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Resumen
El presente estudio tiene por objeto investigar la influencia del nivel de razonamiento formal y del estilo cognitivo Dependencia/Independenciade Campo en la naturaleza y consistencia de las ideas intuitivas de los alumnos en Física. La muesta analizadaestá formadapor 269 alumnos de 2° de BUP de un instituto público de Cádiz. Los resultados obtenidos indican que ninguna de las variables independientesconsideradasafecta a la naturaleza cualitativa ni cuantitativade las preconcepcionesde los estudiantes, determinadas éstas mediante cuestionarios de interpretación/predicción de fenómenos. No obstante, los datos aportados sugieren que el nivel de consistencia en las ideas a través de diferentes contextos aumenta a medida que lo hace la habilidad de razonamiento formal.
Abstract
The purpose of the study is to investigate the role of formal reasoning ability and Field Dependence/Independence on the nature and consistency of pupils' intuitive ideas in Physics. The sample consists of 269 secondary schools 10th grade students from a public school in Cádiz. The results—obtained from questionaries on interpretation/prediction of physical phenomena—indicate that none of the independent variables considered have a relevant influence on the qualitative and quantitative nature of students' preconceptions. Nevertheless, the data reported suggest that the consistency in the use of those conceptions across different task contexts is larger in students of higher formal reasoning ability.
Extended Summary
Currents studies on science education have documented that many students hold alternative conceptions about natural phenomena. These conceptions are prior to formal teaching and arise from the influence of both physical and social environments on the constructive activity of pupils. They are useful to explain and predict the world around us, but are usually opposed to established scientific theories.
Research into students' conceptions has been centred mainly on their descriptive analysis and on the poor success obtained through formal instruction to facilitate conceptual change. Nevertherles, only a few number of papers have investigated the relationship between alternative conceptions and variables like formal reasoning ability and factors related to individual differences. For this reason, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of formal reasoning level and degree of field dependence/independence on the nature and consistency of pupils' preconceptions in physics.
The paper adopts a constructivist perspective in order to predict and interpret the study's outcomes. Specifically, it identifies with recent views which conceive students' conceptions like implicit theories. This view lies midway between Piagetian theory of formal operations and the alternative conceptions' approach. The study also attempts to refute the notion that students' conceptions are simply artefacts generated by the way the question is formulated.
The sample consisted of 269 10th grade (15–16 years old) secondary school students attending a state school in Cádiz. The students were pretested at the beginning of the academic year to determine their (1) answering patterns during the interpretation and prediction of various physical phenomena derived from the field of mechanics; (2) formal reasoning ability; and (3) cognitive style field dependence/independence.
The influence of the two cognitive variables under study on the nature of students' preconceptions was examined by comparing the answers given for each item by students which had previously been grouped as possessing a) low, medium, or high reasoning level, and b) low, medium, or high degree of field independence. The results obtained seem to indicate that the two independent variables do not exert a marked influence on the nature of subjects' preconceptions. Students with different characteristics were found to hold very similar alternative conceptions, qualitatively as well as quantitatively.
Consistency in the use of preconceptions was investigated by comparing each student's answers to questions on similar issues but posing the phenomenon involved from different contexts. The consistency observed though only moderate was statistically significant. This result seems to indicate that the nature of students' preconceptions is not deterministic but probabilistic. Likewise, the data reported suggest that the consistency in the use of alternative or pre-conceptions across different task contexts is higher in students with a higher reasoning level.
The results support the conclusions reported in numerous research work which indicates that students' intuitive ideas are firmly rooted in their cognitive structures. They show an independent status from formal development, and are not affected by “field-effects” to the exent of disturbing students' long-term memory schemata. Nevertherless, they possess an intermediate level of consistency with respect to Piagetian theory of formal operations and the alternative conceptions' approach. Finally, several considerations are made in order to explain various data reported in other studies on the security and reliability afforded by the alternative frameworks used.