Active Learning session based on Didactical Engineering framework for conceptual change in students’ equilibrium and stability understanding

ABSTRACT

Engineering students on control courses lack a deep understanding of equilibrium and stability that are crucial concepts in this discipline. Several studies have shown that students find it difficult to understand simple familiar or academic static equilibrium cases as well as dynamic ones from mechanics even if they know the discipline’s criteria and formulae. Our aim is to study the impact of a specific and innovative classroom session, containing well-chosen situations that address students’ misconceptions. We propose an example of Active Learning experiment based both on the Didactical Engineering methodology and the Conceptual Fields Theory that aims at promoting a conceptual change in students. The chosen methodology allows, at the same time, a proper design of the student learning activities, an accurate monitoring of the students’ rational use during the tasks and provides an internal tool for the evaluation of the session’s efficiency. Although the expected starting conceptual change was detected, it would require another activity in order to be reinforced.

KEYWORDS:

• Didactical Engineering
• conceptual change
• Conceptual Fields
• equilibrium
• stability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

After a Ph.D. in Physics Education, Michaël Canu started to work in the University of Los Andes in Colombia where he did his research in both engineering education and physics education.

Cécile de Hosson is a professor at the Faculty of Physics, University of Paris 7, and a director of the Laboratoire de Didactique André Revuz.

Mauricio Duque is a professor at the University of Los Andes and an academic director of the Pequeños Científicos program.

Notes

1. For more mathematical details, see, for example, Åström and Murray (2009).

2. Clearly this is not the logical negative form of the rule. Since the rule is, in fact, a logical implication (‘at rest’ implies ‘equilibrium’), the negation of the antecedent (‘moving’) does not implies the negation of the consequent (non-equilibrium).

3. Bonwell and Eison (1991).

4. For more details about this notion of milieu, which is more than a simple social environment, read Brousseau (1988) La théorie des situations didactiques, La pensée Sauvage (115–160), Grenoble.

5. A mechanical system composed of a fulcrum and two inclinables arms that allows a non-horizontal equilibrium state.