Prevalence of Random and Null-modal Students’ Responses using Concentration Analysis: An Example from Electromagnetism Concepts

Abstract

Science concepts, like electromagnetism, involve abstract relations, which are often problematic in students’ learning. Electromagnetism concepts are crosscutting concepts across science disciplines. A standardized Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism, which is a 32-item multiple-choice test, was used to collect data from 117 first-year science students newly enrolled in a university in Ethiopia. Concentration analysis was used to analyze the student’s responses to the test. A paired samples t-test was conducted to evaluate the difference between the concentrations of the student’s responses to the scientific and alternative conceptions. The results showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the two concentrations of the student’s responses (t = 0.23, p = 0.82). In addition, three-level categorization of student’s responses on the test showed that more than four-fifth of the student’s responses were in the null non-model state, less than one-fifth of the student’s responses were in the mixed bimodal state, and none of the students’ response was in the pure state. These results showed that the student’s responses to the electromagnetism concepts were nearly all in the null-model and random response states. This study argues that teacher educators need to use concept learning strategies to develop significantly students’ conceptual knowledge of electromagnetism.

Keywords

• alternative conceptions
• concentration analysis
• introductory physics
• model states
• scientific conceptions