Addressing Misconceptions Regarding Force and Energy through Cognitive Conflict Activities

This study investigated the effect of cognitive conflict-based activities, instructor, and their interaction on students’ conceptual understanding and remediation of misconceptions regarding force and energy. This quasi-experimental study involved 58 seventh-grade students (27 boys and 31 girls) from two distinct elementary schools during the second semester of the 2018-2019 academic year. The experimental group engaged in cognitive conflict-based activities, whereas the control group participated in activities derived from the science textbook. The researchers developed seven activities comprising three stages: identifying misconceptions, generating contradictions, and elucidating the concept. The study utilized the three-tier Force and Energy Misconceptions Test for data collection. Scores for scientific knowledge and misconceptions were computed, and a two-way ANOVA was conducted to assess the impact of the implementation. We conducted additional calculations to compare the percentages of each misconception assessed in the pre- and post-tests. The results indicated that cognitive conflict-based activities affected students' conceptual understanding scores significantly with respect to curriculum-based activities. On the contrary, no significant difference was observed concerning the interaction between the implementation and the instructor. The results also indicated that cognitive conflict-based activities eliminated students' misconceptions significantly with respect to curriculum-based activities. This study demonstrates the value of cognitive conflict-based activities in addressing misconceptions regarding force and energy, whereas curriculum-based activities prove ineffective in this regard.