Abstract:

The article is devoted to the investigation of students’ conceptions in physics learning at two technical universities during two years. Last year we tried to compare physics learning and teaching at two technical universities in two different countries. In the previous paper, we dealt with the assessment of freshmen conception in physics teaching and learning.

The standardized FCI (Force Concept Inventory) pre-test and post-test were used to find out the entry and final students’ understanding and misunderstanding of physics at the beginning and the end of the first semester of study in the universities, respectively.

Now, we are continuing to assess the preconceptions and misconceptions in learning physics at the beginning and the end of the semester during the 2019/2020 academic year using pre and post-test results. A deeper analysis of individual questions and answers of the FCI test showed the main difficulties connected with the elementary principles of introductory physics. Some of the same questions were detected as difficult, too.

We suppose that deeper assessment of FCI test results, especially „problem“ questions, can help eliminate the first-year students’ misunderstanding and also to improve their level of knowledge in the course of general physics, mainly in the field of mechanics and future STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics) study.

An interactive way of physics teaching using video-analysis of motions with the application of the program Tracker can help to form students’ right conceptions, force students to work and think independently and, finally, enhance their active learning. Moreover, watching real videos and doing video-analysis of motions with the help of the program Tracker (video-analysis and simulations (VAS) method of solving problem tasks) help them to see the discrepancies between their preconceptions, misconceptions and scientific concepts.

Keywords:

FCI test, STEM education, VAS method, assessment.