Investigating the effect of teaching kinematics concepts using thought experiments on students’ academic progress and learning strategies

Abstract Numerous studies have focused on the role of thought experiments in mathematics and experimental science education. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of teaching mechanics (kinematics) concepts with a thought experiment approach on academic progress, cognitive levels of learning and motivational learning strategies of students. This present study is both quantitative and qualitative with a pretest posttest design. The population of this study was chosen from female students of the twelfth grade of experimental sciences, Karaj city, Alborz province, Iran, in the academic year 2023–2024. The 64 participants were randomly selected and assigned to experimental and control groups. To collect data, the researcher utilized a test specifically designed for this study to assess the variables of academic progress and cognitive levels of learning, which exhibited a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.85, indicating high internal consistency. Additionally, the Pintrich and De Groot (1990) motivational learning strategies questionnaire was employed to evaluate students’ learning strategies, yielding a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.76, reflecting acceptable reliability. In this research, 7 thought experiments were discussed in 6 different 75 min training sessions. The data collected in this research were analysed by a covariance test and independent t -test. The results of the research show the significant effect of the educational approach of thought experiments on the academic progress and motivational learning strategies of the students. The results showed that the experimental group had done significantly better in academic achievement than the control group. It was also observed that despite the academic progress of the control group compared to their pre-test, their learning strategies had not changed; even though the students of the experimental group had grown both in cognitive levels, academic progress, and learning strategies.