Abstract
This paper focuses on the use of research results on students' causal reasoning in designing the teaching of electricity. Examination of students' replies in written questions and classroom teacher-lead discussions suggests that several students, when they construct microscopic mechanisms to explain electrical phenomena, may envision transient states and employ a specific type of causal chain, the iterative one, in addition to the simple and linear causal reasoning. In the second part of paper we present and discuss features of a microscopic mechanism adapted to students' causal reasoning patterns which relies on qualitative modelling of transient states of electrical circuit operation.
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Barbas, A., Psillos, D. Causal reasoning as a base for advancing a systemic approach to simple electrical circuits. Research in Science Education 27, 445–459 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02461764
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02461764