The development of scientific concept on the topic of buoyant force for grade 12 students using the buoyant force experiment set

This research aimed to develop a series of experiments set on buoyant force and develop students’ understanding of scientific concepts on the buoyant force for grade 12 students. Based on the Predict-Observe-Explain (POE) teaching method. The target groups were students in two schools in Khon Kaen Province; there were 22 grade 12 students in Nam Phong Suksa School and 34 grade 12 students in Khon Kaen Wittayayon II school (Saman Sumetho). This research uses a Quasi-Experimental Research model. Two categories of research tools were used in the study: 1) The instruments used in the experiment were a series of experiments on buoyant force and two POE learning management plans. The activity using the experimental series on buoyancy consisted of 6 activities. NO.1 Experiment with three clay blocks which is the same mass but in different shapes (sphere, cube, pyramid, etc.). NO.2 Experiment with weighing objects which is the same volume but in different masses NO.3 Measure the buoyant force of objects of different volumes but in the same mass. NO.4 Experiment to find the buoyant force of one object which is in three different liquids (oil, water, salt water). NO.5 Measure the buoyant force when objects are at different depths. NO.6 How does the amount of liquid above the sinking object affect buoyancy? 2) The instrument used to collect the data was the eight items of the Two-Tier Diagnostic test about scientific conceptions of buoyant force. Data analysis was used to average the scores before and after classes. THE FINDINGS The students showed 5 scientific misconceptions about buoyant force. 1) Depth affects the buoyant force. 2) Amount of water under the material effects buoyant force. 3) The buoyant force is inversely proportional to the density of the liquid. 4) The volume of a sinking object does not affect the magnitude of the buoyant force. 5) Different densities of liquid did not affect the magnitude of the buoyant force. The results showed that students in both schools who were taught about buoyant force by using the Buoyant Force experiment Set, were able to develop scientific concepts of buoyant force. When considering the scores for each item, we found that the most misconception of the buoyant force experiment set developed in NO.3 misconception (96.43% of the sample). The next, in order was NO.1 misconception (87.50% of the sample) and NO.2 misconception (73.21% of the sample). REFERENCES Cartier, J. (2000). Using a modeling approach to explore scientific epistemology with high school biology students. United State of America: University of Wisconsin Madison. Sangsupata, S. (1993). Development of a two-tiered multiple-choice test to measure misconceptions in physics among high school students in Thailand (Unpublished Ph.D. thesis). Oregon State University, Thailand. Supasorn, S. (2015). Grade 12 Students’ Conceptual understanding and mental models of galvanic cells before and after learning by using small-scale experiments in conjunction with a model kit. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 16, 393-407. Tisana Khemmanee. (2011). Pedagogical science. Bangkok. Chulalongkorn University. Wanjaree Mangsing (2012). Understanding of scientific consensus on climate of Mathayom Suksa 1 students after applying teaching strategies to change the opinion of Heeson & Hewson. KKU Journal Graduate Research, 6(2), 186-195

The teachers’ problem-solving process in applying the specific application of physics on a STEM activity through Open Approach

In the 21st century, learning science to explain phenomena of nature alone is not enough for students, the goal of learning has changed from the past. The student has to apply scientific knowledge to solve complex problems in daily life. Therefore, in preparing students for the future, the teacher is a very important person to help students in learning. In order to succeed in this endeavor, teachers have to understand how to learn before coaching students. With this in mind, thirty Thai teachers were the participants in this study. They were encouraged to think through the Open Approach strategy; the Open Approach is a teaching strategy that focuses on giving students the opportunity to think about their problems and take action to solve problems by themselves (Inprasitha, 2004). The STEM activity through the Open Approach is composed of four phases (Inprasitha, 2010). 1) Posing Open-ended problem, in the first phase teacher assigns students to create a tool for verifying that 10-baht coins have the same weight. 2) Students’ self-learning through problem-solving, the student integrates Science, Technology, Engineering Design, and Mathematical concepts to apply to solve the problem by themselves. 3) Whole class discussion and comparison. 4) Summarization through connecting students’ ideas in the classroom. The problem considered in this STEM activity is applying the concept of rotational equilibrium to create a tool for verifying that 10-baht coins have the same weight, under the constraint of only limited equipment being supplied. The teachers' problem-solving processes were analyzed from the worksheet and the presentation by using a rubric score consisting of three levels: good (7-9 score), moderate (4-6 score), and poor (0-3 score). We analyzed worksheets on 3 topics about rotational equilibrium: the fulcrum, the distance, and how to know 10-baht coins have the same weight. The results found that 60% of teachers can apply the specific physics concept at a moderate level in the STEM activity. In addition, there are only three basic concepts that teachers applied to create a tool for verifying the same weight of coins which are the fulcrum, the distance between weight and fulcrum, and the error of equipment. REFERENCE Inprasitha, M. (2004). Teaching by Open Approach in Japanese Mathematics Classroom. KKU Journal of Mathematics Education, 1(1), 1-17. Inprasitha, M. (2010). One Feature of adaptive Lesson Study in Thailand: Designing Learning Unit. Proceeding of 45th Korean National Meeting of Mathematics Education. (pp. 193-206). Seoul: Dongkook University

