engleski

Physics and non-physics students' understanding of graphs: An eye-tracking study

Reading and interpreting graphs is an important skill because information in science and in everyday life is often conveyed through graphs. Previous studies identified physics student difficulties with graph slope and area under a graph that also depended on the context (mathematics, physics or other). The aim of this study was to compare physics and non-physics students’ understanding of graphs, i.e. to evaluate the effects of concept (graph slope vs. area under a graph), and context (physics vs. finance) on their scores, strategies and eye-tracking data. Participants were 45 prospective physics teachers and 45 psychology students. They solved eight isomorphic questions about the graph slope and area under a graph in the context of physics (kinematics) and finance while their eye movements were recorded, and filled a questionnaire on their strategies. All students solved questions about graph slope better than those about area under a graph, and physics students spent more time on questions about area under a graph than on slope questions, indicating that understanding of area under a graph is quite a difficult concept. As expected, students’ scores and eye-tracking measures indicated that problems involving physics context were easier for physics students. Some physics students may have transferred the concepts and techniques from physics to finance because they scored better than psychology students on the finance questions that were novel for both groups. Analysis of student strategies showed that physics students mostly relied on the use of formulas, whereas psychology students mostly used common-sense strategies. The results suggest that learning physics helps students to transfer knowledge from physics and mathematics to new contexts. However, physics students’ excessive reliance on formulas can be hindering because they fail to think about common-sense strategies that might be useful in new contexts.

evaluation ; graphical representations ; quantitative methods

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