• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.238-250
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• 2004

For effective conceptual teaching (or teaming) of physics, it needs to know more information about students＇ ideas related to specific topics. The purpose of this study was to investigate 6th grade students＇ various ideas about the actions of force, especially＇ the situation where force is being acted＇, and＇ the situation where force is not being acted＇, through the analysis of their ＇Typically-Perceived-Situation (TPS)＇. The TPSs of 152 6th grade students were collected with a drawing-and-explanation type questionnaire, and their TPSs about the action of force were categorized by the background, the subject, the object, the action, and the result of action, etc. It was found that most of students＇ ideas about ＇force is being acted＇ were related to the situation where the impact by or on human body caused to the change of position in familiar everyday life scene. Thus their ideas were strong related to human body, including sensual factors such as ＇pain＇. And it also was found that most of students＇ ideas about ＇force is not being acted＇ were in a strong relation to familiar everyday life situations there is no change of position because force was not given by a human body, or energy was not supplied. Most students thought that force is similar to energy which should be supplied from outside or generated by itself. These results suggest that the teaching strategies focused on familiar everyday life background including sensual factors and human body need to be explored in conceptual loaming of physics.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.785-801
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• 2004

A Typically-Perceived-Situation(TPS) is a situation which might be useful for conceptual learning of science, rising spontaneously in an individual's mind when someone is thinking about, or in relation to, any object such as physical object, concept, situation, etc. But, for a discussion about the TPS' usefulness in depth, we need to analyze the specific features of the TPS in relation to conceptual learning of science. This study investigated four elementary school students' TPSs related to the topic of the action of force, especially (a) 'the situation where force is being acted on an object', and (b) 'the situation where force is not being acted on an object', with an interview as well as with a drawing-and-explanation type questionnaire. Their TPSs were then compared with their concepts, checked by a misconception questionnaire of choice-and-explanation type. The results showed that the students' TPSs illustrated not only their conceptions about the action of force, but also gave more fruitful details of their ideas, including (a) clues of their conceptions, (b) concrete situations, and (c) their past experiences with emotional components. On the whole, the TPS's appeared to be rather stable, affected by their past experiences, and needed to be analyzed into their sub-units for more subtle details. Finally, some practical ways of how to apply the ideas of the TPS to the conceptual learning of science are suggested.