Error‐based simulation as a thought experimental method for changing “motion implies a force” misconception: An evaluation

Abstract

Background: In learning mechanics, students often believe that "force is exerted on moving objects." As this misconception called "motion implies a force" (MIF) is difficult to correct, various teaching methods have been proposed, such as showing refutational/explanatory text (Palmer & Flanagan, 1997;Takagaki, 2004), promoting students' conceptual development (Dekkers & Thijs, 1998) and epistemology-focused instruction (Elby, 2001).Objectives: The purpose of this research is to empirically examine the effectiveness of an alternative method we have proposed for helping students overcome MIF misconceptions. The method is called the "Error-based simulation (EBS)" that creates a counterexample to students' misconceptions by simulating erroneous phenomena based on students' incorrect ideas. Methods:We conducted a two-year experimental implementation of EBS in mechanics classes at a technical college, and investigated the results. Students worked on the pre-test, the exercise with EBS, the post-test, and the delayed post-test. Results and Conclusions:In both years, MIF-answers (wrong answers due to MIF) in the learning task (problems learned with EBS) significantly decreased from the pretest to the post-test and the delayed post-test. The decrease in other erroneous answers was not significant. EBS was effective mainly in correcting MIF-answers, and the effect was maintained over the long term. In the transfer task (new problems), the ratio of MIF-answers to all erroneous answers in both the post-test and delayed post-test was much lower than that on the learning task in the pre-test.These results suggest that learning with EBS not only corrected MIF-answers but also promoted the correction of MIF misconceptions. A comparison between our results and those of other methods for correcting MIF misconceptions revealed that the effect of EBS was equal to or greater than that of other methods mentioned above.