The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of gender on different categories of tenth grade students&#039 / misconceptions about force and motion. The Force Concept Inventory Test (FCI), Mechanics Baseline Test (MBT), Physics Attitude Scale (PAS) and Experience Questionnaire About Force and Motion (EQFM) were developed by the researcher to assess students&#039 / misconceptions, achievement, attitudes, and experiences, respectively. There were nine dependent (students&#039 / total scores on the FCI and their scores on eight misconception categories (Kinematics, Impetus, Active Force, Action/Reaction Pairs, Concatenation of Influences, Other Influences on Motion, Resistance and Gravity)) and six independent (students&#039 / gender, MBT scores, attitude, experience, school type and age) variables involved in this study. This study was conducted with 10 schools / 20 classes / total of 651 10th grade high school students in the academic year of 2002-2003. For each school, two classes were used in the study. MBT, PAS, FCI and EQFM were administered. Findings of the FCI and MBT indicated that general performances of the subjects were relatively low and many students have misconceptions in interpreting force and motion. The statistical results indicated that gender difference is effective on students&#039 / misconceptions in force and motion. When the data were analyzed using MANOVA, gender difference was observed on the collective dependent variables of scores on total FCI, and on misconception categories of Impetus, Active Force, Resistance and Gravity in favor of males although there were no significant difference on scores of both groups on the other categories of misconceptions. Moreover, when the same data were analysed using MANCOVA, while controlling students&#039 / age, attitude, experience, achievement scores, and school types, observed difference on the misconception categories of Active Force and Resistance were disappeared.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of WebQuest based instruction on ninth grade students&rsquo / achievement in and attitude towards force and motion subject. Force and Motion Achievement Test, Attitude towards &ldquo / Force and Motion&rdquo / Scale, Attitude towards the Internet Scale, Observation Checklist, and Out-Class Activities Survey were used as measuring tools. Teacher handouts and WebQuests were prepared as teaching/learning materials for this study. The study was conducted with 226 ninth grade students from eight classes of four high schools in Etimesgut district of Ankara in the spring semester of 2009-2010. There were four teachers and two classes of each teacher in this study. Force and Motion Achievement Test, Attitude towards &ldquo / Force and Motion&rdquo / Scale, and Attitude towards the Internet Scale were administered as pre-test to all groups in order to determine students&rsquo / prior achievement and attitude level before the treatment. The students in the experimental group received WebQuest based instruction and the students in the control group received traditional physics instruction. The instruction in both groups took eight weeks. After the treatment, Force and Motion Achievement Test, Attitude towards &ldquo / Force and Motion&rdquo / Scale, and Out-Class Activities Survey were given to both the experimental and control groups. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were carried out with the data obtained from the pre and post-tests. The descriptive statistics showed that the distribution of the data at each variable was approximately normal. Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) was used as inferential statistics. The results of the MANCOVA showed a significant mean difference of the achievement in favor of the experimental groups. However, no significant difference was found for attitude towards force and motion between the groups.

As advocated by the National Research Council [NRC] (1996) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science [AAAS] (1989), a change in the manner in which science is taught must be recognized at a national level and also embraced at a level that is reflected in every science teacher's classroom. With these ideas set forth as a guide for change,this study investigated the fifth grade students' understanding of force and motion concepts as they engaged in inquiry-based science investigations through the use of the 5E Learning Cycle. The researcher's journey through this process was also a focus of the study. Initial data were provided by a pretest indicating students' understanding of force and motion concepts. Four times weekly for a period of 14 weeks, students participated in investigations related to force and motion concepts. Their subsequent understanding of these concepts and their ability to generalize their understandings was evaluated via a posttest. Additionally, a review of lab activity sheets, other classroom-based assessments, and filmed interviews allowed for the triangulation of pertinent data necessary to draw conclusions from the study. Findings showed that student knowledge of force and motion concepts did increase although their understanding as demonstrated on paper lacked completeness versus understanding in an interview setting. Survey results also showed that after the study students believed they did not learn science best via textbook-based instruction.

No description available.

