K-means Clustering to Study How Student Reasoning Lines Can Be Modified by a Learning Activity Based on Feynman’s Unifying Approach

Abstract

Research in Science Education has shown that often students need to learn how to identify differences and similarities between descriptive and explicative models. The development and use of explicative skills in the field of thermal science has always been a difficult objective to reach. A way to develop analogical reasoning is to use in Science Education unifying conceptual frameworks. In this paper we describe a 20-hour workshop focused on Feynman's Unifying Approach and the two-level system. We measure its efficacy in helping undergraduate chemical engineering students explain phenomena by applying an explanatory model. Contexts involve systems for which a process is activated by thermally overcoming a well-defined potential barrier. A questionnaire containing six open-ended questions was administered to the students before instruction. A second one, similar but focused on different physical content was administered after instruction. Responses were analysed using k-means Cluster Analysis and students' inferred lines of reasoning about the analysed phenomena were studied. We conclude that students reasoning lines seem to have clearly evolved to explicative ones and it is reasonable to think that the Feynman Unifying Approach has favoured this change.

Unsupervised quantitative methods to analyze student reasoning lines: Theoretical aspects and examples

“…If cluster r was created by Other examples, based on real data, can be found in the literature. See, for example, the recent works of Di Paola et al [43] and Battaglia et al [44,45].…”

A quantitative analysis of Educational Data through the Comparison between Hierarchical and Not-Hierarchical Clustering

“…This process is repeated and ends when the new centroids coincide with the old ones. A remarkable feature of the centroid Ck is that it contains the answering strategies most frequently given by students belonging to Clk, as shown in Battaglia et al (2016) and Battaglia et al (2017). In order to easily visualize the obtained partition of data, students can be represented in a Cartesian plane according to their mutual distances.…”

A new educational approach to surface tension and Young-Laplace law by using computer-based simulations

“…Gilbert et al recognised model creation in particular as a superordinate process skill [16] that can encourage the learner's critical thinking abilities. According to other research, including modelling activities in physics classes might help students develop a positive attitude towards learning the subject, make it easier for them to understand it, and help them recognise similarities and differences across a variety of occurrences [17,18,19].…”