Denkramen van leerlingen op het gebied van de geometrische optica

Tijdschrift voor Didactiek van de Beta-wetenschappen, uitgegeven door het Freudenthal Instituut, Universiteit Utrecht in de periode 1983-2014

Wubbels, Th Tijdschrift voor Didactiek van de Beta-wetenschappen 1987 – 5(1), 44-59 Download pdf

In this paper we describe research about the possibility to formulate categories and frameworks that summarize adequately childrens’ conceptions in the field of geometrical optics. Data were gathered from 278 students aged 13-17, with a questionnaire consisting of mainly open-ended questions. It appeared that answers upon the questions could be categorized reliable (Cohens’k , between .78 and .95) although a considerable amount of answers appeared to be classified as ‘not categorizable’. As far as the frameworks are concerned we found that two of the three groups of frameworks that we came upon in the literature about childrens’ conceptions in optics did not fit well the data. It can be concluded that it is doubtful whether it will be possible to formulate frameworks regarding various parts of the field of geometrical optics.