home - login - register

Thesis Detail Page

Examining students' understanding of electrical circuits through multiple-choice testing and interviews
written by Paula V. Engelhardt
Research has shown that high school and university students have misconceptions about direct current resistive electric circuits. At present, there are no standard diagnostic examinations in electric circuits. Such an instrument would be useful in determining what conceptual problems students have before or after instruction. The information provided by the exam can be used by classroom instructors to evaluate their instructional methods and the conceptual problems of their students

Two versions of a diagnostic instrument known as Determining and Interpreting Resistive Electric circuits Concepts Tests (DIRECT) were developed, each consisting of 29 questions. DIRECT was administered to groups of students in the United States, Canada and Germany that had completed their study of electrostatics and direct current electric circuits.

Individual interviews were conducted after the administration of version 1.0 to determine how students interpreted the questions and to uncover the reasoning behind their selections. The analyses indicate that students, especially females, tend to hold multiple misconceptions, even after instruction. The idea that the battery is a constant source of current was used most often in answering the questions. Although students tend to use different misconceptions for each question presented, they do use misconceptions associated with the global objective of the question. Students' definitions of terms used on the exam and their misconceptions were examined. Students tended to confuse terms, especially current. They assigned the properties of current to voltage and/or resistance.

One of the major findings was that students were able to translate easily from a "realistic" representation of a circuit to the corresponding schematic diagram. Results indicated that students do not have a clear understanding of the underlying mechanisms of electric circuit phenomena. Students had difficulty handling simultaneous changes of variable.
University: North Carolina State University
Academic Department:  Physics
Pages 258
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Education - Basic Research
- Alternative Conceptions
- Assessment
= Conceptual Assessment
= Instruments
Electricity & Magnetism
- DC Circuits
= Currents
= Ohm's Law
= Power and Energy
- Resistance
General Physics
- Physics Education Research
- Lower Undergraduate
- High School
- Assessment Material
= Test
- Reference Material
= Thesis/Dissertation
PER-Central Types Intended Users Ratings
- PER Literature
- Thesis/Dissertation
- Researchers
- Professional/Practitioners
- Educators
  • Currently 0.0/5

Want to rate this material?
Login here!


Formats:
application/pdf
non-digital
Mirror:
https://search.proquest.com/docvi…
Access Rights:
Free access and
Available for purchase
Restriction:
© 1997 Paula V. Engelhardt
Type:
PhD. Dissertation
ISBN Number:
9780591476569
Keywords:
DIRECT, Electrical Circuits, Interviews
Record Creator:
Metadata instance created December 5, 2011 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:
August 17, 2016 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update
when Cataloged:
December 1, 1997
ComPADRE is beta testing Citation Styles!

Record Link
AIP Format
P. Engelhardt, , PhD. Dissertation, North Carolina State University, 1997, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11585&DocID=2500).
AJP/PRST-PER
P. Engelhardt, Examining students' understanding of electrical circuits through multiple-choice testing and interviews, PhD. Dissertation, North Carolina State University, 1997, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11585&DocID=2500>.
APA Format
Engelhardt, P. (1997, December 1). Examining students' understanding of electrical circuits through multiple-choice testing and interviews (PhD. Dissertation, North Carolina State University, 1997). Retrieved October 7, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11585&DocID=2500
Chicago Format
Engelhardt, Paula. "Examining students' understanding of electrical circuits through multiple-choice testing and interviews." PhD. Dissertation, North Carolina State University, 1997. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11585&DocID=2500 (accessed 7 October 2024).
MLA Format
Engelhardt, Paula. "Examining students' understanding of electrical circuits through multiple-choice testing and interviews." PhD. Dissertation. 1 Dec. 1997. North Carolina State University, 1997. 7 Oct. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11585&DocID=2500>.
BibTeX Export Format
@phdthesis{ Author = "Paula Engelhardt", Title = {Examining students' understanding of electrical circuits through multiple-choice testing and interviews}, School = {North Carolina State University}, Type = {PhD. Dissertation}, Month = {December}, Year = {1997} }
Refer Export Format

%A Paula Engelhardt %T Examining students' understanding of electrical circuits through multiple-choice testing and interviews %R PhD. Dissertation %D December 1, 1997 %P 258 %I North Carolina State University %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11585&DocID=2500 %O Physics %O application/pdf %O PhD. Dissertation

EndNote Export Format

%0 Thesis %A Engelhardt, Paula %D December 1, 1997 %T Examining students' understanding of electrical circuits through multiple-choice testing and interviews %B Physics %I North Carolina State University %P 258 %8 December 1, 1997 %9 PhD. Dissertation %@ 9780591476569 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11585&DocID=2500


Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.

Citation Source Information

The AIP Style presented is based on information from the AIP Style Manual.

The AJP/PRST-PER presented is based on the AIP Style with the addition of journal article titles and conference proceeding article titles.

The APA Style presented is based on information from APA Style.org: Electronic References.

The Chicago Style presented is based on information from Examples of Chicago-Style Documentation.

The MLA Style presented is based on information from the MLA FAQ.

Examining students' understanding of electrical circuits through multiple-choice testing and interviews:

References Key Document Determining and Interpreting Resistive Electric Circuit Concepts Test (DIRECT)

Appendix D: Version 1.0 and Appendix E: Version 1.1 are available as previous versions of the DIRECT record.

relation by Lyle Barbato

Know of another related resource? Login to relate this resource to it.
Save to my folders

Contribute

Related Materials

Similar Materials