Bashirah Ibrahim

In this paper, we report on a project concerned with the role of cognition during problem solving. We specifically explore the categories of mental representations that students work with during problem solving of different representational task formats. The sample, consisting of 19 engineering students taking a calculus-based physics course, attem...

The call for the implementation of integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (iSTEM) teaching has been on the rise. This teaching approach helps students to develop innovative skills and meet twenty-first century challenges. However, teachers need to possess positive attitudes toward iSTEM teaching to implement it. Therefore, stu...

We investigate students’ eye movements when they solve sequential and simultaneous synthesis physics problems. In sequential synthesis problems, multiple events occur chronologically, whereas in simultaneous synthesis problems, multiple events take place concurrently. We captured students’ eye fixations on each problem diagram and recorded their ve...

Information and communication technology (ICT) is key to educational development. This study explores the mechanism influencing the use of ICT on students’ science literacy. We utilized two-level hierarchical linear models and structural equation models to analyze data collected from the 2015 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in C...

This study examines students’ visual behaviors when they tackle two types of synthesis problems, sequential and simultaneous problems. Sequential synthesis tasks can be solved by applying pertinent concepts consecutively, whereas simultaneous synthesis tasks require concurrent application of multiple concepts. Twenty-two students from an introducto...

We examine students’ mathematical performance on quantitative “synthesis problems” with varying mathematical complexity. Synthesis problems are tasks comprising multiple concepts typically taught in different chapters. Mathematical performance refers to the formulation, combination, and simplification of equations. Generally speaking, formulation a...

The ability to solve physics problems that require multiple concepts from across the physics curriculum—“synthesis” problems—is often a goal of physics instruction. Three experiments were designed to evaluate the effectiveness of two instructional methods employing worked examples on student performance with synthesis problems; these instructional...

A body of research on physics problem solving has focused on single-concept problems. In this study we use “synthesis problems” that involve multiple concepts typically taught in different chapters. We use two types of synthesis problems, sequential and simultaneous synthesis tasks. Sequential problems require a consecutive application of fundament...

We report a study on students' approaches to quantitative synthesis problems with varying mathematical complexities. Synthesis problems involve multiple concepts typically taught in different chapters. In this study, mathematical complexity is determined by the number and the type of equations that must be simultaneously solved. Students from a sec...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the transfer of the competence to transform content knowledge learned in electric circuits to a new topic in either chemistry or physics. The study was located in a physics methodology class with 10 pre-service teachers, who were in their final year of study. They had a 6-week-long intervention that was...

Scientific reasoning is crucial to any scientific discipline. One sub-skill particularly relevant to the scientific enterprise is theory evidence coordination. This study, underpinned by Kuhn's framework for scientific reasoning, investigates how university students coordinate their self-generated theory and evidence in a physics topic (energy) and...

In this study, pre-service science teachers' ability to transfer pedagogical content knowledge, acquired from the context of electricity, to a new physical science topic was explored. The participants were exposed to a nine-week intervention involving the five components which compose the Topic-Specific PCK framework. They completed three CoRes, be...

Previous studies have reported that students employed different problem solving approaches when presented with the same task structured with different representations. In this study, we explored and compared students’ strategies as they attempted tasks from two topical areas, kinematics and work. Our participants were 19 engineering students taking...

The study investigates the kinds of mental representations constructed by engineering students at Kansas State University when solving problems in the context of kinematics. A cohort of 19 students completed six non-directed tasks posed in different representational forms (mathematical, linguistic and graphical) requiring the generation of linguist...

The present study explores the relationship between students’ views on the nature of science (NOS) and their views of the nature of scientific measurement. A questionnaire with two-tier diagnostic multiple choice items on both the NOS and measurement was administered to 179 first year physics students with diverse school experiences. Students’ view...

The views on various aspects of the nature of science (NOS) of 179 novice undergraduate physics students were investigated using six open-ended, written probes. These views were consolidated within compact NOS “profiles,” which were designed based on the students' responses to the probes. These profiles may be understood as sets of key descriptors,...

A model-based view of physics is proposed as a framework within which teaching activities may be structured such that both an authentic portrayal of physics is presented and opportunities for students to construct appropriate mental models of physical systems are provided. In this paper we review recent thinking about the role of modelling in physi...

The paper reports on a study, in progress, into the role of visualisation in the learning and teaching of physics at tertiary level, in particular students' use of photograph sequences as visual tools when dealing with kinematics problems. Analysis of data from several written tasks revealed that when explicitly asked to describe the motion in a pr...

This paper reports on a study, in progress, into the relationship between students' views on the nature of science (NOS) and the nature of scientific measurement, as described by the point-set paradigm model. Modifying existing diagnostic items in both areas, the VASM (Views about Scientific Measurement) questionnaire was developed, piloted and adm...