The Use of Concept Questions to Improve Student Understanding of Mechanics, and the Formulation of a Hierarchical Model of Student Understanding of Moments of Forces
The aims and objectives of the first part of the thesis are to create and evaluate a teaching
package that would enable the teacher to facilitate student conceptual understanding of
mechanics. The second part is to create a hierarchical model of student conceptual
understanding of moments of forces.
The thesis reports on the various conflicting theories and recommended teaching strategies
from the research into student misconceptions, and examines the various underlying
philosophical trends (for example, radical and social constructivism, the Vygotskian
perspective and positivism) that have influenced the research into misconceptions in
mechanics. As a result, the philosophical perspective of the thesis is that the analysis of the
structure of Newtonian mechanics ought to be before the consideration of challenging
misconceptions. The question as to how students can construct for themselves the
Newtonian system ought to be prior to the consideration of designing a strategy to tackle
misconceptions. With prior consideration of the structure of mechanics, the thesis
examines the formation of the intuitive schema of force and motion. The thesis proposes
the Socratic method of strategic questioning as the most appropriate teaching method for
constructing the Newtonian system and displacing the intuitive schema of force and
motion. The thesis reports on the formation, and the evaluation, of the teaching package as
an aid to facilitate the construction of the Newtonian system, and concludes that teachers
have to be trained in the use of the Socratic method prior to any evaluation.
There has been little or no research in the area of misconceptions concerning moments. The
thesis reports on the formation of a hierarchical model of understanding moments. From a
sample of 417 students nation-wide, the thesis has identified 3 conceptual levels of
understanding moments and discusses the teaching implications based on the responses
from the sample