Naïve Students' Conceptual Development and Beliefs: The Need for Multiple Analyses to Determine what Contributes to Student Success in a University Introductory Physics Course

This research involved naïve physics learners who were interested in majoring in science or engineering. In a semester-long quasi-experimental study, open-ended pretests and weekly interviews were used to analyse the progressive development of students’ conceptions relating to sound and wave motion....

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Main Authors: Chu, Hye-Eun, Treagust, David, Chandrasegaran, Chandra
Format: Journal Article
Published: Kluwer Academic Publishers 2008
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/12872
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author Chu, Hye-Eun
Treagust, David
Chandrasegaran, Chandra
author_facet Chu, Hye-Eun
Treagust, David
Chandrasegaran, Chandra
author_sort Chu, Hye-Eun
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This research involved naïve physics learners who were interested in majoring in science or engineering. In a semester-long quasi-experimental study, open-ended pretests and weekly interviews were used to analyse the progressive development of students’ conceptions relating to sound and wave motion. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted to elucidate: (1) how their conceptions developed from everyday conceptions to unclear scientific conceptions to scientific conceptions, and (2) their beliefs of physics knowledge. Despite efforts to enable these students to learn physics, the findings showed that only two out of ten students developed acceptable physics conceptions during the course that would enable them to pursue the subject to a higher level. Also, students’ conceptual development was found to be related to their cognitive understanding and to epistemological beliefs of physics. Therefore, to facilitate naïve physics learners’ success in a general physics course, in addition to the acquisition of content knowledge, explicit emphasis needs to be placed on the nature of physics knowledge.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T07:01:13Z
publishDate 2008
publisher Kluwer Academic Publishers
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-128722017-09-13T15:01:42Z Naïve Students' Conceptual Development and Beliefs: The Need for Multiple Analyses to Determine what Contributes to Student Success in a University Introductory Physics Course Chu, Hye-Eun Treagust, David Chandrasegaran, Chandra This research involved naïve physics learners who were interested in majoring in science or engineering. In a semester-long quasi-experimental study, open-ended pretests and weekly interviews were used to analyse the progressive development of students’ conceptions relating to sound and wave motion. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted to elucidate: (1) how their conceptions developed from everyday conceptions to unclear scientific conceptions to scientific conceptions, and (2) their beliefs of physics knowledge. Despite efforts to enable these students to learn physics, the findings showed that only two out of ten students developed acceptable physics conceptions during the course that would enable them to pursue the subject to a higher level. Also, students’ conceptual development was found to be related to their cognitive understanding and to epistemological beliefs of physics. Therefore, to facilitate naïve physics learners’ success in a general physics course, in addition to the acquisition of content knowledge, explicit emphasis needs to be placed on the nature of physics knowledge. 2008 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/12872 10.1007/s11165-007-9068-3 Kluwer Academic Publishers restricted
spellingShingle Chu, Hye-Eun
Treagust, David
Chandrasegaran, Chandra
Naïve Students' Conceptual Development and Beliefs: The Need for Multiple Analyses to Determine what Contributes to Student Success in a University Introductory Physics Course
title Naïve Students' Conceptual Development and Beliefs: The Need for Multiple Analyses to Determine what Contributes to Student Success in a University Introductory Physics Course
title_full Naïve Students' Conceptual Development and Beliefs: The Need for Multiple Analyses to Determine what Contributes to Student Success in a University Introductory Physics Course
title_fullStr Naïve Students' Conceptual Development and Beliefs: The Need for Multiple Analyses to Determine what Contributes to Student Success in a University Introductory Physics Course
title_full_unstemmed Naïve Students' Conceptual Development and Beliefs: The Need for Multiple Analyses to Determine what Contributes to Student Success in a University Introductory Physics Course
title_short Naïve Students' Conceptual Development and Beliefs: The Need for Multiple Analyses to Determine what Contributes to Student Success in a University Introductory Physics Course
title_sort naïve students' conceptual development and beliefs: the need for multiple analyses to determine what contributes to student success in a university introductory physics course
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/12872