Analyzing high school students’ reasoning about polarization of light

Scientific paper - Original scientific paper

• Author: Karolina Matejak Cvenic
• Author: Lana Ivanjek
• Author: Maja Planinic
• Author: Katarina Jelicic
• Author: Ana Susac
• Author: Martin Hopf
• Author's institution: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Science; (Department of Physics)
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: NATURAL SCIENCES; Physics

Abstract (english)

Polarization of light is one of the topics in the Croatian high school physics curriculum. It is taught in the final year of high school education. Twenty-seven Croatian high-school students (aged 18–19 years) were interviewed after regular instruction about their understanding of polarization of light and the model of light itself. This paper reports on the observed students’ reasoning strategies and conceptual difficulties. Some of the reported difficulties correspond with previously identified difficulties, but some new difficulties were also found. Students often based their explanations on the remembered but misinterpreted common schematic representations of polarization. Explanations seemed to be created on the spot, suggesting the absence of prior models of polarization.

• Keywords (english): student conceptual difficulties; wave optics; polarization of light
• Language: english
• Publication type: Scientific paper - Original scientific paper
• Publication status: Published
• Peer review: Peer review - international
• Publication version: Published version
• Journal title: Physical Review Physics Education Research
• Numbering: vol. 17, no. 1, 010136
• e-ISSN: 2469-9896
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010136
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:217:430885
• Publication: 2021
• Project: Number: IP-2018-01-9085; Title (croatian): Utjecaj uključivanja istraživačkih učeničkih pokusa u srednjoškolsku nastavu fizike na razvoj znanstvenog zaključivanja i konceptualnog razumijevanja; Title (english): Effect of the inclusion of students' investigative experiments in secondary school physics teaching on the development of scientific reasoning and conceptual understanding; Acronym: INVESTIGATE; Leader: Maja Planinić; Jurisdiction: Croatia; Funding stream: IP
• Document URL: https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010136
• Type of resource: Text
• Access conditions: Open access
• Public note: Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Received 7 December 2020; Accepted 12 April 2021; Published 19 May 2021.
• Created on: 2023-08-11 12:29:12