Common False of Student's Scientific Reasoning in Physics Problems

Abstract

Scientific reasoning is the ability to think about the characteristics of formal development to master concepts and solve physics problems. Physical problem solving requires a high level of thinking that is a combination of reasoning namely conceptual and general mathematical equations. The student's thinking ability that is inconsistent with their formal developmental stage is the cause of the student's scientific reasoning lack. The purpose of this study is to analyze the common false made by students during their scientific reasoning process. This research is a qualitative descriptive with the aim at describing common error of scientific reasoning with the physics problem. Scientific reasoning tests were given to 108 students who had studied physics using mixed methods of lectures and assignments. Results showed the false of each component of the student's scientific reasoning. Student's scientific reasoning was dominated by competence level. The quality of claims, arguments, and levels of student's confidence in giving answers was still low. Students experienced false scientific reasoning and weak concepts when confronted with physics problems. The important recommendation of this study is that the learning process needs an innovation to overcome false and inconfident feeling in the process of scientific reasoning and mastery of student concepts.