The students' problem solving through STEM activities, walking monsters

Problem-solving is a complex process and a necessary process in our daily life. It is also a crucial skill in the 21st century for students. This research aims to study students' problem-solving skills in the Walking Monster activity, which is a STEM activity applying the center of mass concept to create a toy, a walking monster. The activity was implemented based on the Blended Learning Classroom strategy. The students were provided on-demand VDO for them to solve the problem following the basic guide of constructing the walking monster before class. During the classroom, which is a face-to-face classroom, the students were further encouraged to integrate Science, Technology Engineering Design, and Mathematical concepts to apply to solve the problem. Thai students who studied in grade 10 were the participants. The students’ learning during the activity was recorded by VDO recording and a student worksheet. The rubric score was used to identify problem-solving processes consisting of four levels: Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor. There are five dimensions of problem-solving processes: Useful Description, Physics Approach, Specific Application of Physics, Mathematical Procedures, and Logical Progression. The results found that students’ problem-solving processes are excellent in Useful Description, fair in Physics Approach, poor in Specific Application of Physics, good in Mathematical Procedures, and good in Logical Progression. Therefore, in solving problems students need the guide tool to apply the physics approach and specific physics concepts to solve problems. REFERENCES Docktor J., Dornfeld J., Frodermann E., Heller K., Hsu L., Jackson K., Mason A., Ryan Q., & Yang J. (2016). Assessing student written problem solutions: A problem-solving rubric with application to introductory physics. Physical Review Physics Education Research, 12(1), 010130. Jung, E. (2021). STEAM Convergence Class Lesson Plan Through Making Walking Monster and Playing Racing Gam. UNESCO UNITWIN Online Content. Korea: Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation in the Korea National University of Education

Question Guided Instructions: a New Tool to Improve Thai Students’ Thinking Skills in the Physics Experiment Class

Inquiry based teaching has long been accepted as an effective teaching approach in science education. The inquiry approach has been shown to encourage students’ thinking skills in many disciplines. In this research, the inquiry approach is implemented through the use of guiding questions during instruction in physics experimental classes. The guiding questions are designed to challenge students and to encourage them to learn a physics experiment not only with their hands but also with their minds. They are embedded throughout the experiment, beginning to end. The guiding questions cover three particular aspects considered to be essential to succeed in learning while doing the experiment. The first aspect is relevant physics concepts, the second is the role of key equipment and the third is important techniques necessary to perform the experiment. The guiding questions are designed to encourage students’ thinking at the different levels corresponding to Bloom’s taxonomy. The study was conducted with 6 second year physics students from Thailand. The approach was evaluated using interviews and demonstrated that students’ thinking skills was better developed and they did engage with their minds in the physics experimental class. Keywords: teaching in physics laboratory, students’ thinking skills

A study of students’ learning pathways on the buoyant force through the CoSci learning platform

