Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology

ISSN 2146‐7242

Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology Special Issue for INTE 2017 December 2017

Prof. Dr. Aytekin İşman Editor‐in‐Chief Prof. Dr. Jerry WILLIS ‐ ST John Fisher University in Rochester, USA Prof. Dr. J. Ana Donaldson ‐ AECT President Editors Assist.Prof.Dr. Fahme DABAJ ‐ Eastern Mediterranean University, TRNC Associate Editor

TOJET 01.12.2017

THE

TURKISH ONLINE JOURNAL OF

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY December 2017

Special Issue for INTE 2017 Prof. Dr. Aytekin İşman Editor-in-Chief Editors Prof. Dr. Jerry Willis Prof. Dr. J. Ana Donaldson Associate Editor Assist. Prof. Dr. Fahme Dabaj

ISSN: 2146 - 7242 Indexed by Education Resources Information Center – ERIC SCOPUS - ELSEVIER

TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – December 2017, Special Issue for INTE 2017

The Effectiveness of Using Virtual Simulation and Analogy in the Conceptual Change Oriented-Physics Learning on Direct Current Circuits

Neni HERMITA Program Studi PGSD, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Riau, Indonesia [email protected]

Andi SUHANDI Departemen Pendidikan Fisika, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Indonesia [email protected]

Ernawulan SYAODIH Program Studi Pendidikan Dasar, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Indonesia

Zuhdan Kun PRASETYO Program Studi Pendidikan IPA, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Indonesia [email protected] M. Nur MUSTAFA Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Riau, Indonesia [email protected]

[email protected] Achmad SAMSUDIN Departemen Pendidikan Fisika, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Indonesia

[email protected] Wahyu SOPANDI Departemen Pendidikan Kimia,

Isjoni ISJONI Program Studi Pendidikan Sejarah Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Riau, Indonesia [email protected]

Hendri MARHADI Program Studi PGSD,

[email protected]

Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Riau, Indonesia [email protected]

Muslim MUSLIM Departemen Pendidikan Fisika,

Fitria ROSA SMU N 1 Peranap, Riau, Indonesia

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Indonesia

[email protected]

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Indonesia

[email protected] Firmanul C WIBOWO Program Studi Pendidikan Fisika, Universitas Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa, Indonesia [email protected]

Bunyamin MAFTUH Program Studi Pendidikan Dasar, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Indonesia

Sumardi SUMARDI Program Studi Administrasi Pendidikan, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Riau, Indonesia [email protected]

Bayram COSTU Department of Science Education Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey [email protected]

[email protected] ABSTRACT This research investigated the use of cognitive conflict strategy aided with virtual simulation and analogy in conceptual change oriented-physics learning on Direct Current Circuits. Thoughis pre-experimental method involved 38 pre-service elementary teachers at a university in the Riau province, Indonesia. They were taught by using cognitive conflict strategy aided with virtual simulation media and analogy. Virtual simulation by using media was done at conception and scientific explanation stages. And then analogy was done at new concept reinforcement stage. The research instrument used was a direct current circuit concept test in Three-Tier Test format. The test was used before and after the cognitive conflict strategy implementation. The results show that

Copyright © The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology

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before treatment the majority of college students have misconceptions abot parallel electrical circuit, battery functions in an electric circuit and the bulbs lighting process in an electric circuit. The results also show that the application of cognitive conflict strategy aided with virtual simulation and analogies is highly effective in reducing the quantity of students who have misconceptions on three reviewed direct current circuit concepts. Keywords: Conceptual change, virtual simulation, analogy, direct current circuits INTRODUCTION Students’ understanding of the key concepts related to the physics topic has become an interesting research area and has been studied by researchers in the physics education field (e.g. Mulhall, McKittrick & Gunstone, 2001). The facts show that the students come to class with a variety of views or conception and most of them are different from scientific conception (Treagust & Duit, 2008). The students’ experiences in the environment, peer influence, the influence of media and learning activities can trigger the formation of such conceptions in their minds (Chu, Treagust & Chandrasegaran, 2009). There are a variety of terms to express students’ erroneous answers, unscientific students’ interpretations and students’s conceptions that do not correspond with the scientific conception, include "preconception" (Celement, 1982), "misconception" (Engelhardt & Beichner, 2004) or "alternative conceptions" (Gilbert & Watts, 1983). In this article the state of students' conception that does not correspond with a scientific conception hereinafter will be referred as misconceptions. Misconception is the cognitive structure that is stable and robust embedded in the minds of students that can hinder them in accepting new concepts (Treagust & Duit, 2008). It is very difficult to change or need time consuming a lot, especially by using traditional teaching method (e.g. McDermott & Shaffer, 1992; Samsudin et al, 2016; Samsudin et al, 2017). There are two implications of misconceptions towards the teaching and learning process (Demirci, 2005). First, if misconceptions are not immediately detected and corrected, it will cause mistake in understanding the concept, and will ultimately affect the achievement of students’ learning outcomes. The second implication is the students will learn a concept meaninglessly since they only learn up into memorizing stage and not into the understanding stage. The preliminary study results of some pre-service elementary teachers in one of the colleges in Riau province showed that most students still have misconceptions about the concepts covered in direct current circuit. Several misconceptions found are in the concepts: K1) parallel electrical circuit concepts, K2) battery concepts and its functions in an electric circuit and K3) the concept of a lighting bulb. Misconceptions in a lecture content can be overcome if it can be detected as early as possible. Special methods are needed to overcome students’ misconceptions. The whole process to deal with students’ misconception starts from the disclosure of students’ conception and proceed with the transformation and accommodation process of scientific conception through the cognitive conflict strategy known as a conceptual change method (Kabaca, Karadag, and Aktumen, 2011). Most studies about conceptual change that have been done are emphasizing on cognitive perspective (Kabaca et al, 2011; Limo, 2001). The students are triggered to feel dissatisfied with the views or conception that they believe, and then the more reasonable and understandable new views or conception are presented (Hewson & Hewson, 1984). To optimize students’ concept understanding and reduce their misconceptions, various approaches/learning strategies oriented towards altering the conception have been proposed (Treagust & Duit, 2008). Various approaches/strategies are proposed based on Kuhn’s philosophy of science and Piaget's theory of cognitive development (Zhou, 2010).


