A CASE STUDY ON LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL PUPILS’ CONCEPTUAL CHANGES THROUGH DEMONSTRATION OF COUNTEREXAMPLES―The Concept of Dynamics in the Case of Roller Coaster Models―

Abstract

The authors demonstrated to first-, second-, and third-year pupils at lower secondary school some examples of rolling balls on slopes, roller coaster models. Pupils then were asked to write down their opinions according to the qestions. We analyzed pupils’ conceptual changes, how they changed their conceptions, when they were confronted with counterexamples which were difficult to explain in terms of their preconceptions. The findings from this project are as follows: ①Pupils change their concepts under the influence of the predictions they have made by comparison between their preconceptions and the real world. ②Because pupils may ignore, refuse or except counterexamples, demonstrating them does not always promote their conceptual changes. ③Since concepts which have undergone conceptual changes through encounter with counterexamples are domain-specific knowledge, it is difficult to apply them to similar cases. To clarify cognitively the causes of pupils’ conceptual changes, further researches are awaited on the effects of pupils’ emotional aspects.