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Tracing the Development of Optician Students' Mental Models of the Visual Pathway

Year: 2026

Type: preprint

Abstract: This study describes how first-year optician students' mental models of the visual pathway develop across a single semester of a compulsory eye anatomy and physiology course. Students complete an integrated drawing-and-explanation performance task (the Visual Pathway Integration Task, VPIT) at three time points. Each response is assigned a holistic level on a proposed five-level learning progression (L1 fragmented knowledge to L5 integrated systems model). The study is descriptive and exploratory; it involves a single group with no comparison condition and makes no causal claim. A secondary aim is to develop the first version of a misconception-informed concept probe for eye anatomy and physiology and to gather content and response-process validity evidence for its items.

DOI: 10.17605/osf.io/3tkyq

Authors: Mustafa CAKIR, Ebru Görgün, Fevzi Akkan, Gamze Öztürk

Language: English

Topic: Science Education and Pedagogy

Subfield: Education

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W7170196613

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