Enhancing Learning: challenge of integrating Thinking and Information Technology into the Curriculum Students' conceptions of the 'reality status' of electrons

Science has many explanatory concepts that have been proposed to account for the observable features of things. Such explanatory concepts often have associated with them hidden or unseen "theoretical entities. " The electron is a key concept in understanding phenomena described by science. The question arises, however, as to how students make sense of such an unobservable theoretical entity. In incorporating such a concept into their overall cognitive structure, students have to address a number of questions. The implications of quantum theory for the common sense notion of an object illustrate the difficulties in using analogies taken from ordinary experience to "explain" the subatomic world. Following a review of previous research, this paper presents a study that investigated students' understanding of the "reality" of an electron as a quantum entity. Over the last 20 years there has been considerable research interest in students' perceptions of phenomena in such areas as energy, motion, the particulate nature of matter, electricity, and light; however, 90 years after the genesis of quantum physics, significant research on students' understanding of such revolutionary phenomena is only beginning to emerge. Results indicate that at the level of both ontology and epistemology students' responses appear to be predominantly Realist. The complimentary self-consistency of the findings from each of the studies also indicates that the various students' conceptions of the ontology and epistemology of entities can be characterized by particular statements. Contains 30 references. (Author/WRM) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ******************************************************************************** Paper presented at the Singapore Educational Research Association Conference 1998 Enhancing Learning: challenge of integrating Thinking and Information Technology into the Curriculum Students' conceptions of the 'reality status' of electrons Azam MASHHADI School of Education, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 469 Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 259756 e-mail: <mashhadia@nievax.nie. ac.sg> Brian WOOLNOUGH Department of Educational Studies, University of Oxford, 15 Norham Gardens, Oxford 0X2 6PY, UK e-mail: <brian.woolnough@edstud.ox. ac.uk> Abstract Science has many explanatory concepts that have been proposed to account for the observable features of things. Such explanatory concepts have often associated with them hidden or unseen 'theoretical entities' (e.g. atoms, electrons). The electron is a key concept in understanding phenomena described by science. The question arises however as to how students 'make sense' of such an unobservable theoretical entity.Science has many explanatory concepts that have been proposed to account for the observable features of things. Such explanatory concepts have often associated with them hidden or unseen 'theoretical entities' (e.g. atoms, electrons). The electron is a key concept in understanding phenomena described by science. The question arises however as to how students 'make sense' of such an unobservable theoretical entity. In incorporating such a concept into their overall cognitive structure students have to address a number of questions. What are electrons 'really' like? Are electrons the same sort of object as chairs? The implications of quantum theory for the commonsense notion of an object illustrate the difficulties in using analogies taken from ordinary experience (i.e. essentially classical models) to 'explain' the subatomic world. Following a review of previous research the findings of a study investigating students' understanding of the 'reality' of a quantum entity, the electron, is presented. Over the last twenty years there has been considerable research interest in the student's perceptions of phenomena in such areas as energy, motion, the particulate nature of matter, electricity, and light. However, ninety years after the genesis of quantum physics significant research on students' understanding of such revolutionary phenomena is only beginning to emerge. PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) BESTCOPYAVAILABLE 2 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement DUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. CI Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy.