Archive | 2019
Using physics representation worksheet to enhance students’ understanding and performance about force
Abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate students abilities to understand and solve physics problems by teaching them how to develop representations using physics representation worksheets. The particular curriculum component studied here relates to the concept of force (the application of Newton s laws). The first-year students were involved in this study to find out the extent to which the worksheet can support students understandings and capacity for problem-solving. An experimental approach was applied for this study. For data collection, before and after instruction, students were asked to solve 11 items from the force concept inventory-FCI (a standardized force concept test) which is a multiple-choice test. Two open questions were solved by students to measure students performance at the end of the instruction. Based on the analysis of the results, students score of the eight FCI items increased while scores for the two open-ended items decreased; score for one item did not changed. Students performance in solving inclined plane, above 50% students were able to correctly draw all forces exerted on an object. Furthermore, in the horizontal surface problem, 5 out of 23 students could perfectly solve the problem; they drew all forces precisely and executed the final answer.