Assessing and enhancing university students’ knowledge integration in learning electromagnetic induction

ABSTRACT

Electromagnetic induction stands as a fundamental concept in electromagnetism and has been extensively studied in physics education. In this research, a conceptual framework model is developed to explore university students’ understanding of electromagnetic induction through the lens of knowledge integration. Building upon the experts’ viewpoints and a comprehensive literature review on students’ challenges and misconceptions, a conceptual framework for electromagnetic induction is established, serving as the guidance for developing a concept test to assess levels of knowledge integration in student learning. According to both quantitative and qualitative analyses, the findings confirm that the conceptual framework can proficiently depict the different integration levels of students’ knowledge structures, while also revealing the intricate pathways that underlie their reasoning processes. Drawing from the conceptual framework and insights gained through assessment, an instructional intervention is designed with the specific goal of promoting knowledge integration by highlighting the central idea of electromagnetic induction and connecting it to other knowledge components. The score changes of pre–post testing indicate that the modified instruction has achieved success in improving knowledge integration and deep learning of electromagnetic induction.

KEYWORDS:

• Knowledge integration
• the conceptual framework
• electromagnetic induction

Acknowledgements

Any opinions expressed in this work are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the funding agencies.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics statement

This research meets ethical guidelines and adheres to the legal requirements of China. Ethics approvals of this project are reviewed and approved by the Hubei Province Ministry of Education under grant number 2022261. It is confirmed that all subjects have provided appropriate informed consent according to the guidelines of human subject research established by Yangtze University.

Additional information

Funding

The research is supported by the Humanities and Social Sciences Project of the Ministry of Education of China Fund under grant number 18YJC880094 and Teaching Reform Project in Higher Education of Hubei Province Fund under grant number 2022261.