Hongjun Xing 1,* , Wenhui Gong 2 , Peng Wang 3 , Yanfang Zhai 2 , Yuping Zhao 2
1
College of Teacher Education, Capital Normal University, China, Beijing, Beijing 100048, China
2
College of Education, Capital Normal University, Beijing, Beijing 100048, China
3
Beijing 21st Century International School, China,, Beijing, Beijing 100036, China
*Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 2020-8-26 / Accepted: 2020-12-19 / Published: 2021-6-14
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37906/real.2021.1
Abstract Problem representation in this specific domain have raised greater attention in the past years. In mainland of China, research of the primitive physics problem teaching has been developed in the physics education domain recently. This study proposes six representations in the process of solving problems for middle school students, including abstraction representation, assignment representation, image representation, physics representation, methodology representation and mathematics representation. The measuring instrument for K-9th grade primitive physics problems was developed according to previous research and the principle of “Objectively Evaluating Subjective Questions”. The participants were 113 grade nine students in mainland China. The result of confirmatory factor analyses conform to the effectiveness of the measuring instrument. A weak correlation between the measuring instrument of primitive physics problems and Lawson’s Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning (LCTSR) was found. Therefore, we believe that the primitive physics problem solving ability is a special ability which is different from the general reasoning ability. This study demonstrates that using the measuring instrument for K-9th grade primitive physics problem to measure students’ ability of problem solving is promising.
Research Areas: Assessment
Keywords: primitive physics problem, problem representation, measuring instrument
