This article investigates the optics misconceptions of 220 year 11 Thai high-school students. These misconceptions became apparent when the students attempted to explain how an object submerged in a water tank is 'seen' by an observer looking into the tank from above and at an angle. The two diagnostic questions used in the study probe the students' ability to use a ray diagram to explain the relationship between object, image and observer, and then to use the ray diagram to qualitatively determine the position of the image. The study indicates that these high-school students, even after instruction, had significant misconceptions about the direction of propagation of light, how light refracts at an interface, and how to determine the position of an image. The study revealed that students used various concept models to explain how the object can be 'seen' in this situation. Only 22% of all students had a qualitative understanding of how to use a ray diagram to determine image position, and only 1 of 220 students could identify the correct image position using correct reasoning. Our results indicate that students require very careful instruction if they are to understand how objects are 'seen' and how images are formed when light refracts through a planar surface.

This paper reports on the implementation of a guided note taking strategy to promote Thai students' understanding of electromagnetism during a lecture course. The aim of the study was to enhance student learning of electromagnetism concepts. The developed guided notes contain quotations, diagrams, pictures, problems, and blank spaces to encourage student interactive engagement with the lectures. The guided note templates were critiqued by a group of experienced university physics lecturers and piloted with graduate physics education students to check the content validity. Over 300 first year university students (aged about 18-19 years) attended lectures that did not involve guided note taking. Six hundred students participated in the guided note taking approach. Students' understanding of electromagnetism was investigated using a conceptual test. Comparison of the pre-and post-test results of the two groups of students indicated that students who were involved in the guided note taking approach performed better on the conceptual test than students who were not involved in this approach. From interviews, it was found that students viewed the guided note taking approach as a supportive tool that helped them concentrate on the lecture. Promoting student involvement in the lecture class through the process of guided note taking was shown to be a meaningful learning strategy for first year university physics classes.

As universities attempt to integrate active learning into their lectures, a range of strategies is emerging. Amongst the strategies is pre-prepared worksheets which students work through, facilitated by the lecturer. Despite the fact that worksheets have not yet been the subject of much research activity, there are instances of their use. Once such instance is by a pair of physics lecturers at Mahidol University, Thailand. The worksheets, called guided worksheets as they provide structure for students to take notes as the content in the lectures progresses, are prepared by the lecturers and have been in use since 2004. Evaluations showed that the guided worksheets met their intent but there were issues around certain topics which students found challenging. Concerted effort lead to the development of research based specialized guided worksheets for those topics that had issues. These specialized guided worksheets requiring substantially more interactions and student problem solving in line with active learning strategies, have been in use since 2012. This paper aims to describe the design of the specialized guided worksheets for the topic of electric field, and its evaluation. Pre- and post-tests were implemented over 2 years. The first was with guided worksheets with 260 students in 2011, and the second included specialized guided worksheets with 163 students in 2012. Gains on student understanding were higher in 2012 and students who were interviewed indicated that they found the specialized guided worksheets helpful for learning. The results indicate that the specialized guided worksheets made a difference in topics that students find challenging.

Understanding initial topics in physics (forces, fields, and kinematical quantities) requires a grasp of basic vector concepts. In this study, we intended to explore students’ qualitative understanding of graphical vector addition in one and two dimensions. Using two free-response problems of a diagnostic quiz, one is one-dimensional vector addition and the other is two-dimensional vector addition. Sixty-three grade ten high-school students’ responses were categorized. From the investigation, results represent that from the high-school students who already completed their vector lesson, only 10% of them provided correct answer for vector addition in one-dimension and 32% for the two-dimensional addition.

This study proposed to investigate the effectiveness of learning activities based on a conceptual change theoretical framework by embedding a peer instruction method with structured inquiry (PISI) on tenth grade students' understanding of force and motion concepts. This teaching method was compared to the existing traditional instruction (TI). Alternative conceptions of force and motion were determined through related literature and a preliminary study, carried out prior to instruction, was used for designing the teaching plans. A standardized test, Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation (FMCE), was used to probe students' conceptual understanding of the subject. The data were obtained from 156 students in the treatment group taught with the PISI and 119 students in the control group taught with the TI. Hake's normalized gain indicated that the effectiveness of the TI was low (0.14) while the effectiveness of the PISI was medium (0.45). The Repeated Measures ANOVA comparing the pre-and post-test change in each and overall scales of the FMCE between the two groups was significant (p<0.01). The results suggested that teachers with a similar school setting could adopt the PISI into their classroom in order to promote the learning of physics with conceptual understanding of the subject.