2. Crossover into the Newtonian Beliefs -A Preliminary Study on the First Semester Engineering Students at Universiti Teknologi MARA Seminar Fizik 2000 Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Nov 2000

3. SEMINAR FIZIK 2000 UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SABAH Quotes Motivatio n Motivatio n Purpose Stats Grade G E Sch Subj Grade G ESch Subj Grade G ESch Subj Instrument- FCI Q1 Q6 Q15 Q19 Q21 Q25 G1 G6 G15 G19 G21 G25 Q1Q6Q15 Q19Q21 Q25 G1G6G15 G19G21 G25 Q1Q6Q15 Q19Q21 Q25 G1G6G15 G19G21 G25 Results - Scores Sci Phys Grade G E Sch Subj SciPhys Grade G E Sch Subj SciPhys Grade G E Sch Subj Results - Gain G E Sch Subj. Phys All Mean Meangraph Other G E Sch Subj. Phys All Mean Meangraph Other G E Sch Subj. Phys All Mean Meangraph Other Conclusio n Conclusio n Design Title

4. Acknowledgement 4 Assoc. Prof. Ho Wan Seng, Physics Dept. Head, Science Faculty, UiTM 4 Deans of Engineering Faculties 4 Faculty of Applied Sciences 4 Students

5. Paul G. Hewitt, Conceptual Physics “…. Physics is about the rules of nature - so beautifully elegant that it can be neatly described mathematically. That’s why many physics courses are treated as applied math…..”

6. Paul G. Hewitt, Conceptual Physics

7. Most Students taking physics or otherwise; Hewitt, Rigden, Hobart

8. French, 1988 “..Memorization is not only useless but counterproductive..” Whitaker, 1985 “..Introductory physics courses have been structured to cover so much content to be covered in a very short period..”

9. Physics students at Dickinson College, Pennsylvania “…. Taking (conventional) physics…. is like trying to drink from a fire hose. There are far too many topics presented… too many abstract theories which relates to reality… insufficient concrete experiences with everyday phenomena to comprehend the math representation of them……”

10. Champagne, 1980 “… Students beginning a physics course usually have a rich accumulation of interrelated ideas that constitute a personal system of beliefs about motion….”

11. Motivation 4 Weak reasoning ability in explaining physics central ideas about force & motion 4 Inability to represent a physical situation pictorially & verbally 4 Lack of power to verbally translate a mathematical equation and vice-versa

12. Motivation 4 So much effort and dedication was put into the teaching (the traditional way) by lecturers to instill knowledge BUT the result does not reflect the effort & dedication

13. Motivation 4 Students emerging from study of physics still have serious gaps in the understanding of important topics in all areas of physics

14. Motivation 4 Plenty of scientific papers have been published about learning and teaching of physics 4 The existence of standardized tests to measure conceptual understanding in the study of forces

15. Purpose 4 Identify to what extent the beliefs were successfully removed through formal university traditional introductory physics class Note:Traditional = Lecture (Passive-learner) + Tutorial (through problem-solving by instructor) + recipe lab

16. Research Design 4 Give pretest to about 300 engineering students who just enrolled for the Dec - April 1998 semester. 4 Give posttest to students who just completed their first semester in Nov 1998. No pretest. Contact Dr. JJ at FSG, UiTM for more details FOR MORE INFO...

17. Research Design 4 Another posttest was given to the group who completed first semester in May 99. Took the pretest. 4 Allow 45 mins + 1 hr for the exam 4 Key-in profile and item selections 4 Analyse data using descriptive & inferential stats. Excel + SPSS Contact Dr. JJ at FSG, UiTM for more details FOR MORE INFO...

18. Instrument: FCI & MBT 4 FCI (30 items multiple-choice) –designed to be meaningful to students without formal training in mechanics –probes beliefs over a wide range of Newtonian concepts on force & motion 4 MBT (26 items multiple-choice) –designed to emphasize concepts that cannot be grasped without formal knowledge of mechanics

19. Desc. Statistics - Gender

20. Desc. Statistics - Course Grade

21. Desc. Statistics - Educ.

22. Desc. Statistics - School

23. Desc. Statistics - Subject

24. Results & Discussion 4 Focus on the beliefs ächeck the overall mean score (random guessing = 20% score) äobserve the percentage of students choosing the wrong answers for each question älook at the choices of wrong answers to learn more on their existing belief system

25. Results & Discussion 4 Focus on the gains 4 Average Gain, G –G = %Posttest, S f - %Pretest, S i 4 Standardized Average gain – = G / Max G –where max G = 100 - %S i 4 check if the gains vary as a function of subgroups

26. FCI & MBT - SPM Science

27. FCI & MBT - SPM Physics

28. FCI & MBT - Course Grade

30. FCI & MBT - Gender

31. FCI & MBT - Educ. Level

32. FCI & MBT - School types

33. FCI & MBT - SPM subject

34. FCI Gain-Gender

35. FCI Gain-Educ. Level

36. FCI Gain-School Types

37. FCI Gain-SPM Subject

38. FCI Gain-Physics Grade

39. FCI & MBT -Overall

40. FCI Mean Gain-Overall

42. FCI - Compared  this work  Collaboration with Prof. Khalijah Salleh, Jabatan Fizik, UKM, unpublished  Hake, R.R., “ A six-thousand -student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses”, AJP, 66, 64-74 (1998)

43. FCI - Compared  this work  Collaboration with Prof. Khalijah Salleh, Jabatan Fizik, UKM, unpublished  Hake, R.R., “ A six-thousand -student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses”, AJP, 66, 64-74 (1998)

44. Instrument: FCI - Q1 1.Dua biji bola A dan B mempunyai saiz yang sama tetapi bola A beratnya dua kali ganda berat B. Bola-bola tersebut dijatuhkan serentak daripada bumbung sebuah bangunan dua tingkat. Masa yang diambil untuk bola-bola tersebut sampai ke tanah ialah:

45. Instrument: FCI - Q1 (A)bola A mengambil masa separuh sahaja masa yang diambil oleh bola B. (B)bola B mengambil masa separuh sahaja masa yang diambil oleh bola A. (C)lebih kurang sama. (D)bola A lebih cepat sampai tetapi tak semestinya separuh masa yang diambil oleh bola B. (E)bola B lebih cepat sampai tetapi tak semestinya separuh masa yang diambil oleh bola A.

