Elementary Education

The purpose of this study is to find out the
effects of bridging analogies on students' misconceptions
in gravity and inertia. Mechanics Diagnostic Test
developed by the researchers was applied twice as a pretest
and a posttest to the 67, 9th grade students in a nearby high
school. In the period between the pretest and the posttest
gravity and inertia were instructed to the students by using
bridging analogies.
The findings of the pretest have shown that the
students actuaIly have misconceptions about gravity and
inertia. By comparing the results of the pretest and the
posttest, it is seen that these misconceptions can be
remediated by using bridging analogies.

There are many studies related to gender differences in students’ science related affective characteristics in science education literature. However, there are few studies related to students’ physics related affective characteristics. The purpose of this study is to find out gender differences in freshmen’s selected affective characteristics related to physics, and to determine the best-fitting structural equation models for males’ and females’ physics related affective characteristics. The affective characteristics selected for this study are: interest in physics courses in general, interest in the freshmen physics course, importance of the physics courses in general, importance of the freshmen physics course, aspiring extra activities related to physics, student motivation in physics, achievement motivation in physics, physics test anxiety, physics course anxiety, physics self-concept and physics self-efficacy. The researchers developed the Affective Characteristics Scale, which consisted of 54 items related to 12 selected affective characteristics. The items were scored on a 5-point Likert scale. Sample of the study consists of 433 female and 435 male students in three state universities in Ankara. A one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to determine the effect of gender on freshmen’s physics related affective characteristics. Significant differences were found among gender groups on the dependent measures in favor of male students. Analyses of variances (ANOVA) on each dependent variable were conducted as follow-up tests to MANOVA. Best-fitting structural equation models of the affective characteristics for female and male freshmen were determined.

Bu çalışmanın amacı olabildiğince fazla duyuşsal karakteristiği bir araya getirerek bu karakteristiklerin başarı ile arasıdaki ilişkiyi ortaya koymaktır. Bu karakteristikler; fiziğe karşı tutum, fizik motivasyonu, fizik kaygısı, fizik özyeterlik algısı ve fizik öz kavramıdır. Çalışmanın örneklemi ise 2001-2002 eğitim öğretim yılı ikinci döneminde, Ankara’daki 3 devlet üniversitesinde temel fizik dersini alan 322 birinci sınıf öğrencisidir. 55 soruluk likert tipi bir anket geliştirilmiştir. Anketin güvenirliği 0,96’dır. Basit korelasyon ve çoklu regresyon ve korelasyon analizi kullanılmıştır. Basit korelasyon analizlerinde duruma bağlı ilgi ile başarı arasındaki korelasyonun diğer değişkenlere göre daha yüksek olduğu görülmektedir. Yine başarı motivasyonunun başarı ile diğer değişkenlere göre daha güçlü bir ilişkiye sahip olduğu görülmektedir. Ayrıca MRC sonucunda duruma bağlı ilgi, fizik öz kavramı, kişisel ilgi, başarı motivasyonu ve fizik derslerinin öneminin başarıdaki varyansın %27’sini açıkladığı bulunmuştur.