The study of students’ learning pathways is necessary for teachers to understand how students learn. In learning or solving some problems, the students have their own strategy for constructing knowledge to learn and solve. During students’ learning, they will apply their previous knowledge to further create a body of knowledge. For example, students need to understand basic concepts related to the buoyant force – density, mass, volume, water level, weight, and depth – before solving the buoyancy problem (Wongsuwan & Huntula, 2019). Therefore, if teachers know how students learn, they can encourage and promote students to learn better. Teachers can also know what the difficulties for students in learning are. However, to study how students learn and learning pathways, is to study something inside a person. Yet, some students are not able to express their thoughts by speaking or writing, which makes it difficult to understand how they learn and their learning pathways. Therefore, it is a challenge for teachers to find appropriate ways and strategies to understand students' learning pathways validly. One of the reliable tools used to investigate students' conceptual understanding and students' learning pathways is the CoSci learning platform with an interactive computer simulation. The CoSci can be used to record students' behaviors such as students' answers, frequency of operating computer simulations, times, and date of interaction with the platform. Moreover, there is the Lag Sequential Analysis function (LSA) which is one of the functions of CoSci to calculate and display students' activity patterns, referred to as a learning pathway in this presentation. This study aims to investigate 1) students' learning pathways on the buoyant force, and 2) the relation between Predict-Observe-Explain (POE) activity performance and learning performance of eighteen students in eleventh grade in science classrooms of a university-affiliated school project (SCiUS), Khon Kaen University, Thailand. The focusing conception was the buoyant force and the basics conception related to the buoyant force which are mass (M), volume(V), density(D), the level of solution(L), submerged depth(H), and weight(W). The POE with the interactive computer simulation (i.e., the CoSci learning platform) was developed on the CoSci platform based on students' alternative concepts and used to facilitate students' conceptual understanding of the buoyant force (Wongsuwan & Huntula, 2021). In this study, the LSA was used to calculate and display students' learning pathways while students were learning on the CoSci meanwhile, Spearman's correlation was used to compute the correlation between the post-test score (learning performance) and the score of each step of the POE. The findings showed that the most difficult concept for students to learn about the buoyant force was the concept related to the mass of the object. This study identified two groups of students' learning pathways patterns on the buoyant force: 1) the V-M-W pattern, which is starting from the basic concepts of volume then mass, and weight consequently which facilitated students in learning the buoyant force; 2) the W-M-V pattern, which means student started to learn the basic concepts of weight then mass and volume consequently, that made students still confused in learning the buoyant force. Spearman's correlation showed a significant positive relationship between learning performance and explanation score (r=1.00, p<0.01) and a significant negative relationship between learning performance and the frequency of running the simulation (p<0.05). The implications of the findings are discussed in this presentation. REFERENCES Wongsuwan, W., and Hantula, J. (2019). The students’ basic conceptions of Buoyant force. Journal of Physics: Conference Series. 1380 012139. Wongsuwan, W., and Hantula, J. (2021). The interactive computer simulation and learning activity for facilitating students’ conceptual understanding on the buoyant force through the CoSci learning platform. Journal of Physics: Conference Series. 2145 012075

The study of grade eleven students' representations of electricity through model-based inquiry

Generally, students find learning electricity topics difficult. Students struggle to construct their own model of learning because many of the interactions are invisible, it is an abstract and very complicated concept. Multi-representations are used as tools to help students construct representations to connect their understanding of the concept, rather than memorizing definitions and presenting what they have learned. We are presenting research that aimed to study grade 11 students' ability to construct representations of electricity through model-based inquiry. The action research was implemented in this study with two action research loops to improve students' representations. The first Loop consisted of Ohm's law, electric resistivity, conductivity, and resistor connection. The second loop consisted of electrical energy and potential difference, electrical energy, electric power, and battery connection. The representations of students were collected after loop one and loop two of the implementation. The students' representations were interpreted and grouped into five levels based on Kozma and Russell (1997) consisting of 1) Representation as Depiction 2) Early Symbolic Skills 3) Syntactic Use of Formal Representations 4) Semantic Use of Formal Representations 5) Reflective Rhetorical Use of Representations. The grouping of students' representation was according to the propriety of each answer using scoring criteria based on Jaber and Boujaoude (2012), and Wang (2007), consisting of fair, good, and very good. The results showed that students’ representations of electricity in loop one were as follows: 53.125% of students' representations were fair and 46.875% were good at level II on Ohm's law; 37.5% of students' representations were fair, 9.375% were good and 53.125% were very good at level II on electric resistivity and electric conductivity; 59.375% of students' representations were fair, 6.25% were good and 34.375% were very good at level II on resistor connection. The results showed that students’ representations of electricity in loop two were as follows:46.875% of students’ representations were fair, 31.25% were good and 21.875% were very good at level III on electrical energy and potential difference; 53.125% of students' representations were fair, 25% were good at level III and 21.875% were very good at level III on electrical energy and electric power; 53.125% of students' representations were fair, 15.625% were good at level III and 31.25% were very good at level IV on battery connection. The results show that students’ representations were improved by model-based inquiry. Students’ representations were improved from loop 1 to loop 2 of the action research. We concluded that model-based inquiry is an alternative way that helps physics teachers to reduce learning difficulty. Teachers should design activities to facilitate students to express and transfer representation coherently and correctly. REFERENCES Jaber L, & Boujaoude S. (2012). A Macro–Micro–Symbolic Teaching to Promote Relational Understanding of Chemical Reactions. International Journal of Science Education, 34(7), 973 – 998. Kozma R, & Russell J. (1997). Multimedia and understanding: Expert and novice responses to different representations of chemical phenomena. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 43(9), 949-968. Wang, C.Y. (2007). “The Role of Mental-Modeling Ability, Content Knowledge, and Mental Models in General Chemistry Students’ Understanding about Molecular Polari,” Dissertation for the Doctor Degree of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the University of Missouri. Columbia

