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The project developed a web site for a high school physics projected called "Electric Motorboat Drag Racing." The web site was produced following the ADDIE instructional design model (analyze, design, develop, implement, evaluate) and was designed using key usability concepts identified through research: speed, content, appearance, and navigation (SCAN). The web site was developed and tested by asking experts for their feedback and by having participants use the web site. The web site was implemented in physics classrooms and data from 43 participants were evaluated. The data showed 97 percent of the participants' boats successfully completed the five-meter drag race. It also showed that the two targeted California physics standards were selected most often by participants as the standards they most needed to apply, learn, or review to complete the project. Through testing and evaluation, the web site was made more usable and the project helped physics students learn and apply specific physics concepts while gaining hands-on experience.

Thesis ((M.Ed. (Science Education)) -- University of Limpopo, 2018 / The new curriculum introduced in the Further Education and Training phase has had a great impact on the teaching and learning of Physical Sciences in the classrooms. The policy documents for Physical Sciences emphasis that practical work to be integrated with the teaching of Science. However, much remains desired on how teachers use their Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) to conduct practical work in their classrooms. This study explored teachers’ perceptions of practical work in the context of the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement. PCK was used as the theoretical framelens to understand teachers’ perceptions of practical work. Data in the study were collected through interviews and observations from four Grade 11 teachers. It was also collected by scrutinising teachers’ portfolios. Observations were used to discover the teachers’ actual classroom conduct of practical work. The sample of the study was drawn from Mankweng Circuit, in the Limpopo province. The findings of the study revealed that teachers conduct demonstrations which were structured and inquiry based practical work was not conducted. It was also found that they conduct practical work for promotional marks only. Furthermore, it was revealed that teachers appreciate the value of practical work in the teaching and learning of Physical Sciences but lack of resources and time constraints hinder them from conducting good practical work. It was also found that teachers do not have practical work lesson plans in their portfolios except those for reporting. However, apparatus in some instances were limiting teachers to conduct good practical work. Large classes, lack of time table for practical work and pressure to complete the curriculum were also mentioned by the teachers as limitations. It is recommended that subject specialists should help in developing teachers’ knowledge to conduct inquiry based practical work.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the nature of thinking styles as it relates to style value and style malleability through examining the relationships between thinking styles, motivational orientations, and academic achievement in learning physics among secondary school students in Hong Kong. Specifically, the research aimed to determine whether or not teaching styles change students’ thinking styles, and if so, the association of these changes on students’ motivational orientations; and to determine the extent to which motivational orientations and thinking styles link academic achievement in physics. This quantitative research employed a quasi-experimental longitudinal design and was composed of one pilot study and one main study. The pilot study purposed to evaluate the two inventories used in the main study: the Motivational Orientation Scales in Learning Physics (MOSLP) and the Thinking Styles Inventory Revised II (TSI-R2). A total of 76 secondary school students participated in the pilot study. Results revealed that the MOSLP and the TSI-R2 were applicable to Hong Kong school students. The main study was an experimental study aimed at determining the impact of teaching styles on students’ thinking styles, motivational orientations, and academic achievement in physics. A total of six teachers and 449 secondary students constituted the experimental group, and five teachers and 347 students constituted the control group. The intervention, involved students in physics lessons instructed under Type I teaching styles, was implemented in each participating teacher’s school for one semester. Pre-and post-tests were conducted, in which students’ thinking styles and motivational orientations were measured by the TSI-R2 and the MOSLP respectively. Students’ physics examination results were also collected at the time of the post-test. A series of statistical analyses were conducted to reveal the effects of thinking styles on motivational orientations, to identify changes in students’ thinking styles, and to determine their relationships with academic achievement in both the experimental and control groups. Overall results demonstrated that Type I thinking styles were positively associated with task orientation and negatively connected with work avoidance orientation, thus which indicated adaptive value of Type I styles; Type II styles were not particularly associated with any of the motivational orientation scales, which suggested that they were value-differentiated; and Type III styles were found to be associated with ego orientation (in the pre-test), which suggested that they had less adaptive value. Moreover, students in the experimental group unexpectedly demonstrated a decreasing trend in their use of some Type I styles, some maladaptive Type II styles, and some Type III thinking styles for learning physics, whereas students in the control group decreased their use of some Type III thinking styles. Also, reduction in ego orientation among students in the experimental group was found to be greater than that of the control group. Finally, results demonstrated that teaching styles played a mediating role in boosting academic achievement. Students in the experiment and control groups studying in different forms modified either their thinking styles or motivational orientations. The magnitudes of these changes positively associated with students’ levels of achievement in physics. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Education

