This study investigates the performance of GPT-4, an advanced AI model developed by OpenAI, on the force concept inventory (FCI) to evaluate its accuracy, reasoning patterns, and the occurrence of false positives and false negatives. GPT-4 was tasked with answering the FCI questions across multiple sessions. Key findings include GPT-4's…

Physics problem-solving ability is among the crucial skills physics students require as it enhances their conceptual understanding and develops their abilities for real-world problem-solving. This study employed a descriptive design to investigate the physics problem-solving skills of Senior-Five physics students from Rwandan secondary schools.…

Despite continued efforts to address this issue, many students still exhibit misunderstandings regarding Newton's laws. These misconceptions include beliefs, such as every movement requires a force, that force is directly proportional to velocity, and that action-reaction forces can differ in magnitude. To mitigate these misunderstandings,…

Electricity and magnetism are fundamental areas of physics and are integral to science curricula at various educational levels. However, this area has been reported to contain several concepts that students find challenging, leading to perspectives that diverge from scientifically accepted views. This study examines the errors made by physics…

Several studies compared three different types of questions (conceptual, algorithmic, and graphical) across various topics, however, few focused specifically on gifted students. This study addressed this gap. The aim of the study, hence, was to determine whether there were notable differences in gifted students' performance in the three types of…

TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) is a long-standing international assessment of mathematics and science at the fourth and eighth grades, collecting trend data every four years since 1995. Over 70 countries rely on TIMSS to monitor their education systems in a global context, benchmarking national curricula and…

The Earth's shape concept develops as consecutive cognitive problems (e.g., the location of people and trees on the spherical Earth) are gradually resolved. Establishing the order of problem solving may be important for the organisation of teaching situations. This study attempted to determine the sequence of problems to be resolved based on tasks…

Understanding particle motion in force fields (PMFF), which encompasses the nature of forces and the relationship between force and motion, is fundamental to mastering mechanics and electromagnetism. Effectively solving PMFF-related problems requires advanced reasoning skills and the ability to apply knowledge across diverse contexts. Despite…

To be able to support students' competence development in solving physics problems over the course of a lesson series effectively, teachers need a proper appreciation of students' deficiencies. As teachers commonly assess students' competence by means of written tests, teachers are challenged to interpret students' work on these tests and to…

The individual problem-solving (IPS) and collaborative problem-solving (CPS) have received a lot of attention, yet little research has been conducted to investigate whether CPS and IPS are equally effective in improving students' understanding of physics concepts, problem-solving abilities, and minimizing achievement gaps. Therefore, the present…

Peer Instruction (PI), a student-centred teaching method, engages students during class through structured, frequent questioning, facilitated by classroom response systems. The central feature of PI is the ConcepTest, a question designed to help resolve student misconceptions around the subject content. Within our coordination chemistry PI…

This paper extends prior work establishing an operationalized framework of mathematical sense making (MSM) in physics. The framework differentiates between the object being understood (either physical or mathematical) and various tools (physical or mathematical) used to mediate the sense-making process. This results in four modes of MSM that can…

High Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) are a significant part of the implementation of the 2013 Curriculum to develop student competencies in the 21st century. Not only in the context of learning are HOTS considered important. They contribute to the National Examination held in Indonesia, so careful preparation for this exam is needed. Chemistry has…

The Force Concept Inventory (FCI) can serve as a summative assessment of students' conceptual knowledge at the end of introductory physics, but previous work has suggested that the knowledge measured by this instrument is not a unitary construct. In this article, we consider the idea that FCI performance may reflect a number of student attributes…

Emphasizing stoichiometry appears to be a norm of introductory chemistry courses. In this longitudinal and mixed-methods study, we examined how the emphasis on stoichiometry in assessments of introductory chemistry impacted educational equity and student learning. Using quantitative methods, we identified mole and stoichiometric conversions as two…