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Uncovering Atomic Bonding Misconceptions with Multimodal Topic Module Assessments of Student Understanding in An Introductory Materials Course Abstract Though much work has been done in physical sciences on misconceptions, little work has been done on misconceptions in the context of structure-property-processing performance relationships in materials used in engineering design. The research question in this paper is, “How can misconceptions for engineering materials be most effectively identified in order to develop effective teaching and learning activities for repairing misconceptions?” For an introductory materials class with 38 students, misconceptions were uncovered, categorized and monitored over the span of a fifteen-week introductory materials science course. To do so, open- ended assessments requiring multiple modes of expressions (sketching and writing) of concepts for various content areas (atomic bonding, crystal structure, deformation, polymers, and electrical properties) were administered before and after each teaching module. A mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative) analysis of student responses on the multimodal assessment was carried out. Student misconceptions were further elicited and categorized using emergent themes coding. Some categories of misconceptions were consistent with literature. Others (such as a magnetic mechanism for bonding and atoms becoming either soft or brittle during deformation) were new and previously unreported. Results indicated that multimodal assessment gave a more effective and a more detailed indicator of student conceptions, misconceptions and conceptual change than a unimodal assessment would have. We propose that, for an introductory materials course, assessments using multimodal expressions of topical concepts will more effectively uncover and assess the nature of student misconceptions. This improved insight into student conceptual frameworks can lead to more effective misconception repair for structure-property relationships about engineering materials than would a traditional assessment. Details of results, analysis, conclusions and implications are presented and discussed in the full paper.

Introduction

Misconception research has been done primarily from a physical science perspective. Traditionally, engineering students learn prerequisite knowledge in physics and chemistry. As a result, student understanding is often limited to an understanding of phenomena rather than an ability to apply and use knowledge for engineering applications. For example, in a review of student bonding conceptions, Robinson1 found that students believed that the only types of “real” bonds were covalent and ionic bonds. Continuing, he reported that chemistry students could not recognize metallic bonds as “proper” bonds. Because many chemistry courses aim to teach students to explain the natural world, emphasis is placed on covalent and ionic bonding. But in engineering, understanding of metal and polymer behavior is crucial for real-world applications and requires an understanding and working knowledge of metallic and van der Waals bonding.

Many engineering students complete their science prerequisites in courses structured for natural scientists with limited treatment of engineering content. Many engineering faculty assume that students entering their courses are well prepared with respect to materials design and selection. If we again consider atomic bonding for materials science courses, it can be seen that this is not the

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Kelly, J., & Heinert, K., & Triplett, J., & Baker, D., & Krause, S. (2010, June), Uncovering And Repairing Atomic Bonding Misconceptions With Multimodal Assessment Of Student Understanding In An Introductory Materials Course Paper presented at 2010 Annual Conference & Exposition, Louisville, Kentucky. 10.18260/1-2--16354