The effects of discrepant events on the low-level paradigms of high school physics students

Constructivist learning theory indicates that high school physics students do not enter their physics classrooms empty-headed. Students come with preconceptions that they constructed over time, which are based on their observations of the environment. One function of physics teachers is to facilitate students in altering their preconceptions if they are not in agreement with the currently accepted scientific view.; Kuhn described a paradigm shift as a process that scientists undergo when they discard a currently accepted paradigm in favor of a more complete paradigm, because of the new paradigm's greater explanatory power. Physics students may undergo low level paradigm shifts when constructing, or reconstructing, their low level paradigms as they observe small parts of their world.; This research was a multiple case study based on eight discrepant event exercises. Twenty-two self selected, untutored first year high school physics students individually performed these exercises. The students' written documents, student interviews, and the researcher's field notes were triangulated to describe the process that emerged as the students described their low level paradigms before and after performing the discrepant events exercises.; The following research questions were addressed. Do students employ similar low level paradigms to explain the same physical phenomenon? Do the discrepant events observed by the students have a consequential effect upon their current low level paradigms? Are there specific discrepant events that affect students' low level paradigms to a greater degree compared to other discrepant events that are grounded in the same physical phenomenon? Do students apply scientific terminology, within its proper context, after their exposure to a discrepant event, compared to their utilization of scientific terminology prior to their exposure to the discrepant event? Can the students' low level paradigms be generalized to situations that are beyond the scope of a specific discrepant event?; This research indicates that by limiting the cognitive demands of laboratory exercises more students may be able to connect the theoretical constructs developed in the classroom to the associated laboratory exercises. Laboratory exercises should be simple in design and involve as few concepts as possible, thus allowing students to perform multiple laboratory exercises based on the same physical phenomenon.