Students' attributions and characteristics of cognitive conflict resolution in physics learning

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship between students' attributions and cognitive conflict, and identify the characteristics of cognitive conflict resolution in physics learning. Twenty-nine college students attending a basic general physics course took an attribution test and conceptual pre-test related to action-reaction concepts. As a result, twenty students with alternative conceptions were selected. Next, these students were confronted with a discrepant demonstration that contradicted their existing conceptions, then given a cognitive conflict level test (CCLT), post-test, and delayed post-test to determine their conceptual change. Those students who experienced high levels of cognitive conflict were also interviewed to find out what kinds of attribution and motivational belief affected their resolution of the conflict and successful/unsuccessful understanding of the concepts. When confronted with a discrepant event, the students who attributed successful outcomes to "effort" seemed to experience higher levels of cognitive conflict, compared to those students who attributed successful outcomes to "task difficulty". The different attribution profiles exhibited for resolving conflict and successful/unsuccessful understanding of physics concepts were found to have a strong influence on the resolution of cognitive conflict and process of conceptual change. In addition, the profiles also appeared to be related to metacognitive and volitional strategies. High levels of cognitive conflict did not always produce conceptual change. For the conflicts to lead to change, students needed to have a perspective on effort that implied the use of a self-regulated learning strategy. Accordingly, the current findings highlighted the importance of a self-regulated cognitive conflict strategy (SRCCS) or management strategy of cognitive conflict (MSCC), indicating the need for a model of a self-regulated cognitive conflict strategy for a classroom context.