INVESTIGATING CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING IN NEWTON’S LAWS OF MOTION IN THE CASE OF 9 TH GRADE IN GIMBICHU PREPARATORY AND SECONDARY SHOOL

Abstract

This study was aimed at Newtonian mechanics conceptual understanding of 9 grade students, was conducted in the academic year 2009 E.C. with 33 male students and 6 female students of a total 39 students of Gimbichu Preparatory and Secondary School. These students were selected by simple random lottery sampling techniques. The research questions were “what are the levels of conception of students? Does any misconception that specific to target group? And what possible recommendation can be made?” A case study design method, which encompasses triangulation of a mixed method approach, was employed on the study. The instruments of this study were Newtonian Mechanics conceptual test, classroom activities and interviews for the selected students. Data was gathered by using the instruments from the sample students. The results of the study revealed that students were not successful conceptual problem solvers. The conclusion is that students’ conceptions were incomplete (under-developed), and inconsistent structure of concept understanding in Newton’s first, second and third laws of motion. It is the indication of students’ conceptual understanding difficulties. It is also pointed out that the concept understanding ability of students increased with participation of students in constructing of concepts and applying the concepts in real situation. The conceptual test reliability and means score and give the values of 0.991 and 33.87, respectively. The implication is that the teaching and learning approaches have to focus at enhancing students’ conceptual understanding, which is a major goal of Newtonian mechanics.

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