Conceptual Understanding of Newtonian Mechanics among Afghan Students.

Abstract

In this paper, the level of conceptual understanding of Newtonian mechanics among Afghan school and university students in Kabul, Afghanistan was investigated. This study employed a quantitative descriptive survey method where the Pashto version of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) was given to a random sample of 216 students from two schools and 90 students from two universities in Kabul city. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS v.24 and Microsoft Excel, where descriptive and inferential statistical analysis methods were used to determine the students’ level of conceptual understanding in Newtonian mechanics. The results of this study revealed that generally, Afghan students had a low level of conceptual understanding of Force which is less than the Newtonian entry threshold for FCI. The results further showed that there is a significant difference between school and university students in the level of conceptual understanding. Furthermore, the results indicate that student’s gender didn’t have any significant effect on the FCI scores of university students. In general, the results confirmed that both school and university students were having difficulties to conceptually understand Newtonian mechanics. Therefore, the results of the study can be added to the database and serve as a guideline for teachers and students to increase their conceptual teaching and learning. In addition, it can be used to correct the students’ misconceptions and to improve teaching and learning of physics in Afghanistan.