High school students' approaches to learning physics with relationship to epistemic views on physics and conceptions of learning physics

Guo Li Chiou, Min Hsien Lee*, Chin-Chung Tsai

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

39 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background and purpose: Knowing how students learn physics is a central goal of physics education. The major purpose of this study is to examine the strength of the predictive power of students' epistemic views and conceptions of learning in terms of their approaches to learning in physics. Sample, design and method: A total of 279 Taiwanese high school students ranging from 15 to 18 years old participated in this study. Three questionnaires for assessing high school students' epistemic views on physics, conceptions of learning physics and approaches to learning physics were developed. Step-wise regression was performed to examine the predictive power of epistemic views on physics and conceptions of learning physics in terms of their approaches to learning physics. Results and conclusion: The results indicated that, in general, compared to epistemic views on physics, conceptions of learning physics are more powerful in predicting students' approaches to learning physics in light of the regression models. That is, students' beliefs about learning, compared with their beliefs about knowledge, may be more associated with their learning approaches. Moreover, this study revealed that the higher-level conceptions of learning physics such as 'Seeing in a new way' were more likely to be positively correlated with the deep approaches to learning physics, whereas the lower-level conceptions such as 'Testing' were more likely to positively explain the surface approaches, as well as to negatively predict the deep approaches to learning physics.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-15
Number of pages15
JournalResearch in Science and Technological Education
Volume31
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013 Apr
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • approaches to learning physics
  • conceptions of learning physics
  • epistemic views on physics

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Education

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'High school students' approaches to learning physics with relationship to epistemic views on physics and conceptions of learning physics'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this