Abstract:

Since the early 1970s it has been pointed out that many higher education students have some mistaken ideas on some Physics topics. Indeed, the term “misconceptions” was introduced for the first time in 1972 [1]. This theme is worthy of investigation in order to improve the students’ outcomes in basic Physics courses and to tackle the issue of the growing number of dropouts [2].

Consisting of three main stages closely connected with each other, our research aims at identifying and overcoming the most significant and widespread misconceptions shown by first-year university students enrolled for engineering, in relation to their basic knowledge of Physics, with specific reference to Mechanics, Thermodynamics and Electromagnetism. It is being developed by Politecnico di Milano (ITA) along with Doshisha University (JAP) and Bauman Moscow State Technical University (RUS), which offer physics and engineering courses, as well as with Università degli Studi di Trento (ITA), which provides pedagogic support.

First of all, data about the above mentioned misconceptions were gathered by each institution through the use of an ad hoc test, which consisted of 12 multiple choice quizzes administered to about 2,500 students attending the 16 courses globally involved in the research. Hence, misconceptions related to the main macro-areas of Physics, i.e. Mechanics, Thermodynamics and Electromagnetism were further classified according to specific headings, for instance kinematics, heat transfer, electric field, among others.

The second stage focused on comparing and contrasting the misconceptions expressed by the students attending the different universities involved in the research. The analysis of the data paved the way for further investigation into the origins of the most noteworthy and widespread misconceptions and opened up the third step.

Throughout the third and final stage of our study, a trial video will be produced to enable students to overcome some significant misconceptions. This educational video will play a paramount role: not only will specific experiments be video recorded, a physics teacher will illustrate them in order to highlight the origins previously investigated as well as the founded reasons why those misconceptions are based on faulty thinking.

Finally, the effectiveness of this video will be tested next academic year when the freshmen attending the courses will watch it before taking a new test.

Our project is supported and financed by T.I.M.E. (Top Industrial Managers for Europe: http://www.time-association.org), an association of Technical Universities and Engineering Schools whose main purpose is to facilitate the exchange of students for Double Master Degrees in Engineering. The 54 members (most of them from European countries, but also from Australia, Brazil, China, Japan, Russia and Turkey) have a strong international dimension in their research, teaching and industrial relations and all are committed to international cooperation, exchange and recognition of studies abroad.

References:
[1] R. L. Doran, “Misconceptions of Selected Science Concepts”; Journal of Research in Science Teaching, vol. 9, pp. 127-137, 1972.
[2] M. Brown, A. Calkins, G. Siemens, “The Current and Future State of Higher Education”; Retrieved November 22, 2013, from https://library.educause.edu/resources/2012/11/the-current-and-future-state-of-higher-education

Keywords:

Misconceptions, Physics, Higher Education, Educational video.