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Determining Students' Preconceptions/Misconceptions in Electricity and Magnetism

Authors:
Demirci & Çirkinoğlu / TÜFED-TUSED / 1(2) 2004 51
mrat
Determining Students’ Preconceptions/Misconceptions in
Electricity and Magnetism
Neşet DEMİRCİ1, Ayşegül ÇİRKİNOĞLU2
1,2 Balıkesir Üniversitesi, Necatibey Eğitim Fakültesi, OFMA Fizik Eğitimi, Balıkesir
SYPNOSIS
Introduction
In the last quarter of the 20th century, many studies (Thornton ve Sokoloff, 1990;
Van Heuvelen, 1991; Hestenes ve ark., 1992; Poon, 1993; Palmer ve Flanagan, 1997;
McDermott, 1997; Mazur, 1997; Redish ve ark., 1997; Duit ve ark., 1997; Mutimucio
1998; Hake, 1998; Tatlı ve Eryılmaz, 2001) in physics education showed that students
have many preconceived ideas due to their experiences in their surrounding environments
before entering the classroom, and those ideas negatively affect their further physics
learning. To determine students’ preconceived ideas, many conceptual tests have been
developed and applied. Maloney at al. (2001) developed a conceptual test consisting of 32
questions to evaluate students’ eleven different concepts about Electricity and Magnetism.
Purpose
The main aim of this study is to determine students’ preconceptions/misconceptions
about Electricity and Magnetism, and therefore to answer the following research questions:
1. According to Electricity and Magnetism Concept pretest result, is there any
difference between male and female students’ preconception/misconception?
2. According to Electricity and Magnetism Concept pretest result, is there any
difference in students’ preconception/misconception between the grades?
Methodology
The sample of this study was chosen from all students enrolled on general physics
II course in Necatibey Faculty of Education (NFE) and the Faculty of Science and Liberal
Art (FSLA) at Balıkesir University at the beginning of Spring Semester in 2004. Of the
614 students, 318 (%51.8) were male, and 296 (%48.2) were female. Electricity and
Magnetism Concept Test was the one instrument in the study was applied as pretest to
determine students’ preconceptions/misconceptions about electricity and magnetism
TÜRK FEN EĞİTİMİ DERGİSİ
Yıl 1, Sayı 2, Aralık 2004
Journal of
TURKISH SCIENCE EDUCATION
Volume 1, Issue 2, December 2004
http://www.tused.org
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