Complex phenomena understanding in electricity through dynamically linked concrete and abstract representations
Abstract
The present study investigates the impact of utilizing virtual laboratory environments combining dynamically linked concrete and abstract representations in investigative activities on the ability of students to comprehend simple and complex phenomena in the field of electric circuits. Forty‐two 16‐ to 17‐year‐old high school students participated in a guided‐inquiry‐based teaching intervention utilizing a virtual laboratory environment and were assigned to three conditions: functional dynamically linked concrete and abstract representations of objects (CA approach), functional concrete representations of objects alone (C approach) and functional abstract representations of objects alone (A approach). All conditions used the same instructor, instructional method and materials. A pretest–post‐test scheme was used to assess the students' conceptual evolution. A repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance of the results indicates that after instruction all groups show a similar significant improvement in comprehending simple phenomena in electric circuits. However, for complex phenomena, the CA approach significantly outperforms the other two. It seems, therefore, that in the field of electric circuits, investigative activities utilizing virtual laboratory environments with dynamically linked concrete and abstract representations of objects may foster enhanced understanding of phenomena with a high degree of complexity for high school students.
Lay Description
Section 1: What is currently known about the subject
- The representations used in learning environments influence the students' acquisition of knowledge.
- Utilization of dynamically linked concrete and abstract representations of concrete objects increases undergraduate (freshman) student understanding of conceptually rich and complex phenomena in optics.
- Primary school pupils are influenced differently than college students by multiple representations in the learning environment and benefit more by using a certain representation consistently in electric circuits.
Section 2: What this paper adds to the subject
- Studies the impact of dynamically linked concrete and abstract representations in open virtual laboratory learning environments in direct current (DC) electric circuits utilized in guided‐inquiry‐based teaching to secondary school student conceptual evolution.
- Extends the results of other studies to the area of DC electric circuits and the age of high school students, which has not yet been studied.
- Identifies complexity of tasks as a factor that may differentiate learning outcomes of high school students taught DC electric circuits by inquiry with dynamically linked concrete and abstract representations to students taught with only concrete or only abstract representations.
- Suggests that teaching electric circuits to high school students by guided inquiry utilizing a virtual laboratory learning environment with dynamically linked concrete and abstract representations may foster deeper understanding of complex phenomena compared with utilizing only concrete or only abstract representations alone.
Section 3: Implications of the study findings
- Virtual learning environments providing users with dynamically linked multiple representations of objects and phenomena may support enhanced understanding of complex phenomena when utilized in guided‐inquiry‐based teaching.
- High school students behave more like college students instead of primary school pupils when multiple representations are used during inquiry‐based teaching with virtual laboratory learning environments.
Number of times cited: 2
- Athanasios Taramopoulos and Dimitrios Psillos, The Impact of Virtual Laboratory Environments in Teaching-by-Inquiry Electric Circuits in Greek Secondary Education: The ElectroLab Project, Research on e-Learning and ICT in Education, 10.1007/978-3-319-95059-4_17, (279-291), (2018).
- Anastasios Molohidis and Euripides Hatzikraniotis, Introducing Preservice Science Teachers in the Development of Inquiry-Based Activities, The Role of Laboratory Work in Improving Physics Teaching and Learning, 10.1007/978-3-319-96184-2_11, (131-143), (2018).
