TITLE:
Effect of Conceptual Change Oriented Instruction on Students’ Conceptual Understanding and Decreasing Their Misconceptions in DC Electric Circuits
AUTHORS:
Erdal Taşlıdere
KEYWORDS:
Conceptual Change; Conceptual Understanding; Concept Cartoon; Simulation; Electricity; Misconception
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.4 No.4,
April
15,
2013
ABSTRACT:
The purpose of this
study was twofold: first to investigate the effect of conceptual change
oriented instruction accompanied by concept cartoon worksheet with simulation
on students’ conceptual understanding and second to remedy their misconceptions
of direct current electric circuits. Participants were 139 pre-service science
teachers from four intact classes. A quasi-experimental design was used in the
study. The experimental group studied the concept with the application of
concept cartoon worksheet and simulation, and the control group studied it with
traditional instruction. Students’ conceptual understanding and misconceptions
were measured by a tree-tired misconception test. It was administered as
pre-and-posttest. There was no significant difference between the means of
pre-test scores of experimental and control groups. The main effect of
treatment on post-test scores was examined via ANCOVA with pre-test scores used
as covariate. The frequency of each misconception was calculated for both
groups, from pre to post-tests regarding all tiers of items. The analysis
yielded a significant treatment effect on students’ post-test performances. The
findings indicated that the conceptual change oriented instruction accompanied
by concept cartoon worksheet and simulation is likely to be effective for
conceptual understanding and decreasing most of students’ misconceptions in
direct current electric circuits.