Research on the Diagnosis of Students' Misconceptions and Development of Instructional Strategies---Designing and Developing Physics Curriculum Materials

Based on my researches these years, I will proceed to design and develop Physics curriculum materials through integrating instructional units into thematic topic in Physics. The study will make further progress on the diagnosis of students’ misconceptions and development of instructional strategies. The instructional model is a learning cycle based on a constructivist view of learning. It provides a planned sequence of instruction that places students at the center of their learning experiences, encouraging them to explore, construct their own understanding of scientific concepts, and relate those understandings to other concepts. Integrated instructional units interweave laboratory experiences with other types of science learning activities, including lectures, reading, hand-on and demo experiments, science history stories, animations, movies, and peer discussion. Diagnostic, formative assessments are embedded into the instructional sequence and can be used to gauge the students’ developing understanding and to promote their self-reflection on their thinking. The study incorporates a means to enhance teachers’ knowledge base, including subject matter, pedagogical content knowledge, and teaching strategies. Beyond the components designed for students, curricular materials can be designed so they contribute to science teachers’ development of science subject matter, knowledge and use of instructional models and strategies, and pedagogical content knowledge of science topics and inquiry.

Project ID:PF9808-0179
External Project ID:NSC98-2511-S182-001