The use of conceptual change texts as class material in the teaching of “sound” in physics

In this study, the researchers presented two conceptual change texts that can be used to overcome some common misconceptions regarding “sound intensity” and “how fast sound travels.” The texts written by the researchers were designed in a format that can be used both in middle school and in physics courses for high school seniors. These materials were tested using two small groups of students, and included qualitative data based on only the students’ statements. The first group was comprised of eighth-grade students (n=12). In this group, the subject of “sound” had been covered in the lower levels of the course to a limited extent but the researchers began the application before reviewing the subject. A comprehensive unit about “sound” is included in the eighth-grade syllabus. The other group consisted of ninth-grade students (n=15). This group had already covered “sound” in eighth grade. However, time had passed and it was assumed that students may have forgotten the key concepts, or misconceptualized some of the terms. One of the reasons why the pilot study was tested on two different groups was to see if conceptual change texts are more effective in diagnosing misconceptions or in overcoming them. Another reason was to see if the two groups held the same or different misconceptions.

When the students’ worksheets were studied carefully, it was observed that both elementary school and secondary school pupils had similar misconceptions. For instance, 24 students stated that sound travels much faster in the atmosphere than anywhere else. One of the students made the comment, “If we scream inside water we may not be heard well; yet if we scream in open air, then we can be heard much better.” It was observed that most students thought that “sound intensity” and “sound pitch level” are the same concepts. Although a few students wrote down the correct answer, “sound intensity,” they were not able to exactly describe what sound intensity is. This proved that students had a problem with fully understanding the concepts.

In the pilot implementation, the worksheets distributed to the students were given out not altogether but in parts. The reason for this was to prevent students from producing offhand responses by only looking at the text without understanding the concept. The worksheets have questions in the last section. The answers to some of these questions are in the text but some are not. The objective here was to see if the students had completely understood the concepts and could transfer this knowledge to other situations. An attempt was thus made to reach a definitive judgement about whether the students had been able to overcome their misconceptions. At this point, it might be recommended to implementers that working with parts of the worksheets instead of distributing them all at once would be a more effective method. The attachments show the worksheets being given to a 9th grade student (in the student’s native language of Turkish with English translations,see Appendices A and B).

Finally, the researchers came to the conclusion that these texts, which were designed in accordance with the researchers’ observations throughout the pilot study and derived from the data collected from the students’ worksheets, could be used to identify misconceptions about sound in both groups, and they were useful in overcoming fallacies.