The Interpreting Ability on Science Kinematics Graphs of Senior High School Students in South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract

<jats:p>This research was a descriptive case study. The purpose of this research was to describe the student’s ability to interpret the kinematics graph. The subjects of the study were 347 students of class XI science in the even semester of 2018/2019 in Luwu Raya, South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. The research data were obtained from multiple-choice test results using instruments adapted from Test of Understanding Graph – Kinematics 2.6 and the results of in-depth interviews to find out the reasons learners choose answers and casual factors. The results of the study based on descriptive data analysis were 90 students or 25.94% in the low category, and 257 students or 74.06% were in the very low category. These results indicate the ability to interpret the graphs of students were still low, with the average achievement in answering questions on each of the highest indicators was 20.99 % on indicators identifying graphs based on the description. While the lowest average achievement was11.91%, which is the indicator to identify the graph that has a different variable. Base on the qualitative data analysis, the results are students had difficulties in solving the test, as follows: a) the difficulty in distinguishing symbol of the variables on the graph, b) the difficulty in determining the formula for solving test in graphical form, c) to determine when the curve on the graph v-t decreases then the object will move with speed slowed. The factors causing these difficulties are because students did not understand deeply about how to read graphs, how to solve test in graphical form, and did not understand the formula used to solve the test.</jats:p>

A Cross-Country Comparison of Students’ Graphs Understanding and Perceived Mental Effort

“…The first category includes difficulties with discriminating between slope and height, interpreting changes in height and changes in slope, and interpreting the area under a graph curve, for example. Confirmations of the existence of these difficulties can be found in the papers by [8,[24][25][26], etc. According to [24], the area under a curve is a difficult concept for students; therefore, more attention should be given to this.…”

“…One of the physics topics that abounds in graphs is kinematics. Kinematics includes the concepts of position, displacement, velocity, speed, and acceleration and discusses straight motion without considering the causes of motion, defined as forces [8]. Position vs. time, velocity vs. time, and acceleration vs. time are the three main kinematics graphs [5,9,10].…”

“…The importance of kinematics is reflected in its relationship with other areas of physics. Manurung noted that lack of understanding of the kinematics concept results in students' poor comprehension of further physics concepts [8] (p. 180). The importance of understanding the graphs can be seen in correlation with students' spatial ability.…”

High School Students' Comprehension of Kinematics Graphs wıth Peer Instruction Approach

“…Many studies (Antwi, Savelsbergh, & Eijkelhof, 2018;Ivanjek, Susac, Planinic, Andrasevic, & Milin-Sipus, 2016;Maries & Singh, 2013;Planinic, Ivanjek, & Susac, 2013;Vaara & Sasaki, 2019;Zavala et al, 2017) have reported that students have difficulty in understanding kinematics graphs, changing from one kinematics graphs to another, calculating and interpreting an area, comprehending the meaning of the slope of a line, determining the height of a point on the line, relating graphs to physics concepts, interpreting curved graphs differently from rectilinear graphs, making a connection between graphs and a particular subject, identifying specific events in graphs of velocity-time, acceleration-time, and position-time, analyzing deceleration and acceleration. Some studies (Amin et al, 2020;Bektaslı & White, 2012) have found that many students have great difficulty in reading kinematic graphs, so there is a close relationship between logical thinking and the skill to interpret kinematics graphs.…”

Integration of motion diagram based module to improve students’ conceptual understanding of 1 dimentional kinematics

“…Kinematics is a part of physics that deals with motion without considering the causes (forces) [1]. This topic is one of the fundamental topics because it has a big role in the construction of concepts in other physics topics.…”