The Effects of a Model-Based Physics Curriculum Program with a Physics First Approach: a Causal-Comparative Study

Springer Science and Business Media LLC - Tập 21 - Trang 114-124 - 2011
Ling L. Liang1, Gavin W. Fulmer2, David M. Majerich3, Richard Clevenstine4, Raymond Howanski4
1Department of Education, La Salle University, Philadelphia, USA
2National Science Foundation, Arlington, USA
3Temple University, Philadelphia, USA
4Ridley School District, Folsom, USA

Tóm tắt

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of a model-based introductory physics curriculum on conceptual learning in a Physics First (PF) Initiative. This is the first comparative study in physics education that applies the Rasch modeling approach to examine the effects of a model-based curriculum program combined with PF in the United States. Five teachers and 301 students (in grades 9 through 12) in two mid-Atlantic high schools participated in the study. The students’ conceptual learning was measured by the Force Concept Inventory (FCI). It was found that the ninth-graders enrolled in the model-based program in a PF initiative achieved substantially greater conceptual understanding of the physics content than those 11th-/12th-graders enrolled in the conventional non-modeling, non-PF program (Honors strand). For the 11th-/12th-graders enrolled in the non-PF, non-honors strands, the modeling classes also outperformed the conventional non-modeling classes. The instructional activity reports by students indicated that the model-based approach was generally implemented in modeling classrooms. A closer examination of the field notes and the classroom observation profiles revealed that the greatest inconsistencies in model-based teaching practices observed were related to classroom interactions or discourse. Implications and recommendations for future studies are also discussed.

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