ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION IN STUDENT LEARNING OF BUOYANT FORCE

TitleASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION IN STUDENT LEARNING OF BUOYANT FORCE
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2022
AuthorsZou, Y, Jin, L, Li, Y, Hu, T
JournalJournal of Baltic Science Education
Volume21
Issue4
Start Page720-738
PaginationContinuous
Date PublishedAugust/2022
Type of ArticleOriginal article
ISSN1648-3898
Other NumbersE-ISSN 2538-7138
Keywordsassessment of knowledge integration, buoyant force, central idea, conceptual framework, scientific concept understanding
Abstract

Students’ problem-solving ability depends on their understanding of related scientific concepts. Therefore, the modeling and assessment of students’ understanding of specific scientific concepts is important to promote students’ problem-solving ability, as it can find students’ understanding difficulties and explore breakthrough strategies accordingly. Inspired by the theory of knowledge integration and combined with the situational characteristics of science education in China, this study established a conceptual framework about buoyant force, which was applied to model students’ different understandings of it. And based on the established framework, an assessment of buoyant force was designed and tested among 622 Chinese lower-secondary school students. Through the analysis of the test data and the interview outcomes, it was found that students’ understanding of buoyant force could be divided into three levels of knowledge integration including novice, intermediate, and expert. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that an emphasis on the nature of buoyant force can be an effective strategy to help students achieve a deeper conceptual understanding of buoyant force, leading to a more integrated knowledge structure.

URLhttps://oaji.net/articles/2022/987-1662187488.pdf
DOI10.33225/jbse/22.21.720
Refereed DesignationRefereed
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