TY  - BOOK
AU  - Santourian,Garine Kevork
TI  - The effect of using thought experiments on grade 8 students' physics achievement and views of nature of science
PY  - 2009///
CY  - Beirut
PB  - American University of Beirut. Faculty of Arts and Sciences
KW  -  طبيعة العلم
KW  - Cycle moyen L’enseignement des Sciences
KW  - Intermediate Education Sciences education
KW  - Les Attitudes et conceptions des étudiants
KW  - Nature de la science
KW  - Nature of Science
KW  - Students Attitudes and Conceptions
KW  - المرحلة المتوسطة تعليم العلوم
KW  - مواقف الطلبة وتصوراتهم
N1  - النوع : Mémoire
N2  - This study aimed at investigating the effect of the use of thought experiments (TEs) on Grade 8 students' physics achievement as well as their understanding of some of the elements of the nature of science (NOS), specifically tentativeness, subjectivity and the role of human inference, imagination and creativity. Fifty-eight Grade 8 students taking a physics course in a private school in Beirut participated in this study which lasted for four months. Both the experimental and control groups were taught three units (motion and speed, forces, and energy) with one difference that nine pedagogical TE worksheets were used with the experimental group only. The TE worksheets were followed by whole group class discussions about the outcome of the TE and an explicit reflective historical approach to discuss the target NOS aspects using the contexts of the TEs. Whole group class discussions were also used with the control group while explaining the same concepts addressed in the TEs without the use of TEs and without discussing NOS aspects. Data sources included the Physics Achievement Test which was used as a post-test to assess students' achievement regarding the target concepts addressed in the TE worksheets. In addition, an open-ended NOS Questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used before and after instruction to detect changes in students' views of the NOS. Although no significant differences were found in the total achievement test score between the two groups, the experimental group's relativity of motion score was significantly higher than that of the control group. Qualitative analysis of the NOS data showed no differences in the pre-instructional views between the experimental and the control group students. The post-instructional views of the experimental group substantially improved as compared to those of the control group regarding the target NOS aspects except the subjective aspect which showed no differences. These findings suggest that TEs can be effectively used to teach relativity concepts and some aspects of NOS, namely the tentative aspect and the role of human inference, creativity, and imagination. Educational implications and recommendations for further research are discussed
UR  - http://search.shamaa.org/FullRecord?ID=27480
ER  -