Search

Objective: The aim of the paper is to present the results of the study of students’ attitudes towards physics and their relationship with the acquisition of concepts in physics. Subjects and Methods: Eighty-nine students of the first year of undergraduate studies in physiotherapy at the Faculty of Health Studies, University of Rijeka, participated in the study. This study was preceded by a survey of seventh and eighth grade students of an elementary school in Rijeka (N=92). The questionnaire contained statements expressing the attitude of the surveyed students towards physics. The second part of the questionnaire consisted of statements that included common misconceptions in physics. We divided the misconceptions into those that arise from the linguistic mixing of terms from everyday life and science, those that result from the use of incorrect assumptions to explain everyday experiences, and those that are based on a misunderstanding of scientific terms and concepts. Results: Students have predominantly neutral attitudes toward physics. There is a statistically significant difference in the prevalence of misconceptions according to the cause of their occurrence (chi-square; P<0.001). The most prevalent misconceptions were those arising from the identification of expressions used in everyday life and science, the so-called jargon misconceptions (58% of cases). The influence of student attitudes on the frequency of misconceptions proved statistically significant for attitudes indicating that respondents focus more on memorising data and quantitative manipulations than on successfully acquiring scientific terms and concepts. Conclusions: The application of advanced technologies in therapy and diagnostics in the context of medical care indicates an increasing need for physics knowledge among students in health and medical programmes. Students are aware of the importance of physics to their education and, for the most part, do not have negative attitudes toward physics. Certain types of misconceptions persist throughout the educational process. Therefore, the emergence of unscientific concepts should be prevented, but if they already exist, they should be identified as early as possible and active efforts should be made to eliminate them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this study was to estimate the effect of the introduction of the State Graduation Exam and selected entrance criteria on the structure of enrolled students and their achievements in the acquisition of knowledge in physics. Subjects and methods: The investigation was conducted at the University of Rijeka and included students of the Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Health Studies. The total of 779 medical students, 237 students of physiotherapy and 100 students of radiological technology in the period from the academic year 2008/2009 to 2014/2015 participated in the study. Non-parametric tests Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA and the chi-square (c2) test were used for comparison. Results: Upon the introduction of the State Graduation Exam, the ratio of students from the Primorsko-goranska County and other counties has changed. The prevalence of students from Primorsko-goranska County enrolled in the study of medicine has been decreasing steadily, and it accounted for 19.4 % in the academic year 2012/2013. In the study of physiotherapy this percentage became equal, whereas the number of students enrolled in the study of radiological technology coming from other counties has always prevailed. Upon the introduction of the State Graduation Exam, in the study of medicine, the proportion of students who have completed secondary medical school was reduced to approximately 5 %. In the study of physiotherapy the number of students coming from the secondary medical school increased, and it amounted to 75 % and 78 % in the last two academic years respectively. The percentage of students enrolled in the study of radiological technology who have completed secondary medical schools before the State Graduation Exam was 100 % and 93 %, in the academic years (2008/2009, 2009/2010), but after the introduction of the State Graduation Exam the proportions varied depending on the changes in the entrance criteria in the range of 0 % in the academic year 2014/2015 to 66 % in the academic year 2012/2013. Conclusion: Our results showed that the selection and the achievements of students in exams depended significantly on the selection of entrance criteria. However, this study was conducted only in the physics courses and a further analysis involving other courses is needed to reach the final conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]