Mathematical vs. Conceptual Understanding: Where Do We Draw The Line?
written by
Homeyra R. Sadaghiani and Nicholas Aguilera
This research involved high school physics students and how they learn to understand Newton's laws as they relate to falling bodies and projectile motion. Students in introductory, algebra-based, high school physics classes were evaluated based on their prior knowledge through a pretest, designed to assess their initial comprehension of the motion of falling bodies and projectiles. Groups were divided and taught separately with an emphasis on either mathematical derivation of equations, followed by brief conceptual discussions, or on thorough conceptual analysis, followed by a brief mathematical verification. After a post-test was given, an evaluation of the responses and explanations of each group of students was used to determine which method of instruction was more effective. Results indicate that after the conceptual group and math groups achieved similar scores on the pretest, the conceptual group obtained a slightly higher normalized gain of 25% on the post-test, compared to the mathematical group's normalized gain of 16% (unpaired two-tailed t-test P value for post-test results was 0.1037) and, while within standard deviations, also achieved higher overall scores on all post-test questions and higher normalized gains on all but one post-test question. Further, most students, even those in the mathematically-instructed group, were more inclined to give conceptually-based responses on post-test questions than mathematically-based ones. In the context of this topic, the dominating difficulty for both groups was in analyzing two-dimensional projectile motion and, more specifically, the behavior of each one-dimensional component of such motion.
Physics Education Research Conference 2012
Part of the PER Conference series Philadelphia, PA: August 1-2, 2012 Volume 1513, Pages 358-361
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![]() <a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=12852">Sadaghiani, Homeyra, and Nicholas Aguilera. "Mathematical vs. Conceptual Understanding: Where Do We Draw The Line?." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, August 1-2, 2012.</a>
![]() H. Sadaghiani and N. Aguilera, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, 2012, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12852&DocID=3384).
![]() H. Sadaghiani and N. Aguilera, Mathematical vs. Conceptual Understanding: Where Do We Draw The Line?, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, 2012, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12852&DocID=3384>.
![]() Sadaghiani, H., & Aguilera, N. (2012, August 1-2). Mathematical vs. Conceptual Understanding: Where Do We Draw The Line?. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA. Retrieved February 15, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12852&DocID=3384
![]() Sadaghiani, Homeyra, and Nicholas Aguilera. "Mathematical vs. Conceptual Understanding: Where Do We Draw The Line?." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, August 1-2, 2012. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12852&DocID=3384 (accessed 15 February 2025).
![]() Sadaghiani, Homeyra, and Nicholas Aguilera. "Mathematical vs. Conceptual Understanding: Where Do We Draw The Line?." Physics Education Research Conference 2012. Philadelphia, PA: 2012. 358-361 Vol. 1513 of PER Conference. 15 Feb. 2025 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12852&DocID=3384>.
![]() @inproceedings{
Author = "Homeyra Sadaghiani and Nicholas Aguilera",
Title = {Mathematical vs. Conceptual Understanding: Where Do We Draw The Line?},
BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2012},
Pages = {358-361},
Address = {Philadelphia, PA},
Series = {PER Conference},
Volume = {1513},
Month = {August 1-2},
Year = {2012}
}
![]() %A Homeyra Sadaghiani %A Nicholas Aguilera %T Mathematical vs. Conceptual Understanding: Where Do We Draw The Line? %S PER Conference %V 1513 %D August 1-2 2012 %P 358-361 %C Philadelphia, PA %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12852&DocID=3384 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2012 %O August 1-2 %O application/pdf ![]() %0 Conference Proceedings %A Sadaghiani, Homeyra %A Aguilera, Nicholas %D August 1-2 2012 %T Mathematical vs. Conceptual Understanding: Where Do We Draw The Line? %B Physics Education Research Conference 2012 %C Philadelphia, PA %V 1513 %P 358-361 %S PER Conference %8 August 1-2 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12852&DocID=3384 Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.
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