Effects of Graphing First 0 Brief version (For each investigator’s complete field trial report, see the long version in pdf) The Effects of Developing Kinematics Concepts Graphically Prior to Introducing Algebraic Problem Solving Techniques James Archambault, Theresa Burch, Michael Crofton, Angela McClure Principal Investigator: Dr. Robert Culbertson Arizona State University Action Research required for the Master of Natural Science degree with concentration in physics. July 2008 Abstract Kinematics concepts in physics have been modeled algebraically, graphically and with motion maps. However, the investigators have noticed that despite the many representations available to them, students show a strong preference for solving kinematic problems algebraically. Students were required to solve kinematics problems exclusively utilizing graphical representations prior to being introduced to methods of algebraic solutions. Results indicate that students who received the treatment chose graphical methods for solving kinematics problems more frequently, and demonstrated stronger gains in understanding kinematics concepts overall than those students who did not receive the treatment. Rationale Kinematics, the study of motion, is amongst the first topics introduced in most introductory physics classrooms throughout this country because the major ideas in these units, position, velocity and acceleration, are incorporated into almost all other topics in physics. Without a solid understanding of these important concepts, students lack the foundation necessary to succeed as physical concepts become more abstract and more complicated to model mathematically. Because of the fundamental nature of kinematics in the whole of physics, any improvement in student understanding of these concepts creates the possibility of an improved understanding of almost all of the rest of the physics concepts that students will encounter throughout the year. This study attempted to improve conceptual understanding of kinematics concepts by having students solve problems with graphical representations prior to acquiring the ability to solve similar problems algebraically. By spatially exploring these problems before abstracting the concepts to an algebraic level, we emphasized the conceptual understanding with the students. We hoped that this method of teaching kinematics would be successful in creating a deeper understanding of the concepts of kinematics than the modeling program has done. We examined our results in part with the TUG-K and the FCI that are common assessment tools in physics education (Jackendoff, 1999, and Hestenes, 1992).Effects of Graphing First 1 Literature Review Students who receive a good grade in an introductory physics course have demonstrated their ability to algebraically find the answer to a multitude of physics problems, but many of these same students, upon closer inspection, are lacking a proper conceptual understanding of even the most fundamental physics concepts (McDermott, 1993). Further, students who do not examine their preconceived notions of the physical world, confront them with evidence, and change their way of thinking may be able to complete a mathematical algorithm properly, but the misconceptions return shortly thereafter (Hestenes, 1992). This has been demonstrated often in recent research especially by Hestenes, et. al., and their use of the Force Concept Inventory (Hestenes, 1992). This assessment has been given to students of many different ability levels who have successfully completed introductory physics courses in high school or college that have been taught in a variety of ways (Hestenes, 1987). The results have indicated that traditional lecture instruction is less successful at getting students through their misconceptions than approaches that help students to confront the misconception (Hestenes, 1992, Hake, 1998). One rationale that has been offered for this discrepancy between success in a physics class and understanding of physics has been offered in the form of cognitive mapping (Jackendoff, 1999). Those students who primarily use algebraic methods to solve problems do so by first assigning a symbol to each concept. This assignment of a variable actually limits the ability of most students to think about the concept as it changes in time and space. Unfortunately, the concepts emphasized in kinematics are regularly changing in time and space. Students who primarily utilize algebraic methods to solve problems have knowledge of the inputs and outputs of their equations, but they tend to lose the spatial and temporal information that occurred between these two points (Megowan, 2007). As this information is lost, much of the meaning is lost as well. Therefore, the choice of an algebraic method first for solving physics problems can limit the ability of many students to develop a full conceptual understanding of these ideas (Megowan, 2007). There is nothing inherent in the physics concepts themselves that requires an algebraic method as the primary one for exploration and solution. It is clear that graphs are able to represent a great number of physics concepts, and therefore, the ability to interpret graphs and draw graphs is critical to success in understanding physics (McDermott, 1986). Some go so far as to say that the ability to utilize scientific representations, such as graphing, is the primary difference between good and poor problem solvers (Beichner, 1994). It is also clear that giving students many opportunities over time to work with and interpret graphs improves their skills with graphs (Beichner, 1994, and Mcdermott, 1986). But the great benefit in using graphing to represent physics concepts is that graphing allows one to think multidimensionally and spatially about a problem and understand the nuances of the variables (Jackendoff, 1999). If students first explore ideas with graphs and diagrams, they should be able to take advantage of their abilities to think spatially (Jackendoff, 1999). Students who utilize this progression have been found to have the ability to think about physical concepts and “to move back and forth in space and time, examine instants or intervals, and see points at which things happened or changed” (Megowan, 2007). Later, the terminology and algebraic representations can be applied to these ideas and students should be able to move between the spatial