictures, and graphics.

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