| In the instruction of introductory college physics, many students use concepts that are unaccepted by scientists to interpret the phenomena of linear motion and motion graphs. In fact, these students possess a set of misconceptions for explaining linear motion before the physics teaching. Thus there is a need to (1) develop an instructional design, in accordance with a physics concept teaching model derived from learning theories and teaching models, that is related to the motion topic in introductory physics for college level students, (2) test whether the design can improve students' concept learning about motion, and (3) learn if it can be used as an instructional system for introductory college physics.;The physics concept teaching method design is based on Ausubel's theory of meaningful learning and then combined with Novak's concept map instructional strategy, Tennyson and Cocchiarella's concept-teaching model, and Berlin and White's general instructional model.;Three groups of non-science students studying introductory college physics 101 are randomly assigned to a traditional teaching method, an example-nonexample teaching method, and the concept teaching method. There are four instruments in this study: (1) physics concept map pre- and post-test used to test students learning of physics concepts, (2) physics misconception pre- and post-test used to test students' physics misconceptions, (3) physics achievement test, and (4) physics learning attitude test.;The results of this study show that the concept teaching method effectively improves students' cognitive structure and that the students' misconception attitude is correlated with their misconception test. Moreover, all three groups have positive attitudes toward learning physics concepts, but negative attitudes toward using the concept map.;Therefore, the concept teaching method is worthwhile as a method of physics instruction, when a sufficient number of lecture sessions are offered to teach motion concepts and concept map. |
