Using the Electron Gas Model in Lower Secondary Schools—A Binational Design-Based Research Project

Abstract

Students’ understanding of introductory electricity concepts can be fragmented even after instruction. Several reasons for this have been identified: electricity is an abstract and complex topic and traditional instruction frequently fails to meet students’ learning needs. As a consequence, conceptual change is not triggered and misconceptions prevail. Research findings show that the concept of voltage, in particular, presents many difficulties for students. This paper presents a research project from four working groups whom are collaborating to develop a teaching strategy for introductory electricity at lower secondary schools which is based on the electron gas model. Additionally, research finding from one project partners’ implementation of this teaching approach in a pilot study are reported. The concept of voltage is introduced as an electric pressure difference across a resistor in an electric circuit. The evaluation of this approach with more than 700 high school students shows very promising results. Based on these findings, a Design-Based Research project has been jointly developed between two German and two Austrian Universities. The aim of this study is to find out whether the significantly better performance of students instructed according to the electron gas model can be replicated with a wider sample of teachers and students across the project partners’ locations.