Minimizing Secondary School Students’ Misconceptions About Electricity Using Conceptual Change Text Integrated With Formative Feedback: A Design-Based Research

Yibeltal, Dessie Belay

dc.contributor.author	Yibeltal, Dessie Belay
dc.date.accessioned	2026-08-18T07:17:19Z
dc.date.available	2026-08-18T07:17:19Z
dc.date.issued	2026-06
dc.identifier.uri	http://ir.bdu.edu.et/handle/123456789/17004
dc.description.abstract	This study investigated the effectiveness of integrating Conceptual Change Texts (CCTs) with systematic formative feedback to minimize Grade 10 students‟ misconceptions and enhance their conceptual understanding of electricity. Misconceptions about electricity, particularly the belief that current is “consumed” in circuits and the reversal of open/closed circuit logic due to flawed analogies, persistently hinder meaningful physics learning. This design-based research (DBR) study investigated whether integrating Conceptual Change Texts (CCT) with formative feedback could minimize Grade 10 students' misconceptions about electricity in an Ethiopian secondary school. Grounded in a pragmatist paradigm, the study employed a concurrent mixed-methods approach across two iterative DBR cycles with 25 students. Data were collected through three- tier pretest, midterm, and post-test assessments, open-ended questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews. Pre-intervention results showed that full understanding (correct factual knowledge plus scientific reasoning) averaged only 19.2% across ten concepts, with 28% of students holding the current consumption misconception. The pretest also revealed a critical, previously unreported finding: 88% of students reversed open/closed circuit logic due to an uncritical water-flow analogy in their Grade 8 textbook. Following the two-cycle intervention which included refining analogies, adding “Common Mistake Alert” boxes, and implementing individualized feedback cards full understanding increased dramatically to 75.2% (a 56 percentage point gain, t(24)=12.75, p<.001, d=2.55). The consumption misconception reduced to approximately 10%, and the open/closed circuit reversal was virtually eliminated. Qualitative findings confirmed genuine conceptual restructuring, with students explicitly rejecting prior misconceptions like birds having special resistance and articulating coherent scientific reasoning using potential difference and conservation principles. The study concludes that integrating CCT with iterative, dialogic formative feedback is a highly effective, low-cost, and scalable intervention for addressing electricity misconceptions in resource-constrained contexts, provided that analogies are explicitly problematized and their limitations taught	en_US
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.subject	Mathematics	en_US
dc.title	Minimizing Secondary School Students’ Misconceptions About Electricity Using Conceptual Change Text Integrated With Formative Feedback: A Design-Based Research	en_US
dc.type	Thesis	en_US