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Probing Students' Epistemologies Using Split Tasks
written by Timothy L. McCaskey and Andrew Elby
Do students really believe the physical principles they learn in class? To explore this question, we gave an FCI "split" task in which students indicated the answers they think a scientist would give and also indicated the answers they really believe. To interpret the splits that students indicated between what they believe and what they were taught, we interviewed students about why they split. It turns out that a split does not indicate that the student disbelieves the scientist's answer. The splits actually arose for other reasons, one of which was students indicating a discrepancy between what they were taught and what makes sense to them. For this and other reasons, we devised a new split task focused on these discrepancies between "what makes sense" and what a scientist would say. The results of this new experiment, including validation interviews, will be discussed briefly. Evidence suggests that students are more willing to reconcile physics concepts with their everyday experience if epistemological development is an explicit goal of instruction.
Physics Education Research Conference 2004
Part of the PER Conference series
Sacramento, California: August 4-5, 2004
Volume 790, Pages 57-60
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Education Foundations
- Alternative Conceptions
- Assessment
- Learning Theory
General Physics
- Physics Education Research
- Lower Undergraduate
- Graduate/Professional
- Reference Material
= Research study
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Mirror:
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2084700
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Restriction:
© 2004 American Institute of Physics
DOI:
10.1063/1.2084700
NSF Number:
0087519
PACSs:
01.40.Fk
01.40.Gm
Keywords:
FCI, PERC 2004, conceptual reconciliation, educational courses, epistemological development, interviews, research and development management, split task, teaching
Record Cloner:
Metadata instance created October 19, 2009 by Alea Smith
Record Updated:
July 9, 2013 by Lyle Barbato
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Record Link
AIP Format
T. McCaskey and A. Elby, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2004, Sacramento, California, 2004, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9531&DocID=3437).
AJP/PRST-PER
T. McCaskey and A. Elby, Probing Students' Epistemologies Using Split Tasks, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2004, Sacramento, California, 2004, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9531&DocID=3437>.
APA Format
McCaskey, T., & Elby, A. (2004, August 4-5). Probing Students' Epistemologies Using Split Tasks. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2004, Sacramento, California. Retrieved March 28, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9531&DocID=3437
Chicago Format
McCaskey, Timothy, and Andrew Elby. "Probing Students' Epistemologies Using Split Tasks." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2004, Sacramento, California, August 4-5, 2004. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9531&DocID=3437 (accessed 28 March 2024).
MLA Format
McCaskey, Timothy, and Andrew Elby. "Probing Students' Epistemologies Using Split Tasks." Physics Education Research Conference 2004. Sacramento, California: 2004. 57-60 Vol. 790 of PER Conference. 28 Mar. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9531&DocID=3437>.
BibTeX Export Format
@inproceedings{ Author = "Timothy McCaskey and Andrew Elby", Title = {Probing Students' Epistemologies Using Split Tasks}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2004}, Pages = {57-60}, Address = {Sacramento, California}, Series = {PER Conference}, Volume = {790}, Month = {August 4-5}, Year = {2004} }
Refer Export Format

%A Timothy McCaskey %A Andrew Elby %T Probing Students' Epistemologies Using Split Tasks %S PER Conference %V 790 %D August 4-5 2004 %P 57-60 %C Sacramento, California %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9531&DocID=3437 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2004 %O August 4-5 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %A McCaskey, Timothy %A Elby, Andrew %D August 4-5 2004 %T Probing Students' Epistemologies Using Split Tasks %B Physics Education Research Conference 2004 %C Sacramento, California %V 790 %P 57-60 %S PER Conference %8 August 4-5 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9531&DocID=3437


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