Momentum: Physics Education Journal

The effect of design-based STEM learning on students' scientific creativity in solar energy topic

Nala Lidya — 2024-04-09

This study aims to investigate the effect of design-based STEM learning on students' scientific creativity in the context of solar energy. The study involved 64 tenth-grade students from a public Madrasah Aliyah in Jakarta, who were split into two groups: an experimental group that used design-based STEM learning and a control group that used conventional learning. Both groups were given a scientific creativity posttest in the form of seven open-ended questions. The study results showed that the experimental group's average scientific creativity score was higher than the control group's. Furthermore, the subdimensions analysis revealed that the experimental group's flexibility and originality significantly affected their scientific creativity. The study shows that design-based STEM learning positively impacts students' scientific creativity in the context of solar energy, although with a low category. This research can be a reference for future research to investigate the influence of design-based STEM learning on students' scientific creativity in various contexts.

Bibliometric analysis: Trends of gamification in physics learning from 2019 to 2023

Surya Haryandi — 2024-04-09

This research aims to analyze research trends related to the topic of Gamification from 2019 to 2023* through bibliometric analysis using the Scopus database. Based on the criteria, 56 articles were obtained from 326 documents. These articles have been translated from international journals indexed by Scopus. The selection references were then managed using reference management software, namely Mendeley. After working on the database, this research classifies and visualizes it using VOSviewer software. The results indicate that Gamification research is gradually increasing every year. The United States, China and Japan contribute the most research globally. Visualizing gamification research trends for 2019-2023* reveal six clusters. The results of this research can support researchers regarding Gamification research trends worldwide and provide direction for further research. Overall, these reflections provide an excellent reference point for further research on Gamification.

Scaffolding as a cognitive load reduction strategy for teaching atomic and nuclear physics

Eric Appiah-Twumasi — 2024-03-17

This study investigated the effectiveness of scaffolding as a cognitive load reduction strategy for teaching Atomic and Nuclear Physics. This study was carried out with the participation of university physics students (n = 20) enrolled in the B.Sc. Physics Education Programme. A quasi-experimental one-group pre-test-post-test design was used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data on physics students’ conceptual understanding and learning dispositions about Atomic and Nuclear Physics. The intervention consisted of a university academic calendar of one semester (2022-2023) using scaffolding as a cognitive load reduction strategy. The baseline assessment revealed that the respondents had incorrect, partial, and no knowledge of electron transition and radioactivity-related concepts. However, the post-test analysis revealed a mean score of 7.22 (SD = 0.31) that can be considered significant (p < 0.05) and a large effect of 0.79 on the conceptual understanding of the participants in Atomic and Nuclear Physics. The study findings also revealed that the participants' factual, conceptual, procedural, and meta-cognition about Atomic and Nuclear Physics improved after using scaffolding as a cognitive load reduction strategy. The results further revealed an improved learning disposition about Atomic and Nuclear Physics among the participants after the intervention. The participants articulated, among others, that the use of scaffolds as a cognitive load reduction strategy stimulated their interests, made the topic more enjoyable, and reduced their sense of hopelessness. The author accordingly recommends scaffolding as a cognitive load reduction strategy to physics educators for effective teaching and learning in the context of Atomic and Nuclear Physics.

Exploration of computational thinking skills: A case study of islamic senior high school students

Amrizaldi Amrizaldi — 2024-03-17

This study aims to identify madrasah students' Computational Thinking (CT) skills on temperature and heat material. This research was conducted using a qualitative descriptive method using 5 CT-test essay questions to 53 grade XI IPA one of the Islamic Senior High School in Probolinggo. Data analysis techniques in research consist of 3 stages: data reduction, data presentation, and conclusions. Data analysis showed indicators of students' CT skills on a scale of 5 consisting of decomposition 3.90, recognition pattern 3.63, abstraction 2.83, and algorithm 2.37. Based on the study’s results, it can be concluded that the CT skills of the Islamic Senior High School in Probolinggo at temperature and heat are included in the medium category. Several indicators of CT skills are still challenging for students, especially in developing algorithms and abstractions. Some students need help identifying the steps to solve complex problems in understanding abstraction concepts and algorithms. In this case, practice, intensive tutoring, and student collaboration can help improve students' skills to overcome these difficulties.

