Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of the Mental Models Deployed by Undergraduate Students in Explaining Thermally Activated Phenomena

Claudio Fazio; Onofrio Rosario Battaglia; Rosa Maria Sperandeo-Mineo

doi:10.14712/18047106.739

Vol. 8 (2017): Keynotes and selected papers from the International Conference on Physics Education, ICPE-EPEC 2013 (Special Issue) Selected papers

Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of the Mental Models Deployed by Undergraduate Students in Explaining Thermally Activated Phenomena

Claudio Fazio, ¹ Onofrio Rosario Battaglia, ¹ Rosa Maria Sperandeo-Mineo, ¹

University of Palermo — Physics Education Research Group, Department of Physics and Chemistry, University of Palermo

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/18047106.739

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Fazio, C., Battaglia, O. R., & Sperandeo-Mineo, R. M. (2017). Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of the Mental Models Deployed by Undergraduate Students in Explaining Thermally Activated Phenomena. Scientia in Educatione, 8. https://doi.org/10.14712/18047106.739

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Abstract

In this contribution we describe a research aimed at pointing out the quality of mental models undergraduate engineering students deploy when asked to create explanations for phenomena/processes and/or use a given model in the same context. Student responses to a specially designed written questionnaire are initially analyzed using researcher-generated categories of reasoning, based on the Physics Education Research literature on student understanding of the relevant physics content. The inferred students’ mental models about the analyzed phenomena are categorized as practical, descriptive, or explanatory, based on an analysis of student responses to the questionnaire. A qualitative analysis of interviews conducted with students after the questionnaire administration is also used to deepen some aspects which emerged from the quantitative analysis and validate the results obtained.

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Scientia in educatione

Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of the Mental Models Deployed by Undergraduate Students in Explaining Thermally Activated Phenomena

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