Conceptual Change In Students Research Articles

Active Learning session based on Didactical Engineering framework for conceptual change in students’ equilibrium and stability understanding

ABSTRACTEngineering students on control courses lack a deep understanding of equilibrium and stability that are crucial concepts in this discipline. Several studies have shown that students find it difficult to understand simple familiar or academic static equilibrium cases as well as dynamic ones from mechanics even if they know the discipline’s criteria and formulae. Our aim is to study the impact of a specific and innovative classroom session, containing well-chosen situations that address students’ misconceptions. We propose an example of Active Learning experiment based both on the Didactical Engineering methodology and the Conceptual Fields Theory that aims at promoting a conceptual change in students. The chosen methodology allows, at the same time, a proper design of the student learning activities, an accurate monitoring of the students’ rational use during the tasks and provides an internal tool for the evaluation of the session’s efficiency. Although the expected starting conceptual change was detected, it would require another activity in order to be reinforced.

Recent research in science teaching and learning.

Recent research in science teaching and learning.

Transforming Misconceptions: Using Transformative Experience to Promote Positive Affect and Conceptual Change in Students Learning About Biological Evolution

ABSTRACTTeaching and learning about complex scientific content, such as biological evolution, is challenging in part because students have a difficult time seeing the relevance of evolution in their everyday lives. The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of the Teaching for Transformative Experiences in Science (TTES) model (Pugh, 2002) for facilitating conceptual change and positive affect in college students learning about evolution. Fifty‐five undergraduates experienced instruction on six key evolution concepts (adaptation, variation, inheritance, speciation, domestication, and extinction). Instruction enhanced with the TTES model was compared to a conceptual change intervention, using refutation text and discussion. Outcomes were assessed using the Evolutionary Reasoning Scale (Shtulman, 2006), the Transformative Experience Survey (Pugh, Linnenbrink‐Garcia, Koskey, Stewart, & Manzey, 2010a), and the Evolution Emotions Survey. The results showed that the group that experienced the TTES model showed higher levels of transformative experience and greater conceptual change than the comparison group. In addition, the treatment group showed an increase in enjoyment of the evolution content over the course of instruction. Implications for transformative experience as a conceptual change pedagogical technique are discussed. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 97:723–744, 2013

Model of conceptual change for INQPRO: A Bayesian Network approach

Constructing a computational model of conceptual change for a computer-based scientific inquiry learning environment is difficult due to two challenges: (i) externalizing the variables of conceptual change and its related variables is difficult. In addition, defining the causal dependencies among the variables is also not trivial. Such difficulty stemmed mainly because conceptual change is an implicit mental model restructuring process, which occurs as a result of confrontation with new knowledge; (ii) to model the process of conceptual change across time by merely observing student interactions could be misleading. This is largely because within the computer-based learning environment, students are granted the freedom to explore and evaluate their ideas. To ease these challenges, this study began with proposing variables of conceptual change and subsequently employing a Bayesian Network model to capture the causal dependencies between the proposed variables as well as the evolving patterns of conceptual change. To obtain the optimal model, two conceptual change Bayesian Network models were proposed and integrated into INQPRO before they can be empirically evaluated via a field study. In this study, interaction logs from 96 were collected and preprocessed before feeding into the proposed models. The accuracy of each Bayesian Network model was measured by matching the results of posttest and interview with the predicted conceptual change outcomes of each model. The empirical findings supported the notion that the conceptual change Bayesian Network model with self-regulation node is a better solution to predict a student's conceptual change in INQPRO.

The Effect of a Brain-Based Teaching Method on Conceptual Change in Students' Understanding of Electricity

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which a Brain-Based Teaching Method could correct misconceptions and change eighth grade Jordanian students’ understanding of concepts of electricity. The randomly selected sample (N=357) included students from the Bani Kenanah Directorate of Education in Jordan. A brain-based teaching method was used to instruct 183 students (98 male and 85 female), while conventional teaching method was used to instruct 174 students (82 male and 92 female). Two instruments were developed: a multiple-choice test of the misconceptions of electricity commonly held by eighth grade students and an inventory that classified participants based on students’ levels of learning process. Data analyses used the SPSS software package to perform a 2-way ANCOVA and post hoc tests with the split file technique at an α level of 0.05. The results indicated that the brain-based teaching method surpassed conventional method in correcting misconceptions and changing students’ concepts of electricity. However, the results also demonstrated that meaningful learners outperformed in-between and rote learners with regard to conceptual change and that rote learners exhibited the poorest performance. Study results, which were consistent with earlier findings, suggest that curriculum developers should take characteristics of brain learning into account in developing curricula and textbooks and those instructors should consider brain characteristics when planning science lessons.

