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Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 19, Issue 2, Article 11 (Dec., 2018) |
The research was performed on four departments offering two-year programs (Industrial Glass and Ceramics, Geotechnic, Drilling Technology, Natural Building Stone Technology) in Torbali Technical Vocational School of Higher Education at Dokuz Eylul University, Turkey. The students enrolled in these departments were basically trained in the engineering field. The study sample consisted of 220 college students whose ages were between 18 and 20.
The present research was used survey methodology. The data of the research were collected by using an evaluation form and an essay. The evaluation form "data sheet" was designed for investigating the students' knowledge about symbol, unit, and formula of twenty eight fundamental physical quantities. Therefore the validity and reliability of the data sheet could not be analyzed in the present study. The data sheet was consisted of two sections. In the first section, the symbols and unit symbols of the some fundamental physical quantities in SI (International System of Units) were given to the students. The students were asked for finding the concept and unit names of the fundamental physical quantities. In the second section, the formulas of the fundamental physical quantities were only given to the students. The students were asked for finding the concept names of the fundamental physical quantities. The same fundamental physical quantities were asked in the sections. 15 of 28 fundamental physical quantities cover Physics I and the others contain Physics II. The students were given to approximately twenty minutes in order to fill out the data sheet. The fundamental physical quantities were chosen from Physics and Engineers for Scientists with Modern Physics (Tipler & Mosca, 2008). The fundamental physical quantities which the students frequently meet were selected from the textbook.
Students' opinions were also collected and documented by writing an anonymous essay on the usage of symbol, unit, and formula of the fundamental physical quantities (What are you thinking about the usage of symbol, unit, and formula of fundamental physical quantities?). 30 volunteer students only wrote the essay. No interactions among the students were allowed during the writing session, which took about 15 minutes to complete. The opinions of the students were read, coded, and categorized as being positive or negative. The opinions of the students were separated into two categories. The first category including seven items was named as cognitive opinion and the second category covering nine items was named as affective opinion.
