Validation of a learning progression for sound propagation in air

This study was conducted with 37 11th grade secondary school students and had as its focus to verify the different levels of sophistication in students’ explanations regarding the propagation of sound in air. A pre- and a post-test were conducted after a one-month intervention, focusing on learning about sound propagation in air. Data analysis allowed for comparing the progressions in the sophistication of students’ explanations and validating the proposed categorical structure of the hierarchical levels of learning progressions (LPs). The validity was confirmed by the consistency of the category hierarchy, assessed in terms of the difficulty coefficients of LPs levels, which were distinct in the two tests but maintained the established order in the construct maps. In the pre-test, the more sophisticated levels of LPs were not elucidated, but after instruction, in the post-test, there were explanations at all levels. The results also reveal the importance of instruction focused on LPs, so that students can present more sophisticated explanations, and their utility for future investigations using this approach.