Diagnostic Teaching through Identification of Scientific Misconceptions Using JustIn-Time Teaching (JITT) and Certainty Of Response Inde (CRI)

CHIA Kok Pin

Scientific misconceptions that students possessed are known to hamper the proper acceptance and integration of new knowledge or skills. These misconceptions are binding cognitive structures that do not match what are known to be scientifically correct. Currently, the teaching strategy adopted by most teachers is to explain everything within the chapter without diagnosing the students abilities and uncovering what scientific misconceptions they have. This paper will describe the process of diagnosing student abilities and needs quantitatively in order to prescribe requisite learning activities through the use of ust!in!Time Teaching " iTT# and Certainty of $esponse %ndex "C$%#. The availability of such empirical model and quantitative data will empower the teachers to tailor their instructional methods to distinguish between students lack of knowledge from scientific misconceptions.

Introduction Scientific misconceptions that students possessed are known to hamper the proper acceptance and integration of new knowledge or skills. These misconceptions are binding cognitive structures that do not match what are known to be scientifically correct. This presentation will describe the process of diagnosing student abilities and needs quantitatively in order to prescribe requisite learning activities through the use of ust!in!Time Teaching " iTT# and Certainty of $esponse %ndex "C$%#. ust!in!Time Teaching " iTT# is a teaching and learning strategy based on the interaction between web!based study assignments and an active learner classroom. Students respond electronically to carefully construct web!based assignments which are due shortly before class, and the instructor studies the student submissions &'ust!in!time& to ad'ust the classroom lesson to suit the students( needs. The heart of iTT is the &feedback loop& formed by the students( outside!of!class preparation that fundamentally affects what happens during the subsequent in!class time together. Certainty of Response Inde (CRI) The Certainty of $esponse %ndex "C$%# is used in social sciences, particularly in surveys, where a respondent is requested to provide the degree of certainty he has in his own ability to select and utili)e well!established knowledge, concepts or laws to arrive at the answer. The C$% is based on some scale. *or example, the six!point scale "+,-# in which + implies no knowledge "total guess# of methods or laws required for answering a particular question while - indicates complete confidence in the knowledge of the principles and laws required to arrive at the selected answer. The methodology presented here is based on the paper written on .isconceptions and Certainty of $esponse %ndex "C$%# by /asan, 0agayoko and 1elly "2333#. Decision matri for an indi!idua" student and for a gi!en #uestion$ 4ow C$% "56.-# /igh C$% "786.-# Correct 9nswer Correct answer and low C$% ,Correct answer and high C$% , 4ack of knowledge "lucky guess# 1nowledge of correct concepts :rong 9nswer :rong answer and low C$% ,:rong answer and high C$% ! 4ack of knowledge .isconception

Decision matri for a group of students (c"ass) and for a gi!en #uestion$ 4ow C$% "56.-# /igh C$% "786.-#

Correct 9nswer Correct answer and low averageCorrect answer and high average C$% , 4ack of knowledge "luckyC$% , 1nowledge of correct guess# concepts :rong 9nswer :rong answer and low average:rong answer and high average C$% , 4ack of knowledge C$% ! .isconception

%CI &i'ispaces ( Instructiona" )"atform The first step was to create a web!based instructional platform using :ikispaces that incorporates lesson material for downloading and learning by students as well as embedding videos for students to aid understanding "*ig. 2#. Students were also tasked to answer 2+ multiple choice questions. %n addition, the students were required to choose the level of confidence that they had answered correctly for every question. *or every question answered, the students had to choose the certainty of their answer using; "+,Totally guessed answer, 2,9lmost a guess, 6,<ot sure, =,Sure, >,9lmost certain, -,Certain# *ig. 2

Capturing Students* Responses The results from the answer and C$% were captured to ?xcel worksheet "*ig. 6# and processed using @oogle *orms "*ig. =#.

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Resu"ts %f we turn our attention to AB "*ig. ># for the = classes, AB had the lowest number of students who got it correct and its C$% was quite high "about =.+# "*ig. -, B and C#. This indicated that students who answered this question wrongly were confident that they would get it right. Thus, the students had misconceptions and not a lack of knowledge and the teacher would be able to diagnose which area of the topic that students in general possessed misconceptions and thus would be able to address them effectively. *ig. >

*ig. -

*ig. B

*ig. C

Sur!ey 9 survey was administered to the students "n8>3# using 4ikert scale "*ig. D# and there are a total of - strands for this survey "see questions from survey results#. ?ach strand is asked in both positively and negatively in order to test the validity of the response. The survey results are encouraging as students in general posted positive responses *ig. D

%n order to quantify the assembly of these inter!related strands measuring the underlying construct "Students perceptions towards diagnostic teaching#, % used the index of reliability , Cronbach 9lpha. This index gauges the internal consistency or average correlation of items in a survey instrument to gauge its reliability. Cronbach 9lpha was calculated to be +.C3 "n8>3#. <unnaly "23CD# has indicated +.C+ and above to be an acceptable reliability coefficient for Cronbach 9lpha. Conc"usion The identification of misconceptions using diagnostic teaching utili)ing ust!in!Time Teaching " iTT# and Certainty of $esponse %ndex "C$%# can be introduced and used by other sub'ects and research has shown that it can easily be inducted and carried out by all educational fields. *rom the results, the various scientific misconceptions could be cataloged and used for future teaching and learning as it is based on empirical studies and not anecdotal evidence. Reference
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/asan, S., 0agayoko, E., F 1elly, ?.4. "2333#. .isconceptions and the Certainty of $esponse %ndex "C$%#, Ghys. ?duc. =>, 63>. <unnaly, . "23CD#. Gsychometric Theory. .c@raw!/ill, <ew Hork.