Using circuit and wiring diagrams to identify students' preconceived ideas about basic electric circuits

This paper reflects on the difficulties students have in understanding, designing and constructing electrical circuits through an analysis of errors they have made in drawing wiring and circuit diagrams. Prior to wiring a model house, a sample of 114 primary school teacher trainees were taken through a programme of instruction in current electricity designed to effect conceptual change. As part of the programme, students were asked to design both circuit as well as wiring diagrams for a doll's house. The wiring diagrams were then compared to the circuit designs and common errors in the circuit diagrams, the wiring diagrams as well as subsequent examination responses to related questions were recorded and categorised according to alternative models of electric current identified in the literature. In this way, both the circuit diagrams as well as the wiring diagrams were used as diagnostic instruments to identify preconceived ideas about simple DC circuits. An analysis of the catalogue of common errors in the circuit and wiring diagrams, suggests that students not only revert to earlier, non-scientific models of thinking about electricity when confronted with the rather more difficult task of spatially organising the components that need to be connected to fit in with the design of the house, but that they also exhibit interesting “transitional” diagrams that incorporate conflicting ideas about circuits. These instances of transitional thinking as manifested in the students' wiring and circuit diagrams might reflect instances of intermediate developmental models used by students, or perhaps the re-emergence of phenomenological primitives. This conceptual ecology that is manifested through a process of designing wiring diagrams could be a useful way to track and facilitate conceptual change in students.

Investigating the effectiveness of a POE-based teaching activity on students’ understanding of condensation

This article reports on the development of a Predict–Observe–Explain, POE-based teaching strategy to facilitate conceptual change and its effectiveness on student understanding of condensation. The sample consisted of 52 first-year students in primary science education department. Students’ ideas were elicited using a test consisting of five probe questions and semi-structured interviews. A teaching activity composed of three Predict–Discuss–Explain–Observe–Discuss–Explain (PDEODE) tasks was employed, based on students’ preconceptions identified with the test. Conceptual change in students’ understanding of condensation was evaluated via a pre-, post-, and delayed post-test approach and students’ interviews. Test scores were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The findings suggested that the strategy helps students to achieve better conceptual understanding for the concept of condensation and enables students to retain these new conceptions in their long-term memory.

Conceptual Change in Students’ Molecular Biology Education: Tilting at Windmills?

ABSTRACT A hands-on instructional approach with medium-achieving 10th-grade students (N = 294) successfully demonstrated the achievement of a conceptual change. Two teaching variations were applied (I-1, I-2), both dealing with a hands-on gene technology lesson in an out-of-school laboratory. I-2 additionally confronted the participants with alternative conceptions to some of the central issues involved in gene technology following a constructivist teaching model. The authors monitored the percentage of alternative conceptions by pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest. In the long term, I-2 abandoned more of students’ alternative conceptions in favor of the orthodox scientific view. Furthermore, a gender effect appeared: In the short term, more young men within I-2 were forced to shift to more scientific conceptions. Young women filed their alternative conceptions also in the long term, independently of the applied instructional method.

On-line synchronous scientific argumentation learning: Nurturing students' argumentation ability and conceptual change in science context

The purpose of this study is to examine the difference in effectiveness between two on-line scientific learning programs – one with an argumentation component and one without an argumentation component – on students' scientific argumentation ability and conceptual change. A quasi-experimental design was used in this study. Two classes of 8th grade students (the experimental group) received the on-line scientific argumentation learning program about chemical reaction, and the other two classes of 8th grade students (the control group) received the same on-line scientific learning program about chemical reaction, but without argumentation, for two weeks. All 140 students were administered the scientific conception test, conceptual change test, and argumentation test before, one week after, and eight weeks after learning. In addition, the experimental group students' on-line argumentation process was collected. Results showed that the students of the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group, regardless of scientific conceptions, conceptual change, and argumentation. Regression results indicated that hold of scientific conceptions is the best predicator for students' conceptual change, followed by argumentation ability. The quantity and quality of scientific arguments that students generated in a series of argumentation questions improved across the four topics. In addition, students also successfully changed their conceptions from pre- to post-driving questions across four topics. This clearly demonstrates that students' argumentation ability and conceptual change were both facilitated through receiving the on-line Synchronous Argumentation science learning program.

Promoting conceptual change in first year students’ understanding of evaporation

We constructed the PDEODE (Predict-Discuss-Explain-Observe-Discuss-Explain) teaching strategy, a variant of the classical POE (Predict-Observe-Explain) activity, to promote conceptual change, and investigated its effectiveness on student understanding of the evaporation concept. The sample consisted of 52 first year students in a primary science education department. The students’ ideas were revealed by a test consisting of eight questions. The PDEODE teaching strategy was designed on the basis of the students’ preconceptions. Conceptual change in students’ understanding of evaporation was evaluated by administering the same test as pre-, post and delayed post-test. The test scores were analyzed by both qualitative and quantitative methods. Statistical analysis using general linear model repeated measures of student test scores point to statistically significant differences in pre-, post-, delayed post tests and total scores (p<0.05), suggesting that the strategy helped students to achieve a better conceptual understanding. Further, no statistically significant differences were observed between post-test and delayed post-test scores, suggesting that teaching strategy enabled students to retain their new conceptions in their long-term memory.

