First year university students conceptions of atmospheric pressure
Date
2006-11-17T08:19:32Z
Authors
Small, John
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Abstract
This qualitative research project investigated the ideas of a small group of learners in the first
year physics course at the University of the Witwatersrand in the area of atmospheric (air)
pressure. These ideas constitute the prior knowledge with which these learners enter physics
education at tertiary level. Clinical interviews were conducted with an initial sample of three
(3) respondents, and the main study consisted of seven (7) first-year physics students. Data
obtained during the course of the interviews was audio-taped and transcribed, and from an
analysis of the transcripts a picture was obtained of the content of the knowledge held, and of
the epistemological and ontological views that respondents entertained. What renders this
work important is the argument that teachers are unable to assist the learning process without
engaging actively with what their learners already know and believe. The first step in setting
up learning experiences which can assist learners to become fluent in the construction of
sound scientific explanations for phenomena and to become competent at weighing evidence
is to determine the state of learners’ prior knowledge. The findings of this limited case study
may be summed up as follows: There is very little indication, in the sample investigated in
this study, that any meaningful learning has occurred in the areas of pressure, atmospheric
pressure and the kinetic theory. These concepts have little or no explanatory power for
learners in attempting to account for natural phenomena and technological applications in
which atmospheric pressure is at work.
Description
Student Number : 0316775W -
MSc research report -
Faculty of Science
Keywords
first year physics, learners, atmospheric pressure, Clinical interviews, epistemological views, ontological views