e-learning
F. Khodadadi Azadboni; J. kamali
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The topic of electricity is often considered a challenging and abstract concept in physics. Learning non-intuitive scientific concepts can be challenging for students because they often hold incorrect conceptions about natural phenomena that lead them toward errors. Many students ...
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Background and Objectives: The topic of electricity is often considered a challenging and abstract concept in physics. Learning non-intuitive scientific concepts can be challenging for students because they often hold incorrect conceptions about natural phenomena that lead them toward errors. Many students struggle to understand the underlying principles and behaviors of electrical systems. Identifying and correcting misconceptions about electricity physics is essential for promoting meaningful learning and conceptual understanding. Nowadays, using technology in educational settings is considered an essential aspect of teaching and learning. Utilizing technology, such as simulation software like COMSOL, can help to visualize and better understand these concepts. This research has been done with the aim of identifying and correcting the misunderstandings of 11th-grade high school students in learning the concepts of electricity by simulating COMSOL software.Materials and Methods: The present research is an applied study in terms of its objective and a mixed-methods research in terms of its methodology. The qualitative section utilized content analysis to extract misconceptions about the concepts of electricity in physics. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with SIX teachers using purposive sampling. Three types of coding, namely open, axial, and selective, were employed to extract the main misconceptions. The main misconceptions identified were Coulomb's law, the shape of field lines between two point charges, the electric field between capacitor plates, the motion of electric charges in an external electric field, charge distribution on surfaces, and the effect of an external electric field on conductive and non-conductive shells. Based on this pattern, a 6-item questionnaire was designed to validate the pattern of misconceptions about electricity concepts among students. The validation of the extracted pattern and the content validity of the questionnaire were assessed by experts in the field of physics education. The quantitative section of the research was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design and a control group. The target population consisted of all male eleventh-grade students in high schools in Bojnurd city during the academic year 2022-2023. Using random sampling, 30 students were selected for each group. In the first stage, both groups took a pretest. Then, the experimental group received the independent variable (simulation-based learning using the COMSOL software) in six sessions of 90 minutes each. Meanwhile, the control group received traditional lecture-based instruction. After the intervention, both groups (experimental and control) took the dependent variable (the misconceptions test on electricity concepts). The data were analyzed using ANCOVA (Analysis of Covariance) with the help of SPSS software. Findings: The post-test results showed that in addition to correcting students' misconceptions and increasing their learning level, the use of computer and COMSOL simulation software helped them better understand the concepts and increased their concentration. The results of this analysis showed a significant difference (p<0.05) between the learning and progress of the experimental group and the control group. The errors of the experimental group changed significantly compared to the control group. In the topics under investigation, the minimum percentage of misconception correction in the experimental group was 46.66%. Meanwhile, the minimum percentage of misconception correction in the control group was observed to be 36.66%.Conclusions: The research results have demonstrated that Simulation software enables students to visualize and interact with abstract concepts, making them more tangible and easier to comprehend. By using COMSOL, students can manipulate different variables in electrical systems, observe the effects, and gain insights into the underlying principles. This hands-on approach can correct misconceptions and improve students' understanding of electricity in physics. By providing interactive and visual representations of electrical phenomena, simulation software can make the subject more accessible and engaging, leading to improved learning outcomes. According to the obtained results, it is suggested that educational technology and modeling using COMSOL software be promoted in teachers' professional development programs. This action can lead to the development of knowledge of educational content and the correction of misunderstandings of concepts.
Educational Technology
F. Radmehr; H. Rahimian
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Previous studies in Iran have explored the impact of using technology on improving students’ mathematical understanding. However, no study was conducted in relation to the impact of using technology on students’ mathematical misconceptions. This study explored the ...
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Background and Objectives: Previous studies in Iran have explored the impact of using technology on improving students’ mathematical understanding. However, no study was conducted in relation to the impact of using technology on students’ mathematical misconceptions. This study explored the impact of using software in developing students’ misconceptions. In detail, the impact of using GeoGebra software on secondary school students’ misconceptions related to concepts such as angle scale, trigonometric angles, periodicity, minimum and maximum of trigonometric functions were explored using a two-tier diagnostic test. One of the novelties of this study is the use of a two-tier diagnostic test to explore misconceptions resulting from using the software. Methods: The statistical population of this study comprises all grade 11 students of Golbahar and Golmakan in the academic year 2015-2016. Three classes were chosen from two different schools in these cities, one was considered as the control group (40 students) and the other two classes were considered as the experimental group (26 students). The instruments were a pre-test and a post-test (two-tier diagnostic test). Four categories of misconceptions were identified based on the relevant literature and students’ responses to the pre-test. Finally, these misconceptions were analyzed by the chi-square test. Findings: The findings showed that Geogebra software helped students in the experimental group enormously in understanding concepts such as periodicity, identifying minimum and maximum of trigonometric functions, and prevented developing misconceptions related to them. Analyzing students’ responses in the control group that received traditional teaching showed that several students did not able to calculate the periodicity of trigonometric functions. This difficulty observed both when students calculated the periodicity from the graphs and also when calculated the periodicity from the algebraic form of trigonometric functions. The strength of using the software includes observing many trigonometric graphs in the software environment, the ability to place trigonometric functions with different input on a coordinate axis and comparing them, and the manipulations performed by the students themselves on trigonometric graphs. These strengths prevented students from developing misconceptions about the concepts of frequency and minimum and maximum values. However, in relation to trigonometric angles, using the software caused developing more misconceptions for the test group, and had no significant impact on preventing misconceptions in relation to the scale of angle. It seems due to the nature of the angle scale, in which the conversion from radians to degrees (or vice versa) is done by a series of mathematical operations, using Geogebra could not impact students’ misconceptions in this matter. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that teachers should be very cautious in selecting and using teaching aids in the classroom to prevent developing mathematical misconceptions associated with using the teaching aids. Therefore, we recommend mathematics education researchers and mathematics curriculum planners to conduct several studies on different softwares frequently used in mathematics classes, determine the pros and cons of these tools, and share their results with mathematics teachers. Sharing these results will help mathematics teachers to adapt their teaching accordingly based on the findings of these studies.
Educational Technology Psychology
E. Reyhani; F. Hamidi; F. Rashedi
Abstract
Understanding negative numbers and doing operations on them is one of the fundamental subjects in mathematics that students face many problems when they encounter them at school. One of the problems that leads to very serious learning difficulties in mathematics is those misconceptions students may have ...
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Understanding negative numbers and doing operations on them is one of the fundamental subjects in mathematics that students face many problems when they encounter them at school. One of the problems that leads to very serious learning difficulties in mathematics is those misconceptions students may have from previous inadequate teaching, informal thinking, or poor remembrance. Recognition of misconception and the origins that create them in the fields and at different levels of education, can improve learning. Misunderstanding in this study is incomplete or incorrect interpretation of a concept that cause systematic errors in the performance. This study investigates the student’s understanding and misconception of negative numbers. Descriptive statistics, survey, is used as a method of this study. The population of the study is all second level students of guidance school in the academic year 1391-92 and all the seventh level students of Darmian town in the academic year 1392-93. 443 students in second level of guidance school and 55 students in seventh level were chosen as a sample of the study based on cluster random sampling. A self-designed questionnaire by the researcher is used as the instrument for the study, the questionnaire was based on “Bofferding” and “Kilhamn” questionnaire. Results showed that most of the students don’t have a true understanding of negative numbers in school and face problems in applying their knowledge to solve mathematical problems. Also the results of the current study showed that some of the students consider "-" as a reducing operator and some consider "+" as an increasing operator.