What do my students need? Deep analysis of student's individual cognitive ability using person diagnostic map

Moh. Irma Sukarelawan — 2024-04-24

This research aims to evaluate students' conceptual understanding in the field of physics, focusing on the concepts of heat and temperature, using the Person Diagnostic Map (PKMAPs) approach. This method allows individual assessment of students' conceptual understanding, going beyond the limitations of conventional analysis methods that focus on groups. This research used a survey involving eight students from a private university in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Data was collected through a multiple-choice test of 20 items, processed using Ms. Excel and Winsteps 4.6.1. The research results show that PKMAPs are effective in identifying individual student understanding, including detecting "correct" response patterns resulting from guessing or cheating, as well as "incorrect" response patterns caused by incompetence or inaccuracy. This information allows educators to determine appropriate teaching methods, including remediation, re-teaching, or enrichment, according to each student's individual needs. This research concludes that using the Person Diagnostic Map in the context of physics education provides a more personal and effective approach to analyzing students' conceptual understanding. This method provides deeper insight into students' individual strengths and weaknesses, facilitating more focused and effective learning planning.

Practice rehearsal pairs with dynamic video media: Improving students' kinematics graph interpretation skills

Luluk Hariroh — 2024-05-11

This study aims to examine the impact of Practice Rehearsal Pairs (PRPs) with Dynamic Video Media (DVM) on improving students' skills to interpret kinematics graphs in Physics subjects among junior high school students in Malang. This research is descriptive with a quantitative approach. Data collection was conducted through tests, observations with open questionnaires to three classes totaling 77 eighth-grade students in Malang City. Semi-structured interview participant selection was carried out to obtain detailed and in-depth answers from the students' perspectives. The instrument used to explore kinematics graph interpretation abilities consisted of 10 kinematics graph questions taken from The Test of Understanding Graphs in Kinematics (TUG-K). The research results show that eighth-grade junior high school students in Malang have a low ability to interpret kinematics graphs, with an average initial exploration ability score of 54.6. The difficulties experienced by students include reading graphs through slope/gradient, area under the graph, and direct graph reading. The PRPs learning model with DVM can improve the ability to interpret kinematics graphs of junior high school students. In the three experimental classes, there was an increase in initial exploration ability scores and final ability test scores. The non-parametric test results using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test show that all three classes have a Sig. (2-tailed) value of 0.000 < 0.05, thus it can be concluded that there is a significant difference between the initial and final abilities of students in the experimental classes before and after the implementation of PRPs and the use of DVM. This indicates that the PRPs learning model with DVM can improve the ability to interpret kinematics graphs of junior high school students.

Conflict between physical analysis and mathematics causing failure: A case on diode circuits

Erawan Kurniadi — 2024-03-17

This study aims to describe the causes of students' failures in solving diode circuit problems. Research data were obtained through tests, dialogs, and interviews with 12 students of the physics education study program at Universitas PGRI Madiun. The research began by providing diode circuit test questions. Referring to the answers to the diode circuit test questions, an investigation was conducted through a basic circuit mastery test, followed by dialogs and interviews. The data from the test results, dialogs, and interviews in this study led to the conclusion that the common causes of students' failures in solving diode circuit problems are the inability to apply Ohm's law and Kirchhoff's law correctly, as well as the inconsistency and lack of systematic application of basic circuit concepts. A specific finding regarding the causes of failure in solving diode circuit problems is the conflict between physical and mathematical analyses. Based on the common causes of students' failures in solving diode circuit problems, a series of conceptual scaffolding needs to be designed. In conceptual scaffolding, complex circuits are transformed into several basic circuits to facilitate scaffolding for each basic concept. Procedural scaffolding needs to be designed to address failures resulting from the conflict between physical and mathematical analyses. One necessary step in procedural scaffolding is confirming answers using Kirchhoff's law.

