Student’s Alternative Conceptions of Free-Fall, Speed, Velocity and Acceleration, In High School in Tripoli Libya

Date

2015-12

Type

Article

Journal title

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 5

Author(s)

Assoc. Professer Dr. Almahdi Ali Elwan

Pages

322 - 338

Abstract

The study was conducted to find out the conceptual understanding and misconceptions of students in objects undergoing freely falling motion, speed, velocity and acceleration. Open-ended questions are utilized and are given to three science classes to assess students’ understanding of the most basic concepts in free-fall speed, Velocity, and Acceleration. Results showed that majority of the students in both classes were able to correctly describe the motion of an object in free-fall in terms of velocity. Similar to previous studies, misconceptions were mostly on the acceleration of the object when it is at the highest point of its flight. Further analysis showed that there is no significant difference between the answers of science. Regardless of their concentration, students have the same general misconceptions on free fall speed, Velocity, and Acceleration. The results were analyzed by (SPSS) (subject package for social science) to identify Students’ misconception on free-fall speed, velocity, and acceleration. The findings revealed that most of the students held alternative conceptions of free-fall speed, velocity, and acceleration. Finally, Implications and Suggestions for the Teacher for Teaching and Learning KEYWORDS: Misconceptions, Free-fall, speed, Velocity, and Acceleration.

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