Validating the Japanese translation of the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation and comparing performance levels of American and Japanese students (original) (raw)
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Physical Review Physics Education Research, 2017
Student views of force and motion reflect the personal experiences and physics education of the student. With a different language, culture, and educational system, we expect that Japanese students' views on force and motion might be different from those of American students. The Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation (FMCE) is an instrument used to probe student views on force and motion. It was designed using research on American students, and, as such, the items might function differently for Japanese students. Preliminary results from a translated version indicated that Japanese students had similar misconceptions as those of American students. In this study, we used item response curves (IRCs) to make more detailed item-by-item comparisons. IRCs show the functioning of individual items across all levels of performance by plotting the proportion of each response as a function of the total score. Most of the IRCs showed very similar patterns on both correct and incorrect responses; however, a few of the plots indicate differences between the populations. The similar patterns indicate that students tend to interact with FMCE items similarly, despite differences in culture, language, and education. We speculate about the possible causes for the differences in some of the IRCs. This report is intended to show how IRCs can be used as a part of the validation process when making comparisons across languages and nationalities. Differences in IRCs can help to pinpoint artifacts of translation, contextual effects because of differences in culture, and perhaps intrinsic differences in student understanding of Newtonian motion.
Force Concept Inventory (FCI) has been the most effective investigative tool for discovering alternative conceptions (misconceptions) about Force and Motion among learners. Introduced in 1992 by David Hestenes, Malcom Wells, and Gregg Swackhamer, FCI had been administered among more than one hundred thousand students worldwide and major learning difficulties of students were identified. Remedial measures in the form of newer teaching methods were discovered and tested. But FCI was never used for understanding Indian students’ conceptual difficulties about Force and Motion. In a country where majority of students don’t take up Physics as their subject of post-secondary education as they find the subject difficult, I have planned to do an exploratory research to understand the state of conceptual understanding of Force and Motion among the students of the secondary and higher secondary level, and also among the teachers who teach them the subject. My objective is to understand the existing situation on one hand, and to find out the reason behind the situation on the other. My data clearly shows that the secondary level students have serious conceptual difficulty about Force and Motion, and the situation is no better for the higher secondary level students and the teachers.
2012
This project work was based on the assessment of senior secondary school students’ conceptual understanding of force and motion. Four researcher questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. Two research designs were adopted for the study namely: descriptive survey and Ex-post facto designs. Two hundred and twenty two senior secondary two (SS2) physics students in seven intact classes from six senior secondary schools that were purposively sampled from the area of study constituted the sample for the study. Those seven intact classes were drawn through simple random sampling within the SS2 physics classes in each of the six schools. The instrument for data collection was Force Motion Concept Evaluation (FMCE) developed by Thornton and Sokoloff, (1998). This instrument was adapted by the present researcher. Data collected was analyzed using WinBUGS computer program, frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and t-test of independent samples. While WinBUGS computer program...
Sultan Qaboos University Journal for Science [SQUJS], 2021
This work is intended to analyze and compare the performance of two groups of students on the understanding of force and motion concepts using the Force Concept Inventory (FCI). The FCI test serves questions on basic Newtonian concepts where the answers inclyde the correct response and commonly misconceived alternatives. The FCI test was implemented twice as pre and post-tests for two introductory calculus-based physics courses offered at the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) in Oman for students mainly from the Colleges of Sciences, Education and Agriculture and the students from the College of Enginerring in the Spring 2017 and Spring 2018 semesters. These courses cover the traditional first-year level kinematics and dynamics in translational and rotational motions based on the same syllabus and the same textbook. Hake's normalized gain, defined as the change in class averages divided by the maximum possible increase, was used to compare the students'performances. The normali...
Validity and reliability of the force and motion conceptual evaluation
American Journal of Physics, 2008
The assessment of learning has become a key component in program evaluation, grant proposals, and education research. Assessment requires valid and reliable instruments. The Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation ͑FMCE͒ is one of several multiple-choice tests used to evaluate the learning of force and motion concepts. Although many physics education researchers accept its validity and reliability, validity and reliability estimates based on typical statistical analyses of data have not been established. This study used FMCE post-test results for approximately 150 students in a first-semester college physics course to estimate reliability and content validity. The results indicate that the FMCE is a valuable instrument for measuring student learning.
The Level of Understanding of Students and Teachers in the Concept of Force and Motion
2013
This studies the level of understanding among students, the level of understanding among teachers and the common types of misconception among students and teachers in Force and Motion in 4 schools in Johor Bahru. This research uses a simple random sampling technique that involves 4 physics teachers and 116 students. Ujian Kefahaman Konsep Daya dan Gerakan was used to measure the level of understanding. Pilot study shows that the instrument has Alpha Cronbach reliability value of 0.638. The data was analyzed using SPSS program version 17.0. In overall, the data shows that the students fail to understand the Force and Motion concept with an average of 19.23% and standard deviation of 11.09. 60.4% of the students fail to understand the concept. The data also shows that the teachers’ level of understanding, on average is 21.88% and standard deviation of 10.83. However, 75% of the teachers have reached the level of poor understanding of Force and Motion concept and 25% of the teachers fa...
The Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation
2002
The Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation (FMCE) is a multiple-choice test that has been used to evaluate physics instruction. However, the validity and reliability estimates have not been determined in a way a social scientist would expect. Few psychometric data were used to estimate the validity and reliability of the FMCE instrument. This study used several methods to estimate the reliability and structural validity of the FMCE instrument. Data from the first semester of a noncalculus physics course was used to calculate Cronbach alpha reliability estimates and, using factor analysis, evaluate the construct validity of the instrument. For the pilot study, the pretest was given to 38 students and the posttest to 20. Fiftyfour students participated in the fall 2002 pretest. A table of specifications also was used to estimate the content validity of the FMCE. The pilot study suggested that the FMCE is a valid and reliable measure of the concepts of force and motion, and the ongoing study will provide further investigation. (Contains 4 tables and 22 references.) (Author/SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
Modeling students’ conceptual understanding of force, velocity, and acceleration
2009
We have developed a multiple choice test designed to probe students' conceptual understanding of the relationships among the directions of force, velocity, and acceleration. The test was administered to more than 800 students enrolled in standard or honors introductory physics courses or a second-year physics majors course. The test was found to be reasonably statistically reliable, and correlations of test score with grade, course level, and the Force Concept Inventory were moderate to strong. Further analysis revealed that in addition to the common incorrect response that velocity must be in the direction of the acceleration or net force, up to 30% of students gave "partially correct" responses, for example that velocity can be either opposite to or in the direction of the acceleration or net force but not zero. The data also suggests that for some students their evolution of understanding may progress through this kind of partially incorrect understanding.
Diagnosis of misconceptions about force and motion held by first-year post-secondary students
2018
The present study aims to detect misconceptions in force and motion among Maltese post-secondary students aged 16-17. The revised version of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) originally designed by Hestenes, D., Wells, M., & Swackhamer, G. (1992) was used. A total of 395 students participated in the study by answering the FCI test at the beginning of their first-year and again at the end of the said year. Data were analysed by using a method used by Martín-Blas, T., Seidel L. & Serrano-Fernández A. (2010). In this study all of the known misconceptions given in the original paper by Hestenes, but modified by Bani-Salameh 2017, were examined. The dominant misconceptions from the students’ wrong answers for each of the 30 questions in the FCI were determined. A comparison of the dominant misconceptions held by the cohort studied in the preand post-test showed that a number of misconceptions persisted. This study reveals that the impetus, active force and action/reaction pairs misconcep...