A Case Study of Teaching Strategies for the Construction of the Scientific Concept of Mass: Verification of the Effect of Different Metacognitive Support

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the formation of the scientific concept of mass in high school physics education. Based on Okino and Matsumoto’s (2011) metacognitive support strategies (Strategy 1: Clarification of naive concepts, Strategy 2: Clarification of the acquisition process of naive concepts, Strategy 3: Connection and matching of naive concepts and scientific concepts). The practice classes were divided into two groups: one using all three strategies of metacognitive support (experimental group: two classes, N = 52) and one using only strategy 1 (control group: two classes, N = 43). The implemented practice lessons were examined to see how strategies 2 and 3 affected students’ understanding. The results showed that the experimental group showed some effectiveness in constructing the scientific concept of mass. Analysis further revealed that strategies 2 and 3 are effective in resolving the conflict between the naive and scientific concepts that arose in strategy 1, and in enabling students to correctly consider the effects of force and mass on motion.