Level of Students’ Conceptual Understanding of Static Fluid

Abstract

The research aims to explore the level of students’ conceptual understanding of static fluid. This quantitative descriptive research involves 30 students. The research instrument consisted of 10 reasoning multiple choice questions with reliability is 0.629. Student responses are categorized into five levels of conceptual understanding, which are level 0 (NU), level 1 (SM), level 2 (PU/SM), level 3 (PU), and level 4 (SU). The result shows that most students at level 4 (SU) for the concept of hydrostatic pressure are related to density. Most students at level 3 (PU) for the concept of hydrostatic pressure related to the density of the fluid and the depth of objects, and the concept of material which can be floating. Most of the students at level 2 (PU/SM) for the concept of hydrostatic pressure related to the depth of objects, fluid pressure in an enclosed space, buoyancy, and the object's position in the liquid. Some things that can be done to reduce or eliminate students' misconceptions about this topic are deriving a hydrostatic pressure equation, conducting experiments using two injection pistons connected to a hose filled with fluid, and showing a demonstration of immersing two objects with the same mass but different volume or shape, deriving the origin of the equation for buoyancy, and finding the ratio of the density of the object and the fluid as a determinant of the position of the object in the fluid.