The study investigated the attitudes of high school learners towards Physics and Chemistry. The learners were in Sastri College, a high school in Kwa-Zulu Natal. The study also investigated the relationship between attitude and performance. The sample consisted of 50, Grade 12, Physical Science learners. The data was collected by means of a questionnaire, a semi-structured and individual interviews and the matriculation results from the Department of Education and Culture. The SPSS package was used to analysis the quantitative data. The interviews were used to qualify and elaborate on the statistical findings. The findings showed that majority of the learners had a positive attitude towards Physics while few learners had positive attitude towards Chemistry. It was also found that attitude did not affect the performance of the learners and there was no gender difference between attitudes and performance. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Durban-Westville, 1999.

The problem with which this study was concerned is an investigation of physics instruction in Texas public secondary schools. The purposes of this study were to investigate the status of physics instruction and to determine the in-service needs and preferences of the physics teachers in Texas public secondary schools. Data were collected by a questionnaire that was sent to a stratified random sample of 100 teachers. The questionnaire was evaluated by a panel of advisors and pilot tested. The bases for stratification were relative school size and geographic location. Usable returns were obtained from 69 respondents.

Few South African students pass Grade 12 Physical Science with symbols required by university science, engineering and health science faculties. A large number of students who sit for Grade 12 Physical Science and Mathematics exams pass with symbols that are well below those required by the mainstream science courses at South African universities. Most South African universities have introduced Science Foundation Programmes with the aim of upgrading those students who failed to obtain university entrance symbols in the relevant subjects. Amongst the courses offered in Science Foundation Programmes is Foundation Physics. This study investigates the influence of Foundation Physics in order to find out if the programmes in different institutions are successful in empowering the students who failed to get the required entrance mark in Grade 12 Physical Science. Four South African Historically Black universities participated in this study. The Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation test (FMCE) (Thornton & Sokoloff, 1998) and mechanics marks were used to assess students' understanding of Newtonian mechanics. Data was analyzed from socio-cultural perspective. A total of 194 students participated in the study. Two groups of students were compared, i.e. those who did Foundation Physics (Foundation group) and those who did not do Foundation Physics (non-Foundation group). The students were tested after they had completed a mechanics module, which forms a great foundation of Physics I (Introductory Physics). Two focus group interviews were held with selected Foundation and non-Foundation students per institution. Students voiced their experiences in Physics I and Foundation Physics. Students were chosen to represent focus groups according to their performance in the FMCE test. Mechanics class performances were also used to evaluate students' performance. In order to establish how Foundation Physics is taught, Foundation Physics Lecturer interviews were conducted at all four institutions. Analysis of data showed that both Foundation and non-Foundation students performed equally in Physics I mechanics module. Foundation group performed better than the non-Foundation group in the FMCE, which is a conceptual test. Foundation Physics lecturers indicated that there were some differences in the way mechanics was taught in Physics I and Foundation Physics. These differences affected students' performance. The lecturers also indicated that there was minimal interaction between Physics I lecturers and Foundation Physics lecturers pertaining to the teaching of the two courses. What influence does Foundation Physics have on the performance of students in Physics I? This study found that students who did Foundation Physics performed better than those who did not do Foundation Physics in conceptual questions and both the groups perform equally in questions that require memorizing and calculations. This implies that Foundation Physics courses are empowering the students to perform well in Physics I. However, as it is evidenced by this research, the differences in assessment in Physics I and Foundation Physics courses in some institutions hampers Foundation Physics students' learning, because the questions asked require them to memorize without understanding, something they are not used to. The researcher recommends that Foundation Physics staff and Physics I staff should start communicating, not only about how Foundation Physics should be run as was the case in the past, but also on how best Physics I should be run. This might help in making sure that the two courses are assessed similarly at one institution. / Mathematics, Science and Technology Education / D. Phil. (Mathematics, Science and Technology Education)