Approaches to Teaching in Mainstream and Separate Postsecondary Classrooms

The study examined attitudes toward teaching reported by university instructors who normally teach hearing students (with the occasional deaf or hard of hearing student) and by instructors who normally teach deaf and hard of hearing students at the same institution. Overall, a view of instruction as information transmission was associated with a teacher-focused approach to instruction, whereas viewing instruction as a means of promoting conceptual change was associated with a student-focused approach. Instructors in mainstream classrooms were more oriented toward information transmission than conceptual change, whereas instructors experienced in separate classrooms for deaf and hard of hearing students reported seeking to promote conceptual change in students and adopting more student-focused approaches to teaching. These results are consistent with previous findings concerning instructors' approaches to teaching and deaf and hard of hearing students' approaches to learning, and may help explain recent findings regarding student outcomes in separate versus mainstream secondary classrooms.

High‐school Students' Conceptual Difficulties and Attempts at Conceptual Change: The case of basic quantum chemical concepts

This study tested for deep understanding and critical thinking about basic quantum chemical concepts taught at 12th grade (age 17–18). Our aim was to achieve conceptual change in students. A quantitative study was conducted first (n = 125), and following this 23 selected students took part in semi‐structured interviews either individually or in small groups that were allowed to interact under the coordination of the investigators. The planetary Bohr model was strongly favoured, while the probabilistic nature of the orbital concept was absent from many students' minds. Other students held a hybrid model. In some cases, students did not accept that the electron cloud provides a picture of the atom. Many students had not understood the fundamental nature of the uncertainty principle. Finally, the mathematical description of the formation of molecular orbitals caused problems in the case of destructive (antibonding) overlap of atomic orbitals. Our approach to conceptual change employed active and cooperative forms of learning, which are consistent with social–cultural constructivism and with Vygotsky's zone of proximal development. It proved effective in a number of cases, and ineffective in others. The variation in students' approaches was explained on the basis of Ausubel's theory about meaningful and rote learning and of the ability to employ higher‐order cognitive skills. Nevertheless, the methodology used can be useful for all students, irrespective of their behaviour in traditional written examinations.

Computer assessment of interview data using latent semantic analysis

Clinical interviews are a powerful method for assessing students' knowledge and conceptualdevelopment. However, the analysis of the resulting data is time-consuming and can create a "bottleneck" in large-scale studies. This article demonstrates the utility of computational methods in supporting such an analysis. Thirty-four 7th-grade student explanations of the causes of Earth's seasons were assessed using latent semantic analysis (LSA). Analyses were performed on transcriptions of student responses during interviews administered, prior to (n = 21) and after (n = 13) receiving earth science instruction. An instrument that uses LSA technology was developed to identify misconceptions and assess conceptual change in students' thinking. Its accuracy, as determined by comparing its classifications to the independent coding performed by four human raters, reached 90%. Techniques for adapting LSA technology to support the analysis of interview data, as well as some limitations, are discussed.

Facilitating Conceptual Change in Students’ Understanding of Boiling Concept

The objective of this study was to construct a teaching strategy for facilitating students’ conceptual understanding of the boiling concept. The study is based on 52 freshman students in the primary science education department. Students’ ideas were elicited by a test consisting of nine questions. Conceptual change strategy was designed based on students’ alternative conceptions. Conceptual change in students’ understanding of boiling was evaluated by administering a pre-, post- and delayed post-test. The test scores were analysed both by qualitative and quantitative methods. Statistical analysis using one-way ANOVA of student test scores pointed to statistically significant differences in the tests and total scores (p < 0.05). Quantitative analysis of students’ responses on each test revealed different schema about changing their knowledge system. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses suggest that the teaching activities facilitated students’ conceptual understanding. No statistically significant differences were found between post-test and delayed post-test scores, suggesting that the teaching strategy enabled students to retain their new conceptions in the long-term memory.

