The effect of using animations on pre-service science teachers’ science achievement

AbstractIn this study, the effect of animation technique on the learning of properties of electromagnetic waves (EMWs) for pre-service science teachers has been investigated. The research has been carried out for two weeks on 2nd grade pre-service science teachers. This study has been carried out with experimental and control groups consisted of 70 students in total. 35 students were randomly assigned to experimental group and control group respectively. The achievement test was given to both groups before and after the treatment. Significant difference has been found between the experimental group and control group (p<0,05)

Fizik öğretmenlerinin ortaöğretim fizik dersi öğretim programına ilişkin inançları :çoklu durum çalışması.

The purpose of this study was to investigate four in-service physics teachers’ beliefs related to Turkish High School Physics Curriculum (THSPC) and to what extent these beliefs are reflected in their instructional practices. Data were collected through interviews, classroom observations and an open-ended questionnaire. Teachers’ responses to interview questions showed that they believed that teaching physics according to the THSPC helped students use their skills, become interested in physics lessons, relate physics to their daily life and have a permanent knowledge. Besides, teachers believe that they can teach physics according to the THSPC generally by giving examples from daily life and creating a discussion environment. The data obtained from classroom observations showed that the beliefs of teachers about how to teach physics according to the THSPC were reflected in their instructional practices. Teachers’ responses to open-ended questionnaire showed that teachers believed the necessity of attainment of majority of the skill objectives in the THSPC by students. However, they do not consider that students can attain many of the problem solving and information and communication skills. The data obtained from classroom observations showed that they seldom attempted to help students attain them or they never attempted. The data gathered from interviews and an open questionnaire showed that there were some factors that influence teachers’ instructional practices according to the THSPC. For example, they believe that students’ interest in physics lessons and teacher’s opportunity to give more examples about daily life made their teaching physics according to the THSPC easy. However, they believe that university entrance exam, inadequacy of laboratory environment and lesson hours, students’ low economic status and lack of information and communication technologies affected their teaching physics according to the THSPC negatively.Ph.D. - Doctoral Progra

Physics Teachers’ Behavioral Control and Normative Beliefs about Teaching Physics According to the National High School Physics Curriculum in Turkey

In Turkey, a new Turkish High School Physics Curriculum (THSPC) was put into practice, starting initially with the Grade 9 in the2008-2009 education-year. When compared with the previous ones, this curriculum emphasized the importance of students’ active involvement in learning, use of real-life contexts and development of new skills. Even though what is intended with the new curriculum reflects the global trends in science/physics education, its success (or failure thereof) depends a great deal on teachers since they are the main actors to put the curriculum into practice. Whether teachers can implement the curriculum as intended by the curriculum developers remains an important question. A teacher’s belief is an important factor, among others, that affects his/her implementation of the THSPC. In this regard, the aim of this study was to investigate physics teachers’ beliefs relatedto the teaching of physics according to the THSPC. Four physics teachers from different schools participated in this study. Data were collected through interviews, classroom observations and an open-ended questionnaire. According to our findings, physics teachers believed that teaching physics based on the THSPC helped studentsuse their skills, become more interested in physics lessons, relate physics to their daily life and understand physics better. However, teachers believed that factors such as students’ interest in physics, the university entrance exam, inadequate laboratory facilities, limited lesson hours per week, and lack of information and communication technologies affected the implementation of the THSPC. For more effective implementation of the THSPC, making some changes in the curriculum should be necessary

Physics Teachers’ Beliefs about the Attainment of Skill Objectives and the Extent of These Beliefs’ Reflection on Teachers’ Instructional Practices

Turkish Ministry of National Education has made important changes in both primary and secondary school curricula in the last decade. The Turkish High School Physics Curriculum (THSPC) after these changes was put into practice first in 2008- 2009 education year. Apart from being the first written curriculum with written objectives, this curriculum also contained— differently from other previous physics curricula—skill objectives. This included objectives related to problem solving skills (PSS) and information and communication skills (ICS) and physics-technology-society-environment objectives (PTSEO). No matter how well-prepared a curriculum for a subject is, whether it is implemented effectively depends on the teachers. One of the factors affecting proper implementation of curricula is teachers’ beliefs about the curricula as a whole and its constituent elements. Since the curriculum is relatively new, teachers’ beliefs and how these beliefs are reflected in their instructional practices are not yet known. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate physics teachers’ beliefs about the attainment of PSS, PTSEO and ICS and the extent these beliefs were reflected in teachers’ instructional practices. Data were collected by administering an open-ended questionnaire to four in-service physics teachers and observing their instructional practices in the ‘nature of physics’ and ‘energy’ units. The results of this study showed that although physics teachers believed that majority of the skill objectives of the THSPC should be attained, they did not teach physics by taking these skill objectives into consideration. The physics teachers inclined more to help students attain PTSEO when compared with PSS and IC

A multiple case study: Turkish physics teachers’ teaching beliefs related to national high school physics curriculum

In the present Turkish High School Physics Curriculum (THSPC), it was explicitly stated that physics teachers should use various teaching methods and techniques such as 5E, 7E, cooperative learning, inquiry-based learning, and problem solving in their instructional practices. Although the use of multiple methods and techniques has been suggested by the national physics curriculum, it is probable that teachers do not teach by using various instructional methods and techniques. Some factors, especially their beliefs about how to teach physics according to the THSPC, can affect their use of various teaching methods and techniques. Identifying teachers’ teaching beliefs related to the THSPC and investigating the reflection of these beliefs in their instructional practices can contribute to effective implementation of the THSPC. In this regard, the purpose of this study was to identify physics teachers’ beliefs about how to teach physics according to the THSPC and to investigate the extent of reflection of these beliefs in their teaching. Four teachers from different schools participated in this study. Data was collected through interviews, open-ended questionnaire and classroom observations. According to the data results, all physics teachers believed that they could teach physics according to the THSPC by giving examples from daily life, and creating a discussion environment. In addition, the classroom observations showed that they generally used these two teaching techniques in their instructional practices