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Textbook Treatments And Students’ Understanding Of Acceleration, G Dall’Alba, E Walsh, J Bowden, E Martin, Geoff Masters, P Ramsden, Andrew Stephanou
Textbook Treatments And Students’ Understanding Of Acceleration, G Dall’Alba, E Walsh, J Bowden, E Martin, Geoff Masters, P Ramsden, Andrew Stephanou
Prof Geoff Masters AO
A single science textbook often provides the syllabus for courses at upper secondary and tertiary levels, and may be used as a principal source of information or explanation. The research reported in this article challenges such practices. The ways in which the concept, acceleration, is treated in physics textbooks is compared with understandings of the concept demonstrated by final-year secondary (Year 12) and first-year university students. Some students' understandings are shown to be incomplete in ways that parallel misleading or inaccurate textbook treatments of the concept. In addition to misleading or inaccurate statements, the limitations of some textbook treatments of …
Physics Students' Understanding Of Relative Speed: A Phenomenographic Study, Eleanor Walsh, Gloria Dall'alba, John Bowden, Elaine Martin, Ference Marton, Geoff Masters, Paul Ramsden, Andrew Stephanou
Physics Students' Understanding Of Relative Speed: A Phenomenographic Study, Eleanor Walsh, Gloria Dall'alba, John Bowden, Elaine Martin, Ference Marton, Geoff Masters, Paul Ramsden, Andrew Stephanou
Prof Geoff Masters AO
It is important that students of physics develop both quantitative and qualitative understanding of physical concepts and principles. Although accuracy and reliability in solving quantitative problems is necessary, a qualitative understanding is required in applying concepts and principles to new problems and in real-life situations. If students are not able to understand what underlies quantitative problem-solving procedures nor interpret the solution in physical terms, it is questionable whether they have developed an adequate understanding of physics. The research reported here is part of a larger phenomenographic study that is concerned with the assessment of physics students' understanding of some basic …
Displacement, Velocity, And Frames Of Reference: Phenomenographic Studies Of Students’ Understanding And Some Implications For Teaching And Assessment, John Bowden, Gloria Dall'alba, Elaine Martin, D Laurillard, Ference Marton, Geoff Masters, Paul Ramsden, Andrew Stephanou, E Walsh
Displacement, Velocity, And Frames Of Reference: Phenomenographic Studies Of Students’ Understanding And Some Implications For Teaching And Assessment, John Bowden, Gloria Dall'alba, Elaine Martin, D Laurillard, Ference Marton, Geoff Masters, Paul Ramsden, Andrew Stephanou, E Walsh
Prof Geoff Masters AO
Student understanding of fundamental concepts in kinematics has been explored using the phenomenographic research method. University and high schoolphysics students were interviewed and their understandings of displacement, velocity, and frames of reference have been analyzed in particular problem contexts. Descriptions of the different ways students understand the concepts have been developed and relations between the different levels of understanding have been identified. The data highlight the contextual nature of learning and the need for teachers to focus on the nature of student understanding in specific contexts using questions that require qualitative explanation by students. In particular, it is demonstrated that …