Highlighting Considerations in Experimental Design: The Case of Multimeters

Autor/inn/en	Levy, Smadar; Noga, Adi; Kapach, Zehorit; Yerushalmi, Edit
Titel	Highlighting Considerations in Experimental Design: The Case of Multimeters
Quelle	In: Physics Education, 57 (2022) 1, Artikel 015018 (12 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0031-9120
Schlagwörter	Science Instruction; Teaching Methods; Laboratory Experiments; Physics; Professional Associations; Cues; Research Training; Personal Autonomy; High Stakes Tests; Science Tests; Measurement; Worksheets; Validity; Decision Making; Reflection; Student Attitudes; Communities of Practice; Accuracy; Teacher Attitudes; Research Methodology; Electronics; High School Students; Science Teachers; Foreign Countries; Israel + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Laboratory work; Laborarbeit; Physik; Stichwort; Individuelle Autonomie; Messverfahren; Gültigkeit; Decision-making; Entscheidungsfindung; Schülerverhalten; Community; Lehrerverhalten; Research method; Forschungsmethode; Elektronik; High school; High schools; Student; Students; Oberschule; Schüler; Schülerin; Studentin; Science; Teacher; Teachers; Science teacher; Wissenschaft; Lehrer; Lehrerin; Lehrende; Ausland
Abstract	The instructional lab setting has been found to be dominated by prescribed tasks and pre-prepared lab kits. This was explained by teachers' need to guide students to simultaneously progress through a lab curriculum, which prompts them to standardize the lab experience. Nevertheless, prominent professional associations have persistently called to better represent experimental research practices in the lab, and to grant students more agency in the experimental process by orienting them towards more open-ended lab experiences. This paper reports a lab activity designed to advance students' agency in the practice of experimental design, in a setting governed by a high-stakes national matriculation exam. Three hundred teachers of advanced level high-school physics experienced the lab activity in a national network of professional learning communities (PLCs). The activity was anchored in an experiment to determine the relationship between the current through a battery and its terminal voltage. It was designed to problematize students' considerations underlying the choices of the location of the voltmeter and the measuring scale of the ammeter, and the possible implications for the validity of the experimental results; e.g. control of the variables, as well as the range and the accuracy of measurements. Teachers first performed the lab activity as learners, discussed it in the PLC meeting, and finally reflected on their experience. Individual responses to the lab worksheets and the reflections were analyzed. Initially, teachers' considerations did not portray key aspects related to the validity of the experimental results, such as how design choices related to the location of the voltmeter and the ammeter measuring scale impacted the accuracy and range of the measurements and the control of variables. The teachers were highly engaged in the peer discussion in the PLC and found the lab activity valuable in raising students' awareness of important considerations in experimental design. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01