Improving the STEM readiness of students from historically underserved groups is a moral and economic imperative requiring greater attention and effort than has been shown to date. The current literature suggests a high school science sequence beginning with physics and centered on developing conceptual understanding, using inquiry labs and modeling to allow students to explore new ideas, and addressing and correcting student misconceptions can increase student interest in and preparation for STEM careers. The purpose of this study was to determine if the science college readiness of historically underserved students can be improved by implementing an inquiry-based high school science sequence comprised of coursework in physics, chemistry, and biology for every student. The study used a retrospective cohort observational design to address the primary research question: are there differences between historically underserved students completing a Physics First science sequence and their peers completing a traditional science sequence in 1) science college-readiness test scores, 2) rates of science college-and-career readiness, and 3) interest in STEM? Small positive effects were found for all three outcomes for historically underserved students in the Physics First sequence.

The purpose of this study was to extend our current knowledge about what happens in physical science classrooms. The focus was the context of problem tasks. This involved the study of the situations, events and factors that relate to the solving of problem tasks at high school in order to understand their role and nature. e problem tasks that were central to this study were well defined, narrow in focus, and invariably involved the calculation of some quantity through the use of a formula and algebraic manipulation. The main questions that guided the study were as follows: What is happening in physical science classrooms? What is the nature and role of problem solving within this context? What are some of the consequences of organising teaching and learning in this manner? How do external forces influence what happens? The study aimed at describing the activities that the teachers and students were involved in and understanding how they understood their own actions. An interpretive research approach was chosen for this purpose, having as its basis a detailed descriptive foundation using classroom observation. Two high school science classrooms were studied in detail over a period of a year. The data gathered included field notes from over a hundred classroom visits, extensive video and audio records, questionnaires, classroom documents and formal an informal interviews with teachers, students and examiners. Through a process of careful and systematic analysis of the data, six assertions emerged. These assertions are supported by both particular evidence in the form of analytic narrative vignettes, quotes and extracts, and general evidence consisting of frequency data and summary tables. The analysis reveals that problem tasks occupied most of the teaching and learning time, and that the students found this experience of school science boring. Most of the problem tasks were routine in nature and of low conceptual demand. The majority of the students were unable to solve the more difficult tasks encountered in their tests and examinations. In addition, a significant number could not solve the routine problem tasks. This suggests that the predominant instructional strategies were ineffective. It was found that participants had an uncritical belief in the efficacy of teacher explanations and student practice on problem tasks. Further, the participants had different views of the role of problem tasks. A significant finding was that the examination exerted a powerful focusing influence on the classroom environment, the instructional activities and on the problem tasks used . It appeared that the ultimate goal of school physical science was to solve these types of problem task in preparation for the high stakes examination, rather than the learning of science. The study has implications both for practice and for research on the teaching and learning of school physical science. These implications are discussed in terms of instructional strategies aimed at promoting a deeper understanding of physical science. In order to improve practice it is advocated that the role of problem tasks in learning science be made explicit while at the same time new types of instructional task need to be designed to achieve our goals for school science. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1999.

As personal computers (PCs) and related ICTs become more and more omnipresent than ever before in institutions of education, teachers are faced with the challenge of having to teach in ICT rich environments. Some syllabuses increase this pressure by stipulating where ICT may be applied. While past research efforts have focused on presence of and/or effectiveness of ICTs on achieving various didactic goals, there is limited literature on the extent to which actual practice occurred naturally. It was the aim of this study to determine the extent to which Physics teachers and students used ICT in their usual teaching/learning ambience, referred to as natural settings in this study. Using activity theory as a theoretical lens, multiple case studies were chosen as a strategy using 10 schools, 15 Physics teachers, 20 A-level Physics students and 10 ICT teachers (computer specialists). Questionnaires, observations and informal and focus group interviews were used to elicit responses from students, teachers and computer specialists. It emerged from the case studies that despite the presence of apt ICT infrastructure in the schools and although the teachers had a positive attitude towards the use of ICT for teaching and learning of Physics, teachers were apathetic when it came to the actual use. Some of the reasons militating against use were lack of an ICT policy, school authority, and monopoly of computers enjoyed by computer studies teachers. However among students there were ‘early starters’ who used ICTs outside of school, a situation that tended to change the Physics learning environment. These findings led to a proposal for a post of Computer Specialist (CS) in the schools. The need for developing ICT policy at all levels namely national, Ministry of Education and the school was also proposed. Lastly staff development in the use ICT for Physics teachers was proposed as indispensable.