Identify students’ conception and level of representations using five-tier test on wave concepts

Abstract

Abstract This study aims to identify students’ conception and their level of representation on wave concepts. This is descriptive research. Data were collected through a five-tiers instrument test. Subjects in this study were thirty 9th grades in one of Junior High School in Bandung. The results of the study show that there are many students who lack knowledge and misconceptions. Students’ visual representation in wave concepts in real life is only at the macroscopic level. Their drawing in connecting phenomena and real-life also have some errors. Multiple representations-based learning is needed to facilitate students changing their conceptions into scientific and deep conceptions, which not only focus on representations modal such as verbal, picture, mathematic, and graph, but also level of representations, such as macroscopic, microscopic, sub-microscopic and symbolic.