Designing Defragmentation of Knowledge in Secondary School Physics Education

Abstract

Knowledge fragmentation, the issue of students being unable to build connections between linked concepts, is a key obstacle in acquiring critical thinking skills for students. In physics curricula, fragmentation can be embodied with concepts being introduced separately but also without work dedicated to building connections between concepts that are inherently connected. Defragmenting knowledge is a newer field of investigation in education and as such has not yet reached accepted mechanisms. Inquiry-based learning, however, with its inherent reliance on students’ initiative, does appear to be a good candidate. This case study led three International Baccalaureate Diploma Program Physics students through Guided Inquiry Based Learning (GIBL) centered around a physical project to investigate possible defragmentation mechanisms for physics knowledge inherent to GIBL. The study found evidence that the core of GIBL, letting students build personal investment in work within specific contexts, led to students building connections between previously disparate concepts. The study also found evidence that concept mapping in this context could be a mechanism for defragmentation within concepts as well as between. The implications of this evidence and future avenues of research were also explored.