46. Instrument: FCI - Q6 6.Arah laluan manakah dalam gambarajah di sebelah kanan yang akan diikuti oleh bola setelah ianya keluar daripada saluran pada kedudukan “r” dan bergerak di atas permukaan meja tanpa geseran?

47. Instrument: FCI - Q6

48. Instrument: FCI - Q15 Sebuah lori mengalami kerosakan dan menerima tolakan dari belakang oleh sebuah kereta kecil untuk menghantarnya ke bandar seperti yang digambarkan di bawah. 15.Sewaktu kereta kecil tersebut menolak lori dan memecut untuK mencapai kelajuan seragam;

49. Instrument: FCI - Q15 (A)daya tolakan yang dikenakan oleh kereta terhadap lori adalah sama dengan daya lori menolak kereta (B)daya tolakan yang dikenakan oleh kereta terhadap lori adalah lebih kecil berbanding dengan daya lori menolak kereta (C)daya tolakan yang dikenakan oleh kereta terhadap lori adalah lebih besar berbanding dengan daya lori menolak kereta

50. Instrument: FCI - Q15 (D)oleh kerana injin kereta hidup, maka ia mengenakan tolakan terhadap lori tetapi lori tidak mengenakan tolakan terhadap kereta kerana injin lori tidak dihidupkan. Lori tersebut ditolak hanyalah kerana ia mengganggu laluan kereta (E)tidak ada daya dikenakan oleh kereta dan oleh lori. Lori tersebut ditolak hanyalah kerana ia mengganggu laluan kereta

51. Instrument: FCI - Q19 19.Kedudukan dua buah blok pada turutan sela masa 0.20 saat diwakili oleh kotak-kotak bernombor dalam gambarajah di bawah. Blok- blok tersebut sedang bergerak ke kanan.

52. Instrument: FCI - Q19 19.Adakah ketikanya blok-blok tersebut mempunyai kelajuan yang sama? (A)Ya. (B)Ya iaitu pada kedudukan 2. (C)Ya iaitu pada kedudukan 5. (D)Ya iaitu pada kedudukan 2 dan 5. (E)Ya iaitu pada suatu ketika diantara kedudukan 3 dan 4.

53. Instrument: FCI - Q21 Sebuah roket yang berada di angkasa "hanyut" ke kanan dari "a" ke "b" tanpa pengaruh daya luaran. Pada kedudukan "b", enjin roket dihidupkan untuk mendapatkan tujahan (daya terhadap roket) seragam yang bertegak lurus kepada garis "ab". Tujahan ini dikekalkan sehingga roket tiba di titik "c".

54. Instrument: FCI - Q21 21.Laluan manakah yang ditunjukkan di bawah yang akan mewakili pergerakan roket dari titik "b" ke titik "c"?

55. Instrument: FCI - Q25 25.Seorang wanita mengenakan suatu daya yang malar secara mendatar terhadap sebuah kotak yang besar. Kotak tersebut kemudiannya bergerak dengan kelajuan “v 0 ” merentasi permukaan lantai. Daya malar yang mendatar yang dikenakan oleh wanita tersebut:

56. Instrument: FCI - Q25 (A)sama nilainya dengan berat kotak yang ditolak (B)lebih besar nilainya daripada kotak yang ditolak (C)sama nilainya dengan jumlah daya yang menentang pergerakan kotak (D)lebih besar daripada jumlah daya yang menentang pergerakan kotak (E)lebih besar daripada kedua-dua iaitu berat kotak dan jumlah daya yang menentang pergerakan kotak

57. FCI - Sample Q1

58. FCI - Sample Q6

59. FCI - Sample Q15

60. FCI - Sample Q19

61. FCI - Sample Q21

62. FCI - Sample Q25

63. Concluding Remarks ò Focus on the gains & scores 4 Scores far below entry threshold (65%) 4 Average Gain, G, too small 4 negative gains is too high, 48%

64. Concluding Remarks ò Focus on the gains & scores 4 negative gains among those getting A & B for the course grade 4 Standardized Average gain far smaller than documented work

65. Concluding Remarks 4 the present instructional method failed miserably to promote crossover into Newtonian world for any subgroups except those from boarding schools 4 could there be other reasons??

66. Concluding Remarks 4 Work in the pipeline –Extending the database doing the pretest and posttest for the whole population - this semester

67. Concluding Remarks 4 Invitation to collaborate –plenty of research can be done on problems identification instructional development (Pn. Laila Hanim will work on this to help overcome problems that was highlighted in today’s talk many areas of physics

68. Dr. J.J., Applied Sciences Education Research Group (ASERG) Faculty of Applied Sciences, UiTM Email: drjjlanita@hotmail.com Phone: 03-5516-4886 WebPage: http://www.itm.edu.my/acaprg/fsg/drjj1.html