Developing students' conception of Refraction of Light in grade eleven by Predict–Share–Observe–Explain approach

THE RESEARCH PROBLEM Currently, Thai students learn by focusing on memorisation of content and not focusing on understanding knowledge. This problem results in students not constructing the knowledge by themselves. Furthermore, in Physics, students have difficulty understanding physics content because they are only following the lecture or textbook. Therefore, the students can easily have an alternative conception of Physics. The Refraction of Light is a physics concept that usually occurs under many physical situations in our daily life. There are many misconceptions among students about this topic. Therefore, the teacher is the one crucial factor to solve students’ misconceptions by providing learning activities in the classroom.  The researcher was interested in improving students’ concept of the Refraction of Light through the Predict- Share- Observe- Explain (PSOE) approach.  With this teaching approach, students enhance their learning through collaboration with friends in the classroom. They make a prediction, observe the phenomena, and explain following the teacher's guidance. METHODOLOGY The aim of the research we are presenting, was to develop students’ conceptual understanding of the Refraction of Light in grade 11 students by Predict-Share-Observe-Explain approach (PSOE). The Pre-experimental research design, One Group Pretest - Posttest Design, is this study's research method. The target group was 17 students in a local public school in the northeastern region of Thailand. Three lesson plans were constructed and used following the PSOE approach. The data were collected by the conceptual test, before and after the implementation of the lesson plans. The conceptual test consists of ten questions of a Three-Tier Multiple Choice test consisting of the first tier to check students’ conception, the second tier to check students’ reasoning ability, and the third tier to check students’ confidence. The data were divided into six-levels of conceptions consisting of Scientific knowledge, Misconception (false positive), Misconception (false negative), Misconception, Lucky guess, lack of confidence, and Lack of knowledge (Brown et al., 2015). The number of students at each level of conceptions before and after learning will be presented. RESEARCH FINDING The research found that in all questions of the Three-Tier Multiple Choice test, the number of students before learning by PSOE approach is lower than the post. In relation to the percentage of students with the correct answer in the scientific knowledge level, there were 17.31 percent before activities and 43.17 percent after the activities. In contrast, considering the percentage of students with Misconceptions and Lack of knowledge levels, in both levels, the percentage of students was reduced after the activities. Therefore, the PSOE approach can be implemented to improve scientific knowledge of the Reflection of light. REFERENCES Brown, P. L., Concannon, J., Hansert, B., Frederick, R., & Frerichs, G. (2015). Students’ Investigations in Temperature and Pressure. Science Activities: Classroom Projects and Curriculum Ideas, 52(1), 9-14. Brown, P. L. & Concannon, J. (2016). Students use the PSOE model to understand weather and climate. Science Activities: Classroom Projects and Curriculum Ideas, 53(3), 87-91.  Kiray, S. A., Aktan, F., Kaynar, H., Kilinc, S., & Gorkemli, T. (2015). A descriptive study of pre-service science teachers’ misconceptions about sinking-floating. Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, 16(2), 2