Nature, cause and effect of students' intuitive conceptions regarding changes in velocity
Abstract
Perceptions of observed phenomena play an important role in information processing and are
integral to learning. Unfortunately students’ perceptions based on their everyday-life observations
often do not correlate with the formal science conceptions and explanations of phenomena. This
finding of physics education research was studied in this work in the realm of kinematics and
students’ conceptions regarding changes in velocity. The investigation entailed a questionnaire
administered to 797 students and a focus group discussion with 5 students, which were followed
by an additional questionnaire answered by 208 students. The first questionnaire indicated the
complex nature of the intuitive conception called changes-take-time and its relation to other
intuitive conceptions. Possible causes for the occurrence of the changes-take-time perception
were qualitatively probed in the focus group discussion. In the discussion, some students relied
on their visual observations and perceptions, while others used logical reasoning. The results
informed the compilation of an additional short questionnaire to determine whether the
qualitative findings of the focus group discussion can be used more generally. Limitations in
visual perceptions and differences in perceived and real velocities seem to contribute to the
existence and persistence of the changes-take-time and other intuitive conceptions related to
changes in velocity. The importance of addressing physics students’ misconceptions at root cause
level is emphasized.
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10394/14123http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2011.647110
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09500693.2011.647110#.Va9iLflGRfk