Abstract:

Studying the conceptual world of students is important to understand how conceptual change occurs, which is ultimately one of the most important goals of a learning process. Research on alternative conceptions is essential to intervene and refine teaching strategies. Students do not come to the classroom with an empty mind; instead, they already have ideas and representations of the world and natural phenomena. Therefore, a successful teaching strategy that leads to meaningful learning must consider those prior mental models and their nature. In this work we investigate alternative conceptions about the nature of light in high school students. We search for those ideas through a diagnostic instrument designed from the analysis of open tests applied to 11th grade students from different rural schools in Antioquia, Colombia. Here we present the advances around this research and additionally discuss how the knowledge of these previous ideas can help teachers to create better teaching strategies on this topic.

Keywords:

Optics, active learning, light, alternative conceptions.