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This study was designed to determine the relative effectiveness of teaching a unit on wave-motion and sound at the grade nine and ten levels, using two different methods of instruction. One hundred twenty students enrolled in the grade nine and ten General Science courses at the Balmoral Junior Secondary School in School District No. 44 (North Vancouver), took part in the investigation. The students were grouped into three levels of scholastic aptitude within each grade, and also, into two methods sections. Two questions were investigated in this study. First, do significant differences exist between the mean scores on the final test of the various grade and methods groups? Secondly, for which of these groups is the unit suitable? In order to answer the first question, the final scores were studied by an analysis of covariance with scholastic aptitude, knowledge of General Science, and prior knowledge of the material in the unit being the variables controlled. The second question was investigated by first adjusting the final scores of all the subjects for differences between them on the three factors assumed to influence their performance in this study. The performance of each group was then compared with the criterion that 75 per cent of the students in a group should make a mark of 50 per cent or better on the final test in order for the unit to be judged suitable for that group. All the differences between the means of the two grade groups, and the three levels of scholastic aptitude within these two grades, were found to be non-significant at the one per cent level of significance. On the other hand, the differences between the means of the methods groups, demonstration-experiment and student-experiment, were found to be significant at the one per cent level. Of the two methods groups, the highest adjusted mean score was obtained by the demonstration-experiment group. All the groups satisfied the requirement of suitability that 75 per cent should obtain a mark of 50 per cent or better on the final test. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

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Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

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This study explores the introduction of a new applied physics course into a British Columbia high school during the 1994-1995 school year. The course was part of a provincial effort aimed at making science and technology education more responsive to the workplace. Data collection took place during the first year the applied physics course was being piloted at the school and focused on the pilot teacher and the applied physics classes, but also involved others inside and outside the school who had a connection to the course. A variety of methods were used in data collection including interviews, observation, and document analysis. Using actor-network theory and sociocultural theory, the focus of the research is on the networks that were constructed at the pilot school and at the provincial level where the course was conceptualized and developed. The research describes how the teacher and other network builders attempted to enroll various human and nonhuman actors into the networks they were constructing in support of the course. They did this by convincing the actors that the course was compatible with their interests. The types of actors that were enrolled, the sociocultural communities they belonged to, and what it took to convince them to support the course are shown to shape the way that the course was enacted in the classroom. In addition, it is demonstrated that the network that was constructed at the provincial level had only a minor connection to the one the teacher was constructing at the school level. The lack of contact between the two networks meant that the interests of those who were involved in organizing the applied physics pilots at the provincial level were seldom taken into account in the course at the school. Fourteen conclusions are drawn about the networks that were constructed and the network building process at both the school and provincial levels. These conclusions have implications for policy in educational change initiatives and for addressing problems that emerge when cross-subject courses are introduced. The research also develops a new theoretical approach that will contribute to advancing research on educational change.

This creative project was written to provide learning materials that would facilitate student use of open physics laboratories in modular scheduled schools or schools operating under the open concept.The writer identified the needs and interests in physics for both the science and nonscience student. Using these topics of interest, nine open physics laboratory acttivities for science and nonscience students were written. Each activity was designed to offer a "hands-on" activity supplimented with pictures, diagrams, and a minimal of written material.An attempt was made to divide each activity into two parts or phases with each phase being more difficult (i. e., using more advanced scientific terms and/or mathematics). This structure was chosen so as to interest and motivate the nonscience student or low ability science student and not bore the ambitious science student.

A study of the attitudes of students toward physics laboratory programs was hypothesized to be one method of determining the relative probability with which these laboratory programs could succeed in fulfilling two primary objectives: (1) providing a knowledge of some basic concepts and experimantal techniques in physics, and (2) developing a high degree of interest in physics. This supposition was based upon the positive correlation between attitude toward a learning situation and achievement and interest in the situation, reported to have been found in previous studies investigating attitudes and their relationship to learning. To measure the attitudes of students toward the physics laboratory, an attitude scale was developed through sound methods of scale construction. Studies were completed .investigating attitudes as measured by this scale and their relationship with achievement in the laboratory and interest in physics. The results of these studies not only supported the hypothesis that the predicted relationship did exist, but also furnished evidence that the scale possessed construct validity. The function of the attitude scale in this study was to determine which of two physics 110 laboratory programs at the University of British Columbia was more favorably rated by students. One program was patterned upon traditional laboratory design (control program), while the other was based upon recent trends in laboratory philosophy and design (experimental program). Students worked in these programs for three months. The attitude scale was administered before these programs commenced, and at their completion. The results of these administrations disclosed that the experimental program was rated by students to be significantly more favorable than the control program, which in view of the relationship found to exist between attitude as measured by the attitude scale, and achievement in the laboratory and interest in physics, suggested that the experimental program was more capable of providing a knowledge of some basic concepts and experimental techniques in physics, as well as developing a higher degree of interest in physics. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

There was recently introduced into the secondary schools of British Columbia a course in physics based primarily upon the work of the Physical Science Study Committee. At the end of the course a study is made of atomic physics. A fundamental concept involved in the study of atomic physics is that of the quantum of light energy. A photocell experiment suitable for use in secondary schools has been developed which is intended to help the student to come to major conclusions regarding the photoelectric effect and the nature of light. In developing this experiment investigations were made to determine the suitability of available apparatus and methods. Among the aspects investigated were photocells, light sources, filters, methods of measuring small currents, and methods of investigating the photoelectric effect. The experiment which evolved was then performed under conditions more suitable than exist in secondary schools. The results of the experiment agreed with the major points of the theory and yielded a value for Planck's constant within ten per cent of accepted value. It was concluded that a photocell experiment can be performed in secondary schools which will yield results which agree with the theory. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

This study explores the introduction of a new applied physics course into a British Columbia high school during the 1994-1995 school year. The course was part of a provincial effort aimed at making science and technology education more responsive to the workplace. Data collection took place during the first year the applied physics course was being piloted at the school and focused on the pilot teacher and the applied physics classes, but also involved others inside and outside the school who had a connection to the course. A variety of methods were used in data collection including interviews, observation, and document analysis. Using actor-network theory and sociocultural theory, the focus of the research is on the networks that were constructed at the pilot school and at the provincial level where the course was conceptualized and developed. The research describes how the teacher and other network builders attempted to enroll various human and nonhuman actors into the networks they were constructing in support of the course. They did this by convincing the actors that the course was compatible with their interests. The types of actors that were enrolled, the sociocultural communities they belonged to, and what it took to convince them to support the course are shown to shape the way that the course was enacted in the classroom. In addition, it is demonstrated that the network that was constructed at the provincial level had only a minor connection to the one the teacher was constructing at the school level. The lack of contact between the two networks meant that the interests of those who were involved in organizing the applied physics pilots at the provincial level were seldom taken into account in the course at the school. Fourteen conclusions are drawn about the networks that were constructed and the network building process at both the school and provincial levels. These conclusions have implications for policy in educational change initiatives and for addressing problems that emerge when cross-subject courses are introduced. The research also develops a new theoretical approach that will contribute to advancing research on educational change. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate