Abstract:

Physics and Engineering are often considered to be difficult subjects based on experimental observations and quantitative measurements. The fundamental laws are expressed in the language of mathematics - the method that provides the bridge between a theory and an experiment. Teachers constantly work on improving students´ understanding of various phenomena and fundamental laws.

Students are less interested in studying Mathematics and Physics because they consider them difficult to learn, to understand and to pass the final school leaving examination. As a result, most of the students enrolling to technical universities have only theoretical knowledge about physical phenomena, several preconceptions and misconceptions.

In this paper, we deal with an evaluation of the conception of freshmen in physics teaching and learning at two technical universities in different countries.

The standardized FCI (Force Concept Inventory) pre-test and post-test were used to find out the prior and output physics conception and misconceptions of students at the beginning and end of the first semester of study in university.

Analysis of individual questions of FCI test showing major difficulties deals with very elementary principles of introductory physics. We suppose that deep evaluation of FCI test results can help eliminate the misconception of first-year students and also to improve their level of knowledge in the course of general physics, mainly in the field of mechanics.

Evaluation of preconceptions and misconceptions at the beginning and end of semester using pre and post-test results can help lecturers/teachers to organize future physics learning and teaching processes better and it can help students to eliminate misconceptions and effectively prepare for future STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics) study.

An interactive way of physics teaching using videos and video-analysis of motions with the application of the free program Tracker help form students’ right conceptions.

Keywords:

STEM, assessment, FCI test.