This study investigated the effect of the epistemologically and metacognitively stimulated 7E learning cycle (EM-7ELC) on tenth grade students&rsquo / physics achievement and epistemological understandings in physics. The participants of the study included 107 (49 Female, 58 Male) tenth grade students at two Anatolian teacher training high schools in Ankara. A quasi-experimental with matching-only pretest-posttest control group design was employed. Two intact classes of each school were randomly assigned to the experimental and control group. The experimental group was instructed based on the EM-7ELC while the control group was taught with the traditional instruction. The study was conducted in 2009-2010 academic year. The Force and Motion Achievement Test-I and II were administered to assess the students&rsquo / achievement in force and motion unit. The Turkish Physics Expectation Survey was applied to probe the students&rsquo / epistemological understandings in physics. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was employed to examine the effect of the instruction relied on the EM-7ELC on the students&rsquo / epistemological understandings when their pre-epistemological understandings were controlled. The result indicated that there was a significant difference between two groups&rsquo / post epistemological understandings in favor of the EM-7ELC group. In this study, a statistically significant interaction between the mode of instruction and the students&rsquo / pre-epistemological understandings was observed. Aptitude treatment interaction (ATI) analysis was used to figure out the nature of this interaction. The result of the analysis demonstrated that the traditional instruction was more effective for promoting physics achievement for the students&rsquo / indicating very low epistemological stance. However, the EM-7ELC was more effective for the other types of the students.

The purpose of this study is to develop a three-tier test for assessing high school students&rsquo / misconceptions concerning force and motion. The first tier is a traditional multiple choice item, the second tier presents several alternatives addressing the reason for the response for the first tier, and the third tier asks if examinees are confident for their responses to the first two tiers. In the process of test development, Force and Motion Test Requesting Reasoning was developed and utilized to determine the alternatives of Force and Motion Three Tier Test (FMTTT). The test was administered to 207 students, but 19 students were removed from all analyses due to too many missing items. For checking validity of the FMTTT, correlation was investigated between confidence levels and student scores on the first two tiers, and also correlation between confidence levels and student misconception scores on the first two tiers was investigated. Factor analyses were conducted using scores and misconception scores / and percentages of false negatives and false positives were estimated. The percentages of false negatives and false positives were found to be 6% and 8%, respectively. The reliability coefficients were estimated for student scores and misconception scores as 0.48 and 0.62, respectively. In conclusion, using the FMTTT as an achievement test may not be as reliable as using it as a misconception test.

The aim of this study is to compare the effects of the instructions based on cognitive bridging and cognitive conflict approaches and gender on 9th grade students&lsquo / conceptual understanding of force and motion, self-efficacy, and epistemological beliefs. The study was conducted with a sample of 206 students in two different schools. The instructional method (traditional, cognitive conflict, and cognitive bridging) and students&lsquo / gender were used as independent variables in a 3x2 factorial design. Within this design, three treatment groups were constructed, one was control group with no researcher intervention and the other two were used as experimental groups. In one of the experimental groups, students received cognitive bridging instruction and students in the other group received cognitive conflict instruction. Pretests and posttests were administered to assess students&lsquo / conceptual understanding of force and motion, self-efficacy, and epistemological beliefs. Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) was used to explore the main effects of teaching methods and gender, and possible interactions between them. The results showed that teaching method had a significant effect on students&lsquo / conceptual understanding of force and motion in favor of experimental groups. Nevertheless, no significant difference was detected between the effects of cognitive conflict and cognitive bridging. There was no significant difference between male and female students either on the dependent variables of conceptual understandings of force and motion, self-efficacy, and epistemological beliefs. Finally, the present study couldn&lsquo / t capture any significant interaction between teaching method and gender on the combined dependent variables.

New control methods are developed for the unconstrained motion and constrained force and motion control of flexible robots. The dynamic equations of the flexible robots are partitioned as pseudostatic equilibrium equations and deviations from them. The pseudostatic equilibrium considered here is defined as a hypothetical state where the tip point variables have their desired values while the modal variables are instantaneously constant. Then, the control torques for the pseudostatic equilibrium and for the stabilization of the deviation equations are formed in terms of tip point coordinates, modal variables and contact force components. The performances of the proposed methods are illustrated on a planar two-link robot and on a spatial three-link robot. Unmodeled dynamics and measurement noises are also taken into consideration. Performance of the proposed motion control method is compared with the computed torque method.