Mechanisms for Conceptual Change in Physics

The purpose of this book is to examine students perception of their conceptual change in physics. Using in-depth interviews and a grounded theory approach, the concerns and opinions of thirteen high school physics students are the basis for a discussion on the mechanisms for conceptual change in physics. It was found that the students valued: 1) Making what they were learning real to themselves by connecting their everyday worlds to what they were learning in class; 2) Being given responsibility for their own learning; 3) Repetition of the core concepts in different contexts; 4) Timely feedback from the teacher on whether their answers are right or wrong and why; and 5) The newer conceptual initiatives they were exposed to like online Java applets and related practical work. By contrasting the relevant literature with observation of the partici­pants, it was found that the most reasonable explanation for the students responses and differences in conceptual understanding were differences in the students motivation, rather than ineffective concep­tual change strategies.