Analysis of undergraduate students’ conceptual understanding of magnetism topics

Abstract

Abstract Research in physics education has long been concerned with a problem that undergraduate students acquire conceptions which are unsatisfactory from the scientific point of view. It is very important for educators to review further how strongly the conception is held in various domains of physics. Learning about magnetism is an important component of physics science education, thus requiring deeper analysis of understanding concepts. This research objectives to reveal the conceptual understanding about magnetism topics of undergraduate students. This research was a descriptive study to analysis 32 first year undergraduate student test results of conceptual understanding in Physics Department of State University of Makassar, South Sulawesi. The research data was obtained through technical test. These questions consists of 20 sets of question. It is has been developed by researcher and validated by experts. The result showed that only 40,9% undergraduate students understood about magnetism concept, 30,9% is just guessed, and 28,1% don’t understood. These result is still relatively low, considering the questions given are still very basic, and have not linked to the Maxwell equation. These results can be used as basic for determining the appropriate learning which is suitable for student in understanding Physics context as basis for entering electrodynamics courses.