Exploring Student Written Responses to Physics Problems Using Network Analysis

• In Event: Science Teaching and Learning: Physics Education

Abstract

This study explored how scientific ideas were connected in students’ written explanations using text analysis techniques and network analysis. A task was given to first-year college students asking them to answer a series of physics questions associated with a computer simulation. After collecting data, students’ written responses were classified into three models—non-normative, mixed, and normative—and then subjected to text analysis. Using the text analysis result, network analysis was used to reveal and illustrate how scientific ideas were used and connected with each other across the three response models. The findings indicated that it is important for students to identify a cause and effect relationship between ideas to explain a scientific phenomenon normatively.

Author

• Mihwa Park, Texas Tech University