Effects of laboratory experiments on physics teacher candidates’ wave concepts

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to determine the effects of different laboratory approaches on students’ understanding of wave concepts. For this purpose, three experiments and experiment instructions have been designed for each of the three approaches (verification, hypothesis testing, and the 5E laboratory approach). Quantitative aspects of the research are based on a grouped semi-empirical model. A random sampling has been done to develop the basic concepts of a waves test (BCWT), a multiple-choice test that was used in the quantitative part of the research. However, participants (physics teacher candidates) of the main study have been selected using purposeful sampling for the purposes of the qualitative research. At the same time, students have been specially chosen from students who have not taken the theoretical course titled ‘Vibrations and Waves’ and laboratory lecture titled ‘Vibrations and Waves Laboratory’. BCWT pre-test and post-test results, as well as interviews with students and the experiment reports of the students, were used as data resources. Despite the time and effort spent, the laboratory approaches that we utilized did not provide convincing results.