A Review of Students’ Common Misconceptions in Science and Their Diagnostic Assessment Tools

Understanding item difficulty in science concepts is essential for teachers in teaching and learning to avoid student misconceptions. This study aims to evaluate the patterns of item difficulty estimates in science concepts exploring student misconceptions across physics, biology, and chemistry and to explore differential item functioning (DIF) items in the developed diagnostic test on the basis of gender and grade. Participants were drawn from 856 students (52.3% females and 47.7% males) comprising senior high school students from 11^th to 12^th grades and pre-service science teachers in the West Kalimantan province, Indonesia. Out of 16 science concepts categorized, the common science concepts causing misconceptions among students were investigated to understand item difficulty patterns using Rasch measurement. The findings of this study evaluated that 32 developed items are valid and reliable whereby the item difficulty estimates ranged from −5.13 logits to 5.06 logits. Chemistry is the scientific discipline with the highest mean logits than other disciplines. There is no significant item difficulty estimate across the science disciplines. We also found DIF issues in one item based on gender and four items based on grade. This study contributes a significant role in mapping and informing item difficulty patterns in science concepts to tackle teachers' problems in assessing and teaching science concepts to improve the students’ science performance. Future studies and limitations are also discussed.

This study aims to investigate the development and the differences in student misconceptions in science based on gender and grade level, and to evaluate the developed two-tier multiple-choice diagnostic test in confirming the test’s validity and reliability. A sample of 856 participants from 10th–12th graders and prospective science teachers were collected. The two-tier multiple-choice diagnostic test with 32 items covering biology, chemistry, and physics was administered to evaluate students’ science misconceptions at the senior high school and university levels. The results met validity and reliability criteria using confirmatory factor analysis and Rasch parameters. The single-factor model has CFI = .973, RMSEA = .006, CI (.001, .014) and SRMR = .017 and the three-factor model has CFI = 0.939, RMSEA = .010, CI (.01, .017) and SRMR = .017. Based on the Rasch parameter, the infit and outfit MNSQ values achieve the acceptable fit (0.96 to 1) with good item reliability (.99) and person reliability (.80). All items have positive PTMA. Student misconceptions had significant differences in terms of grade and gender. We confirmed that prospective science teachers have higher misconceptions than 11th and 12th graders and slightly higher ones than 10th graders. Boys have a better conceptual understanding than girls based on the mean of correct answers. The multiple linear regression with the stepwise method confirmed that gender significantly predicted student misconceptions of science concepts, with 9% of variance explained. This study provided evidence that students and prospective teachers experience various misconceptions about science concepts.

This study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the developed diagnostic assessment test and to identify student misconceptions in science in terms of school grades. 153 students were gathered by using random sample from 10th to 12th grade in senior high schools. The 32 items of the two-tier multiple-choice diagnostic test were administered to assess student misconceptions in science using the online system (eDia) and paper-based test. The results confirmed the validity and reliability of the developed test based on Rasch measurement. Student misconceptions in science were found statistically significant among school grades, [F(2, 152) = 10.93, p <.01]. The 12th-grade students have higher misconceptions than the students at 10th- and 11th-grade. No statistically significant difference was found between boys and girls for all grade level (p> 0.05). The Stepwise multiple regression confirmed that the grades are the predictor of student misconception in science, [F(152) = 10.208, p <0.01], explaining 25,2% variances of student misconception in science. This study gave preliminary evidence that the developed test well measured student misconceptions and evaluated students’ misconception in science concepts.

This study explores the relationship between attitudes toward ICT and reading performance in the educational context. The mediating role of attitudes toward ICT on student economic ability and reading performance was also examined. Data was collected using stratified random sampling from 240 students in senior high school and 330 undergraduate students in teacher training and education program using an online platform (eDia) and paper-based. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used for data analysis. The joint-two stage approach was applied to perform the second-order construct in path analysis. The measurement model confirms that all the instruments used in this study are valid and reliable. The structural model showed that three out of four hypotheses were empirically supported. Attitudes toward ICT have a significant effect on Reading performance. The direct effect from student economic ability to attitudes toward ICT was positively significant. We found that attitudes toward ICT positively mediate the relationship between student economic ability and reading performance for mediation analysis. The student economic ability does not affect the student reading performance. Limitations and future directions were also discussed as well.