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Exploration of the Relationships Among Epistemic Views of Physics, Conceptions of Learning Physics, and Approaches to Learning Physics for College Engineering Students

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Abstract

Physical education in colleges plays an increasingly important role in cultivating high-quality innovative talent. The main factors that affect college students’ approaches to learning physics remain unknown. This study examined the relationships among college engineering students’ epistemic views of physics, conceptions of learning physics, and approaches to learning physics. Three previously validated questionnaires were administered to 278 undergraduate engineering students in China to examine these relationships. Structural equation modeling analysis revealed that students’ epistemic views of physics led to constructivist conceptions of learning physics, i.e., learning physics as increasing knowledge, applying, understanding, and seeing in a new way. The students’ constructivist conceptions of learning physics were also found to be positively associated with deep motive and deep strategy in their approaches to learning physics, while their reproductive conceptions of learning physics, i.e., learning physics by memorizing, testing, calculating, and practicing, were negatively associated with deep motive and deep strategy and positively associated with surface motive and surface strategy. These findings suggest the importance of fostering students’ understanding of physics knowledge and constructivist conceptions of learning physics and de-emphasizing their reproductive conceptions of learning physics, such as memorization, testing, calculation, and practice, to ultimately promote their deep learning approaches. As physics educators understand the relationships among the above three aspects, they emphasize fertilizing students’ constructive conceptions of learning physics and thus benefit the cultivation of innovative talent and promote the rapid development of science and technology in the long run.

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Acknowledgements

The authors give thanks to Professors Chin-Chung Tsai and Guo-li Chiou of National Taiwan Normal University for providing three questionnaires in Chinese used in this paper.

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  1. College Physics Teaching and Experiment Center, Shenzhen Technology University, Shenzhen, 518118, China

    Haina Wu

  2. Department of Physics, College of Science, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China

    Weijiang Gong & Guangyu Yi

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Wu, H., Gong, W. & Yi, G. Exploration of the Relationships Among Epistemic Views of Physics, Conceptions of Learning Physics, and Approaches to Learning Physics for College Engineering Students. Sci & Educ 33, 699–715 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-022-00385-5

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