TRAINING OF THE PHYSICS TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK AND LABORATORY MANUAL(GRADES 5-8)

DEBRETABOR

FEB 23-26/2004

USAID/IQPEP

DAWIT TESFAYE( LECTURER)

1

ACTIVE LEARNINGSTRATEGIES

2

STATUS OF SCIENCE EDUCATION

How the conditions are very serious concerning students achievement

The National Composite mean score (the average of what the students scored) in the five subjects was 35.6% including AA (USAID/IQPEP II 2008)

Comparison of mean scores among the three National assessment Years

3

Biol. 47.2 41.3 38.3

Eng. 38.7 41.1 38.4

Math. 38.2 40.9 34.1

Chem. 40.2 40.1 32

Phys. 35.8 35.3 34.2

Composite 41.1 31.7 35.6

Years 2000 2004 2007

OVERVIEWAs a teacher, we must now ask ourselves, How successfully are we educating all students in physics?

The introduction of active learning (AL) for teaching physics in Ethiopia is especially encouraged:

To fosters hands-on laboratory work,

To promote conceptual learning and

To aware teachers to strive for significant improvement in their students’ learning.

4

OBJECTIVES OF ALThe goal of active learning strategy is to:

Promote the implementation of student-centered, minds-on, hands-on learning as much as possible in school physics.

5

Why the bulb give light even if there is no source (battery)? Discus in group and develop your own conceptual explanation. Try to put your conceptual understanding into practice in Lab room

6

MODELS OF TEACHING

Transmissionist Model

– teaching by telling

– lecture model

– highly efficient from the teacher’s

perspective

– research shows it is grossly ineffective

from the student’s perspective

7

MODELS OF TEACHING – CONTD.

Constructivist model (active engagement)

– student-centered

– recognize the students preconceptions and

work deliberately to replace them with

correct concepts

– teacher as facilitator

– provide activities for students to construct

their own learning

– scientific constructivism

8

WHAT’S WRONG WITH LECTURES?

Listeners to serious information have an attention span – at best – of 10 to 15 minutes• Information passes too quickly for contemplative thought and is thus lost• Students don’t know how to listen to a lecture• Most lectures just reiterate what is in the book• Lectures focus on formal issues rather than physical phenomena or concepts.

9

WHY ACTIVE LEARNING?The cornerstone of a constructivist teaching philosophy is that students must construct their knowledge, through interaction with the ideas and materials, rather than simply receive knowledge

Effective learning requires the students to be active participants in the process ,not passive listeners ..

10

CHARACTERISTICS OF AL

All successful implementations of active learning strategies have the following characteristics:

students spend much of class time actively engaged in doing /thinking/talking physics –not listening to someone else talk about physics

Students interact with their peers.

11

CHARACTERISTICS OF AL CONTD.Students receive immediate feedback on their work.

The teacher is more a facilitator, less a conveyor of knowledge.

Students take responsibility for their knowledge. This includes participating in activities, studying the text, and completing the assignments.

12

CONT.In this learning strategy, students are guided to construct their knowledge of physics concepts by direct observations of the physical world.

13

LEARNING CYCLEThe learning cycle can also be represented as PODS—

Prediction,

Observation,

Discussion and

Synthesis

14

PASSIVE VS ACTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

•Teachers /textbook are the authorities-sources of all knowledge•Students' beliefs are rarely overtly challenged•Teachers role is as a lecturer

•Collaboration with peers often discouraged•Lessons often present the “facts" with little reference to experiment

•Real observation of the physical world are the authority•Students’ beliefs are challenged

•Teachers role is as a guide in the learning process•collaboration with peers is encouraged•Results from real experiments are observed in understandable ways

15

PASSIVE VS ACTIVE LEARNINGENVIRONMENT

•Lab work, if any, is used to confirm theories “learned" in lecture

•Too focused on facts and rote memorization

•The teacher used to get in front of students and do all the sciences and math's

•Focuses less on what we are teaching

•Lab work is used to learn basic concepts

•Students work on problems together in groups talk, argue, and teach each other

•Mentally engage students in what the teacher is teaching

•Focuses more on what our students are learning

16

DESIRED STUDENT OUT COME OF ACTIVE LEARNING

Properly implemented active learning can lead to:

increased motivation to learn,

greater retention of knowledge,

deeper understanding and more positive attitude towards the subject being taught

17

CON.

reason qualitatively and logically about physics phenomena,

express their knowledge in multiple forms(verbal, pictorial, graphical and mathematical ),

Develop problem –solving skills and strategies

18

IDENTIFYING COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS

Misconceptions/Alternative conceptions are scientifically faulty views of the world which have significant explanatory power for their holders

Misconceptions, in general are never “good ideas” to hold;

19

IDENTIFYING COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS

research indicates they can significantly interfere with learning.

Some misconceptions on topics as how disease is spread and treated, or how carbon emissions can contribute to climate change and global warming can be harmful and downright deadly.

20

COMMON SENSE CONCEPTS ABOUT MOTION:

Terms like “force”, “energy” and “power” are often used interchangeably, as are the terms “velocity” and “acceleration.

The greater mass exerts the greater force, or more frequently, heavier things fall faster

gravity increases as objects fall

21

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT ELECTRIC CIRCUITS

Current is “used up “ as it moves through a circuit;

A battery is a source of constant and unchanging current;

Current divides equally when it reaches a junction.

