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Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research
Relations between representational consistency, conceptual understanding of the force concept, and scientific reasoning
written by Pasi Nieminen, Antti Savinainen, and Jouni Viiri
Previous physics education research has raised the question of "hidden variables" behind students' success in learning certain concepts. In the context of the force concept, it has been suggested that students' reasoning ability is one such variable. Strong positive correlations between students' preinstruction scores for reasoning ability (measured by Lawson's Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning) and their learning of forces [measured by the Force Concept Inventory (FCI)] have been reported in high school and university introductory courses. However, there is no published research concerning the relation between students' ability to interpret multiple representations consistently (i.e., representational consistency) and their learning of forces. To investigate this, we collected 131 high school students' pre- and post-test data of the Representational Variant of the Force Concept Inventory (for representational consistency) and the FCI. The students' Lawson pretest data were also collected. We found that the preinstruction level of students' representational consistency correlated strongly with student learning gain of forces. The correlation (0.51) was almost equal to the correlation between Lawson prescore and learning gain of forces (0.52). Our results support earlier findings which suggest that scientific reasoning ability is a hidden variable behind the learning of forces. In addition, we suggest that students' representational consistency may also be such a factor, and that this should be recognized in physics teaching.
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Classical Mechanics
- Applications of Newton's Laws
Education Foundations
- Assessment
- Problem Solving
= Representational Use
General Physics
- Scientific Reasoning
- Lower Undergraduate
- High School
- Graduate/Professional
- Reference Material
= Research study
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Mirror:
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevST…
Access Rights:
Free access
License:
This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.
Rights Holder:
American Physical Society
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.8.010123
PACS:
01.40.-d
Keywords:
Conceptual Understanding, Representation, Scientific Reasoning
Record Creator:
Metadata instance created May 18, 2012 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:
May 21, 2012 by Vince Kuo
Last Update
when Cataloged:
May 16, 2012
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AIP Format
P. Nieminen, A. Savinainen, and J. Viiri, , Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 8 (1), 010123 (2012), WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12000&DocID=2831).
AJP/PRST-PER
P. Nieminen, A. Savinainen, and J. Viiri, Relations between representational consistency, conceptual understanding of the force concept, and scientific reasoning, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 8 (1), 010123 (2012), <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12000&DocID=2831>.
APA Format
Nieminen, P., Savinainen, A., & Viiri, J. (2012, May 16). Relations between representational consistency, conceptual understanding of the force concept, and scientific reasoning. Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res., 8(1), 010123. Retrieved October 3, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12000&DocID=2831
Chicago Format
Nieminen, P, A. Savinainen, and J. Viiri. "Relations between representational consistency, conceptual understanding of the force concept, and scientific reasoning." Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 8, no. 1, (May 16, 2012): 010123, https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12000&DocID=2831 (accessed 3 October 2024).
MLA Format
Nieminen, Pasi, Antti Savinainen, and Jouni Viiri. "Relations between representational consistency, conceptual understanding of the force concept, and scientific reasoning." Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 8.1 (2012): 010123. 3 Oct. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12000&DocID=2831>.
BibTeX Export Format
@article{ Author = "Pasi Nieminen and Antti Savinainen and Jouni Viiri", Title = {Relations between representational consistency, conceptual understanding of the force concept, and scientific reasoning}, Journal = {Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.}, Volume = {8}, Number = {1}, Pages = {010123}, Month = {May}, Year = {2012} }
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%A Pasi Nieminen %A Antti Savinainen %A Jouni Viiri %T Relations between representational consistency, conceptual understanding of the force concept, and scientific reasoning %J Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. %V 8 %N 1 %D May 16, 2012 %P 010123 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12000&DocID=2831 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Journal Article %A Nieminen, Pasi %A Savinainen, Antti %A Viiri, Jouni %D May 16, 2012 %T Relations between representational consistency, conceptual understanding of the force concept, and scientific reasoning %J Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. %V 8 %N 1 %P 010123 %8 May 16, 2012 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12000&DocID=2831


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