Improving Students Conceptual Understanding on Kinetic Theory of Gas through Modeling Instruction

摘要

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of modelling instruction to enhance students' conceptual understanding, compared to conventional learning. Modeling Instruction focused on the constructing model to explain the relationship among state quantities of the ideal gas (pressure, volume, and temperature), kinetic energy, internal energy, and average speed of the ideal gas. The participants were 121 high school students in Batu city. Data was collected using a test consisting of 9 multiple-choices items. We also asked the students to explain their reason for their choice. The students' responses on the multiple-choice test were analyzed quantitatively, whereas the students' explanations were analyzed qualitatively using the constant comparative method. The results showed that the students in modelling class gained higher conceptual understanding than that the students in the conventional class, with the d-effect size of 1.26. The N-gain on modelling class and the conventional class was 0.64 and 0.26, respectively. The students in modelling class showed a better understanding of the relationship between the quantities of gas state, kinetic energy, and average speed. However, most students still have difficulty in determining internal energy in the context when the number of gas particles may change.