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One of the strategies that can be used in the conceptual change approach is cognitive conflict strategy. Cognitive conflict is a strategy or a way to release the wrong conception that has adhered strongly in students’ mind by ramming it with the actual physical fact. When the prediction/conception expressed by students about a phenomenon or a physical concept does not correspond to the actual phenomena and concepts that they have seen, there will be dissatisfaction with that conception and their belief of that conception will begin to fade. When their faith has faded, it will be easier to modify it. The effectiveness of using cognitive conflict in learning strategies aimed at instilling concept understanding cannot be denied because there are lots of research that have been conducted in various subjects. For example, cooperative learning by using cognitive conflict strategy can improve students’ critical thinking and creativity (Rahim, Noor, & Zaid, 2015). Furthermore, using cognitive conflict strategies in learning physics is proved to further improve students’ understanding of physics concepts than using traditional learning (Baser, 2006). To trigger a cognitive conflict in students’ mind, media demonstration or visualization of physical phenomena is required. For abstract or microscopic physics phenomena, virtual simulation media can be used to modeling the invisible microscopic phenomenon so it will become an observable phenomenon. To reconstruct a new conception in the students’ minds to replace the former erroneous conception, it is necessary to do the exploration and explanation of scientific conception involving students directly. Thus, they will be able to construct their own new conception in their mind. This process can be done by various methods, including interactive demonstration method or investigation method. This activity is also required the appropriate media support or laboratory equipment. For learning microscopic physics phenomena such as the movement of electrons in a circuit, simulation or virtual labs media is more appropriate to be used. Simulation is a computerized version of the physical models that can be run over a period of time that has been set (Baser, 2006). Physics teaching with use the media simulation can be used as an alternative of exploration activities using real lab (Ronen & Eliahu, 2000). With virtual laboratory, it is possible for students to directly manipulate the independent variables and can immediately see the effect of dependent variables in the virtual probe (Zacharia, 2005). Results of other studies indicate that learning physics using simulations media makes physics content easier to be understood (e.g. Jaakko & Nurmi, 2008; Wibowo et al, 2017; Samsudin et al, 2016; Kaniawati et al, 2016), and can provide constructive feedback to overcome students’ misconception (e.g. Samsudin et al, 2016; Wibowo et al, 2016; Ronen & Eliahu, 2000). To strengthen the new conception which has been embedded in the leaners’ minds, the conception reinforcement process needs to be done. This process can be done by using an analogy. Analogy is one of the most common methods used to overcome misconceptions in learning physics. Analogies can be defined as a process of physical phenomena explanation that is not known by using other similar physical/non-physical phenomena that have been known previously. In this case, the physical phenomena that have been known is called as the source, while the physical phenomena that we want to know is referred as a target. In using analogy, it is very important to clarify what and where is the similarity between the target and the source (Selcukand Ozkan, 2012). Duru (Selcuk and Ozkan, 2002), in his survey, states that the majority of physics teachers acknowledge the importance of using analogy in learning physics. They agree that the analogy can facilitate the learning process, make learning more meaningful, and correct misconceptions very effectively. Every time analogy is used dynamically, it is proved to improve students understanding of the physics concepts. The students learn certain subject step by step, by adding new knowledge to former knowledge, and because new knowledge is almost always associated with former knowledge, the analogy can be a very valuable learning tool. The symmetrical source and target situation enables them to exchange roles (Treagust et al, 1992). This paper describes the effectiveness of using a combination of virtual simulation media and analogy method in physics learning process oriented for conceptual change by using cognitive conflict strategies in teaching direct current circuit.


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THE STUDY The method used in this study is a pre-experimental method with one group pre-test post-test design. It is used because this study is a preliminary research conducted to assess the effectiveness of using conceptual change by applying cognitive conflict strategy aided with virtual simulation and analogy in reducing the quantity of students who have misconceptions. The research subjects are 38 elementary school pre-service teachers at one of the universities in Riau province. The subjects are selected by purposive sampling technique, because the purpose of this study is to remediate students who have misconceptions so the research subjects chosen are the students who have attended the direct current circuit material subject organized by the lecturer in charge. The research instrument used is a direct current circuit concept test in the format of Three-Tier Test (TTT). To determine the state of students’ concept ion based on TTT result, the guideline as shown in Table 1 is used (Katlacki and Didis, 2007). Table 1.The analysis guidelines for state of students’ concept ion based on the TTT results Answer (tier 1) True False True False True False True False

Reason (tier 2) True True False False True True False False

Confidence Level (tier 3) Sure Sure Sure Sure Not Sure Not Sure Not Sure Not Sure

Category Scientific conception Error Misconception Lack of knowledge, including guessing.

The quantity decrease of students who have misconceptions, DM, on every concept in direct current circuit content is determined by a formula in equation (1) which is an adaptation of the N-gain definition developed by Hake (Hake, 1998):

∆� =

−

(1)

−

with DM decrease criteria as shown in Table 2. Table 2.The criteria of quantity decrease of students who have misconception Decrease category DM Range DM