Electronic Journal of Science Education - Vol. 12 - No. 2 - Students’ Creation and Interpretation of Circuit Diagrams - Research findings

Oct 24, 2026

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Study results examine how pre-service teachers and graduate science education students represent electric circuits and interpret circuit diagrams. Before instruction on diagram conventions, students’ representations were categorized as figural/iconic, abstract/symbolic, or mixed, and abstraction levels correlated with prior circuit experience. Interviews with non-standard and standard diagrams showed that accepted diagram conventions affect how learners treat diagrams as abstract representations. Findings indicate students can be disadvantaged when conventional diagrams are presented as the norm without explicit discussion of representation issues.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages22

Reading Time55 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Diagram interpretation difficulties and cognitive representations

Metarepresentational competence and instructional implications

Electronic Journal of Science Education Vol. 12, No. 2 (2008) Students’ Creation and Interpretation of Circuit Diagrams Jill Marshall The University of TexasatAustin Abstract I report results of a study of representations of electric circuits and interpretation of circuit diagrams by students in a class for pre-service teachers and graduate students in science education. Students’ representations of circuits prior to instruction on the conventions of circuit diagrams were collected and catalogued according to representative characteristics and classified as either figural/iconic or abstract/symbolic or a mixture. As might be expected, prior experience with circuits was related to the level of abstraction in the ways students chose to represent circuits before standard circuit diagrams had been introduced in the course. Students’ native competence was also evident, however, as one student without prior experience developed her own abstract scheme for encoding information in circuit diagrams and continued to use it after conventional diagrams were introduced. Students were also interviewed as they interpreted non-standard and conventional circuit diagrams. The interviews revealed that previous experience with formal circuit diagrams, and the unstated but accepted conventions therein, led to difficulties in treating an existing circuit diagram as a completely abstract representation in one case, in contrast with expectations that experienced students would recognize circuit diagrams as complete abstractions. These results imply that students may be disadvantaged when conventional diagrams are simply presented as the norm, without explicit discussion of representation issues. Correspondence should be addressed to Jill Marshall, (Email: [marshall@mail.utexas.edu](marshall@mail.utexas.edu)), University of Texas. Introduction It is quite common for students to experience difficulties in developing a robust understanding of even the simplest electric circuits, despite instruction on the topic (Fredette & Lochhead, 1980; McDermott & Shaffer, 1992) . An international comparison (Shipstone et al., 1988) found that these difficulties are essentially the same across countries, suggesting ‘an almost ‘natural’ coherence to the learning difficulties within the cognitive structure’ (p.315) . In the same study, however, some problems had apparently been overcome by intense treatment of a given topic within a particular curriculum, showing that these difficulties are not insurmountable. Physics education researchers have demonstrated that carefully designed curriculum can address identified difficulties, allowing students to construct a more robust understanding (Shaffer & McDermott, 1992) . A key element of understanding electric circuits is the creation and interpretation of electric circuit diagrams. Johsua and Dupin (1985) argued that the ‘privileged role © 2008 Electronic Journal of Science Education (Southwestern University) Retrieved from [http://ejse.southwestern.edu](http://ejse.southwestern.edu) Marshall 2 played by the diagram’ in electronics makes it critical to understand the relationship between students’ cognitive representations of circuits and their encoding, reading, and use of circuit diagrams (p.129) . These skills are prerequisite to solving many problems on standard assessments of circuit knowledge. To solve standard paper and pencil circuit problems, students must recognize the symbols used for electrical components, avoid attributing unintended meaning to conventions such as the use of straight, perpendicular lines, and extract information from the diagram about the completeness of the circuits, any elements bypassed by shorts, and series and parallel components. Although these perceptual skills might be considered primitive, successful interpretation/creation of circuit diagrams mirrors understanding of circuit behavior and is linked to developing a successful problem representation (Caillot, 1985

FAQs

How were students’ circuit representations classified before instruction?

Students’ circuit representations prior to learning diagram conventions were categorized as figural/iconic, abstract/symbolic, or a mixture, based on representative characteristics.

What relationship was found between prior circuit experience and representation abstraction?

Prior experience with circuits was related to the level of abstraction in how students represented circuits before standard circuit diagrams were introduced in the course.

What did interviews reveal about interpreting circuit diagrams as abstract representations?

Interviews indicated that prior experience with formal circuit diagrams and their unstated accepted conventions can lead to difficulties in treating an existing diagram as a completely abstract representation.

Oct 24, 2026

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