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Readiness to change the conception that “motion‐implies‐force”: A comparison of 12‐year‐old and 16‐year‐old students
Author(s) -
Palmer David H.,
Flanagan Ross B.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
science education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.209
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1098-237X
pISSN - 0036-8326
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1098-237x(199706)81:3<317::aid-sce4>3.0.co;2-g
Subject(s) - conceptual change , psychology , motion (physics) , mathematics education , test (biology) , science education , metacognition , significant difference , concept learning , philosophy of science , developmental psychology , social psychology , pedagogy , cognition , epistemology , mathematics , philosophy , paleontology , statistics , artificial intelligence , neuroscience , computer science , biology
Several investigators have reported difficulties in changing the alternative conceptions which high school students hold about aspects of mechanics. It has been suggested that students should be introduced to mechanics at a younger age because as they get older they become less willing or less able to change their ideas. To test this proposal, the present study was designed to find out whether older students were less ready to change their conceptions than younger students. Individual interviews were carried out with 63 students in year 6 (ages 11–12) and 66 students in year 10 (ages 15–16). Those students who held the alternative conception that “motion‐implies‐force” were asked to read a refutational text. This text was “student‐centered” in that it was not presented as the correct answer, but rather as just another possible alternative which the student could consider. Immediate and delayed posttests, and the metacognitive responses of the students, showed that conceptual change had occurred in 35% of the year 6 group and 44% of the year 10 group who had read the text (although the difference in percentages was not significant). Therefore, there was no evidence to suggest that conceptual change is more difficult for older students. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.