University Students' Misconception in Electromagnetism

Abstract

This aim of the research was to analyse the university students' conception of electromagnetism. This research used a mixed-method design, the combination of a quantitative and qualitative method. For the quantitative part, the research utilised a conception test of electromagnetism, for the qualitative part, the research focused on the descriptive analysis that generated by the university students. The participant in this research was 15 physics students from 9 different classes in the Physics Department of a national university in East Java Indonesia. A conception test included ten different multiple-choice problems and followed by the descriptive analysis of these problems. The participants asked to choose the right answer and write their reasons or arguments that support their answer. In this study, the test was given without giving any treatment for the participant. The analyse method that used in this research was the quantitative and qualitative description. The result showed that the conception of students ranged between 2nd semester (freshman) and 4th Semester (sophomore) in the physics department. Therefore, it is concluded that the students have electromagnetism misconception.