International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) |Volume IX, Issue XII, December 2022|ISSN 2321-2705
Assessing Novice Preservice Physics Teachers’ Conceptual Knowledge of Mechanical Waves
Ademola Olatide Olaniyan
Kampala International University, Uganda
Abstract: Current research in physics shows that undergraduate students have poor conceptual knowledge of waves and optics. This research seeks to assess novice preservice physics teachers’ conceptual understanding of mechanical waves using qualitative and quantitative approaches. Year one semester two (Y1,2) preservice physics teachers in a university in Uganda were exposed to a standardized multiple choice question (MCQ) assessment test- Mechanical Waves Conceptual Survey 2 (MWCS2). The descriptive quantitative analysis of novice preservice physics teachers’(NPPT) responses to the MCQ assessment test was taken beyond the conventional responses of assessing the correct options by considering how their responses to the multiple choice were distributed. Interpretive qualitative analysis was used to interpret the responses to each question in order to determine what informed NPPT responses to each question. The interpretation of both qualitative and quantitative data was combined to make sense of scientific conceptions, alternative conceptions, and misconceptions upheld by the preservice teachers. The findings and the distributions showed that novice preservice physics teachers’ conceptual understanding and knowledge of mechanical waves are poor. Implications for teaching and learning mechanical waves amongst NPPT in view of their future professional practice were identified.
Keywords: Novice, Preservice, Conceptual knowledge
I. INTRODUCTION
Topics in mechanical waves are major concepts that are taught yearly among first-year undergraduate physics and science education students in universities. The study of mechanical waves occupies a privileged position and many areas of advanced physics (light, heat sound, electro-magnetism, etc.) and other areas outside physics (spectroscopy, meteorology. Electrical engineering, etc.) depend on a solid understanding of why and how disturbances propagate in the manner of a wave. An understanding of mechanical waves is fundamental and it is important for making sense of physical optics, quantum mechanics, electromagnetic radiation and other courses to be taught in the subsequent semesters. It is, therefore, important to ensure that the preservice teachers have a good grasp of conceptual knowledge of mechanical waves as the teachers’ progress in their studies and career training. There has been much research on mechanical waves among undergraduate students in universities (Barniol & Zavala, 2017; Eshach, 2014; Kryjevskaia, Stetzer, & Heron, 2012; Olaniyan & Govender 2020; Pejuan, Bohigas, Jaén, & Periago, 2012; Zeng et al., 2014; Ringo & Mulvia, 2022).