22

. . .COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT ELECTRIC CIRCUITS

Example: Bulb B is removed from the circuit .After it is removed, the potential difference between points 1 and 2 is:

A) 3V B) 1.5V c) Between 1.5V and 3.0V D) Between 0V and 1.5V E) 0V

23

2

1

3V

+

-

A

B

24

Virtual Simulation for the CKT mentioned above

25

USE CONCEPT/MIND MAP TO MAKE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN CONCEPTS

Concept maps are flow-chart-like or web-like diagrams that help students articulate ideas, identify and arrange key concepts, and see how ideas and concepts are connected to one another.

Connecting concepts and terms within a topic (within a chapter)

Connecting concepts between topics (across chapters

26

27

JIG-SAW-GROUPS METHODS

Let the class is divided into four groups ,with each group preparing on ‘definition of pressure’ ,’pressure due to solids’, air pressure/atmospheric pressure’ and ‘liquid pressure’. After an appropriate time, the class is regrouped with one member from each previous group. Now each student in the group can teach the rest of the group so that they can form the whole picture of the topic by connecting concepts together

28

PROBLEM SOLVING physics cannot be learned passively.

The ability to do physics comes from practice, repetition and struggling with the ideas until you ‘own’ them and can apply them yourself in new situations.

The ability to solve problems is the best proof of mastering the subject.

29

CLASSROOM DEMONSTRATIONCR demonstrations have two important purposes:

to increase student understanding of the concepts demonstrated,

and to increase student enjoyment of class. Passive observation of demonstrations does not significantly improve student understanding of the associated concepts.

30

CLASSROOM DEMO

We can make demonstrations more effective by :

asking students to predict outcomes before seeing the demonstration, thus forcing them to think about the physics and enhancing their interest in the demonstrations

discussing their predictions with one another before the demonstration, have opportunities to discover inconsistencies or weaknesses in their own thinking

31

CLASSROOM DEMO

A nice demonstration that distinguishes mass and weight is the massive ball suspended on the string, shown in Figure below

32

CLASSROOM DEMOWhy will a slow continuous increase in downward force break the string above the massive ball, but a sudden increase breaks the lower string?

33

PEER INSTRUCTION

Peer Instruction is an instructional strategy for engaging students during class through a structured questioning process that involves every student.

The goal of PI is to transform the lecture environment so that it actively engages students and focuses their attention on underlying concepts.

34

PEER INSTRUCTION

Peer Instruction (PI) is a widely-used pedagogy in which lectures are interspersed

with short conceptual questions—called ConcepTests*—designed to reveal common misunderstandings and to engage students actively in lecture courses

35

CONCEPTEST1. Question posed (1 minute )

2. Students given time to think (1-2 minutes)

3. Students record/report individual answers

4. Neighboring students discuss their answers (2-4 minutes )

5. Students record/report revised answers

6. Feedback to teacher:

7. Explanation of correct answer (2 minutes)

36

CONCEPT TEST

During the discussion, which typically lasts two to four minutes, the instructor moves around the room listening and, when necessary, asking questions to help the students in their thinking.

During the periods of silence (when the students are thinking), the instructor has a break to breathe and think. During the convince-your-neighbors discussions, the instructor can participate in some of the discussions

37

BENEFITS OF PI

Upon implementing PI it has been observed that:

increased student mastery of both conceptual reasoning and quantitative problem solving and creating a cooperative atmosphere.

38

WHAT MAKES A GOOD CONCEPTEST? 

They should be designed to:

ex-pose students’ difficulties with the material,

and to give students a chance to explore important concepts;

they should not primarily test cleverness or memory

39

BASIC CRITERIA OF CONCEPTEST

• Focus on a single important concept, ideally corresponding to a common student difficulty

• Require thought, not just plugging numbers into equations  

• Provide plausible incorrect answers

• Be unambiguously worded

• Be neither too easy nor too difficult

40

WRITING GOOD CONCEPTESTS

A good way to write questions is by looking

at

students’ exam or homework solutions from previous years to identify common misunderstandings,

by examining the literature on student difficulties.

the incorrect answer choices should reflect students’ most common misconceptions

41

WRITING GOOD CONCEPTS TESTA permanent magnet is dropped through a long aluminum tube, as shown. As the magnet drops, electric currents are induced around the tube. Compared to a freely-falling magnet, the magnet through the tube drops

1. more slowly.

2. exactly the same way.

3. faster.

4. Need more information

42

PRE-CLASS READINGAt the beginning of the class, they complete the short reading quiz shown below.

Note this quiz tests only whether or not the pre-class reading was done;

it does not test understanding of the material because doing so would penalize (and therefore discourage) the student who does the reading but is unable to master the concepts from the reading.

43

READING QUIZ

Which of these laws is not one of Newton’s?

A) To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction

B) F= ma

C) All objects fall with equal acceleration

D) In the absence of a net external force, objects at rest stay at rest and objects in uniform motion stay in uniform motion

44

CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT

Assessment is fundamentally a way of finding out the extent to which learners have acquired knowledge, skills, and attitudes.

45

46

The information can be gathered from a variety of sources :•Assignments, Tests•Observation, Oral questions •Demonstrations, projects•performances and portfolio

IMPORTANCE OF CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT

Implementing CA system at school level is useful to gather information about:

The present status of every student

The student’s motivation to participate actively in the T/L process

Student’s progress in his /her learning

Effectiveness of teaching methods

Student’s learning difficulties

47

CHARACTERISTICS OF CA

Comprehensiveness

Diagnostic

Guidance oriented

Systematic

cumulative

48

Thank you

49