Enhanced learning: Designing bifocal modeling practicum tools with ESP32 for exploring kinetic theory of gases

Sujito Sujito — 2024-06-11

This research was conducted to obtain an initial design for a laboratory practical tool based on bifocal modeling assisted by an ESP32 microcontroller for kinetic gas theory. This study was conducted to obtain an initial design for a practical laboratory tool based on bifocal modeling assisted by the ESP32 microcontroller on the kinetic theory of gases. This study was conducted descriptively through a literature review of various book articles and materials. Interviews were conducted with students and physics teachers in high schools (9 students and two teachers in Malang, 15 students and three teachers in Bandung) in Indonesia. Interviews were conducted to obtain an overview of the application of physics learning and reveal other potential problems students and teachers face. The design of the bifocal modeling tool developed has been consulted with physics and ICT learning experts. The results are that it needs to be further developed and maintained until the manufacturing stage. Bifocal modeling based on the design developed in this study has the potential to facilitate students to conduct scientific experiments related to the kinetic theory of gases. Based on the equipment to be developed, it is expected that students will be able to observe macroscopic gas phenomena through actual experiments, monitor microscopic phenomena visualized through computer models, collect data in actual experiments and computer simulations, and compare data. Students' understanding of the concept of the kinetic theory of gases has the potential to be improved by conducting practical work using bifocal modeling-based tools.

Identification of mental model and prediction of class XII high school students on the topic of convection heat transfer

Widia Linta Nurjanah — 2024-04-25

Mental models have an important role in the learning process because learning in general can be seen as mental modeling. The purpose of this study is to identify students' mental models and identify the relationship between mental models and prediction ability on the topic of convection heat transfer. The sample of this study was 15 on 12th-grade high school students, 8 male students and 7 female students. The students came from three different schools, namely from Tasikmalaya district, Ciamis district, and Banjar City. Sampling was done by purposive sampling with the characteristics of students who have studied heat and students who have high cognitive process abilities in their respective schools. Data collection was done by semi-structured interviews with the type of questions in the form of content and prediction. Data analysis is done by constant comparative method. The results of this study show that there are no students who have a scientific mental model. Five types of mental models were found, including unclear model, convection is a continuation of conduction, convection that does not change density, convection for evaporation, and model 3. In addition, the relationship between prediction and mental model was classified as complex. This is due to students who predict without using their mental models. Knowing the diverse mental models of students, educators become more knowledgeable about the level of representation of each student. So that educators can prepare appropriate learning strategies in order to construct students' mental models.

Computational mapping analysis of artificial intelligence in education publications: A bibliometric approach utilizing vosviewer

Fanny Rahmatina Rahim — 2024-03-26

In recent years, interest in the application of AI in education has increased significantly. However, there has been no research explaining the research trends in this area through bibliometric analysis. The goal of this study was to undertake a bibliometric analysis to look at how research on artificial intelligence (AI) in education has evolved. This study used open access bibliometric software for conducting exploratory research and discovering new research directions. It focuses on VOSviewer, a freely available software tool designed to analyze and visualize bibliometric relationships across various variables. Starting with existing examples, the paper then presents an original case study utilizing bibliometrics to investigate the impact of AI on education. Using Scopus data and VOSviewer, this case study analyzes and compares co-occurrence patterns among publications over a decade, showcasing how such software can effectively support preliminary investigations and influence more formal research endeavors.

The efficacy of teaching modules in enhancing students' sense of physics: Newton's laws

Annisa Maya Sari — 2024-04-28

Sensemaking plays a crucial role as a bridge for students' understanding and intuition with explanations, thus addressing knowledge gaps. This bridging function helps students build new knowledge and comprehend related content materials. However, when facing physics problems, most students tend to engage in "answer-making" by presenting answers in the form of mathematical equations. This phenomenon of engaging in "answer-making" eventually causes students to perceive that physics does not "make sense." In response to this concern, a valid teaching module on improving students' sense of physics has been developed. This study is a quasi-experiment with a one-group pretest-posttest design. The posttest outcomes reveal an enhancement in the students' sense of physics among 60 students from two schools in Malang and Batu after they used the teaching module on Newton's Laws. However, when examining each indicator of students' sense of physics, further efforts are still needed to enhance the level of students' sense of physics.

Distance and displacement inventory: Construction, validation and structural analysis

Akhmad Jufriadi — 2024-05-10

This research aims to develop an instrument for assessing understanding distance and displacement concepts. Distance and Displacement Inventory (DDI) is an instrument constructed in multi-representations, including picture, table, graphic, mathematical, and verbal representations. This instrument is in multiple-choice format with ten questions to assess students' understanding of distance traveled and displacement. DDI development refers to R&D design by Borg&Gall and test development flowchart by Beichner. DDI was applied to 357 students in Indonesia who had taken introductory physics courses. Student answers were analyzed to determine the DDI's psychometric properties and structural analysis. The analysis results show that the DDI is adequate for assessing students' understanding of travel distance and displacement concepts. Meanwhile, the structural analysis of students' knowledge results shows that students have different perceptions of each question item according to their representation. Furthermore, students who understand the concept of distance traveled and displacement in one representation may need help understanding it correctly in another representation. This research implies the necessity of designing learning designs based on multi-representations and teaching students about the changes between these representations.

Innovative approach: Teachers’ perceptions of implementation Merdeka Belajar Curriculum in physics education

Alfini Yunita Puteri — 2024-06-02

These various perceptions emerged both positive and negative perceptions regarding the implementation of the latest curriculum, namely the Merdeka Belajar curriculum. The purpose of writing this scientific article is to explore various teachers' perceptions regarding the implementation of the Merdeka Belajar curriculum in physics subjects. The research was conducted at one of the state high schools in the Surabaya area. The approach used in this research is a qualitative approach with a case study method. The data collection technique was carried out using purposive sampling and data triangulation as an analysis technique. This research includes the perceptions of physics teachers regarding the implementation of the Merdeka curriculum. There were positive and negative responses conveyed by the teachers. The shortcomings of the Merdeka curriculum implemented in schools are that teachers are still unable to adapt to the relatively new Merdeka curriculum and there is still a lack of information and references regarding the Merdeka curriculum teaching modules. The solution that can be applied to overcome this problem is that schools must pay more attention to teachers by holding more frequent training activities in preparing learning devices, providing access to training in using technology-based learning support media, and restructuring schedules for implementing P5 activities to be more optimal. The implementation of the Merdeka curriculum in this school has resulted in many teachers' perceptions of creating learning tools that are in accordance with this new curriculum. Apart from that, P5 activities with 12 more hours than other subjects make students take these activities more lightly.

Integration of physics learning content in the context of automatic machine design of fish feed throwers based on solar cells arduino IOT system

Rendy Wikrama Wardana — 2024-06-10

The utilization of aquaculture, especially in freshwater fish farming potential, is still not optimal. In general, fish feeding is still done manually and depends on human resources which is done simply. So an automatic fish feed thrower based on solar cells was designed to minimize the risk of delays in feeding fish. This innovation can be integrated in learning where it is adapted to physics content. This research uses a mix of methods with data collection techniques in the form of observations related to the surrounding environment and the learning process, documentation in the form of learning tools such as syllabus, lesson plans, curriculum, documentation, questionnaires, testing feed machine tools and literature studies. This research instrument is in the form of descriptive observation sheets, observation analysis sheets testing feed machine tools. Analytical techniques in this study use descriptive, qualitative and quantitative analysis techniques. The results of this research are in the form of content integration in physics learning in the context of designing a solar cell-based automatic fish feed throwing machine consisting of 6 physics contents that are adapted to the context of solar cell-based automatic fish feed throwing machines. The results of this study show that the application of the use of an automatic machine for throwing fish feed based on solar cells can be used as a source of learning, especially in physics subjects.

The “invisible light”: Tracing its journey from scientific history to physics teaching

Vitor Acioly — 2024-06-11

The history of science in teaching has been the subject of much discussion, analysis, practices and educational evaluations in recent decades. The objective is to present an important historical process of physics in the 19th century and to discuss its use and contribution to the understanding of the electromagnetic spectrum. The first part of the work describes the main experiments that led to the confirmation of the existence of 'invisible light', that is, radiations in the infrared and ultraviolet range. The second part explores how one of the original experiments concerning infrared radiation can be used to demonstrate and discuss the existence of radiation outside the visible spectrum. The proposal of the work is that these two dimensions, the historical approach and the accomplishment of pertinent experiments, are concatenated in the didactic exploration of this important content: the meaning of the unified electromagnetic spectrum and its important applications in people's daily lives.