SCCR digital learning system for scientific conceptual change and scientific reasoning

This study reports an adaptive digital learning project, scientific concept construction and reconstruction (SCCR), that was developed based on the theories of Dual Situated Learning Model (DSLM) and scientific reasoning. In addition, the authors investigated the effects of an SCCR related to a “combustion” topic for sixth grade students conceptual change and scientific reasoning. An experimental research design including the Combustion Achievement Test (CAT), Scientific Reasoning Test (SRT) and Combustion Dependent Reasoning Test (CDRT) was applied for both experimental and conventional group students before, directly after, and after the sixth week of the research as pre-, post- and retention-test. Results indicated that the experimental group students significantly outperformed the conventional group students on both post- and retention- of CAT and CDRT scores. In addition, experimental group students performed better than conventional group students on the post-SRT scores. The success rate of conceptual change ranged from 70% to 100% for experimental group students for most web-based dual situated learning events. The nature of the scientific reasoning used by experimental group students mainly either made progression (PG) or maintain-correct (MTC) across most events from before to after web-based dual situated learning events. All of these results support the claim that students’ conceptual change their scientific reasoning ability can be promoted through an SCCR digital learning program.

Saying the wrong thing: improving learning with multimedia by including misconceptions

Abstract In this study, 364 first‐year physics students were randomly assigned to one of four online multimedia treatments on Newton's First and Second Laws of Motion: (1) the ‘Exposition’, a concise lecture‐style presentation; (2) the ‘Extended Exposition’, the Exposition with additional interesting information; (3) the ‘Refutation’, the Exposition with common misconceptions explicitly stated and refuted; or (4) the ‘Dialogue’, a student–tutor discussion of the same material as in the Refutation. Students were tested using questions from mechanics conceptual inventories before and after watching the multimedia treatments. Results show the Refutation and Dialogue produced the greatest learning gains, with effect sizes of 0.79 and 0.83, respectively, compared with the Exposition. Students with low prior knowledge benefited most, however high prior knowledge learners were not disadvantaged by the misconception‐based approach. The findings suggest that online multimedia can be greatly improved, promoting conceptual change in students with all levels of experience, by including a discussion of misconceptions.

Longitudinal Conceptual Change in Students' Understanding of Thermal Equilibrium: An Examination of the Process of Conceptual Restructuring

This research analyzes students' conceptual change across a semester in an 8th-grade thermodynamics curriculum. Fifty students were interviewed 5 times during their 8th-grade semester and then again preceding their 10th- and 12th-grade years to follow their subsequent progress. The interview questions probed students' understanding of thermodynamics in everyday situations. The analysis of the transcripts first focuses on the full cohort. The analysis then focuses on 2 fairly successful and 2 less successful students in greater detail. Direct quotations provide the primary warrants in the analysis of the 4 case-study students, but the analysis also incorporates 2 new analytical–representational forms to map students' conceptual change trajectories. Ultimately, the results clarify the conceptual change processes through which students' understandings of thermal equilibrium evolve from disjointed sets of context-dependent ideas toward, if not achieving, integrated cohesive perspectives.

Using concept mapping for assessing and promoting relational conceptual change in science

AbstractIn this article, we adopted the relational conceptual change as our theoretical framework to accommodate current views of conceptual change such as ontological beliefs, epistemological commitment, and social/affective contexts commonly mentioned in the literature. We used a specific concept mapping format and process—digraphs and digraphing—as an operational framework for assessing and promoting relational conceptual change. We wanted to find out how concept mapping can be used to account for relational conceptual change. We collected data from a Grade 12 chemistry class using collaborative computerized concept mapping on an ongoing basis during a unit of instruction. Analysis of progressive concept maps and interview transcripts of representative students and the teacher showed that ongoing and collaborative computerized concept mapping is able to account for student conceptual change in ontological, epistemological, and social/affective domains. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 88:373–396, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/.sce10127

Facilitating Conceptual Change in Students' Understanding of Ecological Concepts

In this study, the effect of conceptual-change-texts-oriented instruction to seventh-grade students' understanding of ecological concepts was investigated. Using information collected through interviews and related literature, the Ecology Concept Test was developed and administered to 58 elementary students in two classes of an elementary school before and after the treatment. The experimental group received conceptual-change-texts-oriented instruction and the control group received traditional instruction. Results of independent t test analysis revealed a statistically significant difference between the gain score means of the students in both groups with respect to ecological concepts in favor of experimental group after the treatment.

Questioning skills for conceptual change in science instruction

Science teachers ask questions to assess students' cognitive abilities and to promote student motivation in learning. Cognitive questions are usually divided into low-order and high-order types. According to the conceptual change model of learning, teachers can also use questions to facilitate the construction of knowledge by students. These ‘conceptual-change’ questions may be used to: probe students' conceptions; challenge students to resolve inconsistent views; guide students to establish relationships between existing knowledge and a new concept; and help students apply a newly acquired concept to different situations. The present study explores the impact of an initial teacher education programme with a strong focus on a conceptual change model of science instruction. Based on classroom observations, the types of questions asked by a group of teachers enrolled in this programme are reviewed, with special attention to the questions that aim at inducing conceptual change in students. Examples of low-order, high-order and conceptual-change questions are quoted to illustrate the variety of questions asked by the subjects.