Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemUsing computer animations to promote student understanding of physics in Singapore classrooms( 2005)In physics, students are required to learn processes that change over time, for example how a manometer responds to changing pressure and how an electric motor works. Students usually find it difficult to understand the complexities of the change involved in such processes when they are described verbally or numerically. To overcome this difficulty, computer animations have been used to present the complexities of the changes taking place visually. However, research has shown that computer animations might not be as effective as they were intended to be. This study aims to look at both the effectiveness and the limitations of computer animations in promoting the understanding of physics concepts in a Singaporean grade 9 physics class. The study adopted a naturalistic approach and focused on finding meaning from the students' perspective. Qualitative data was collected through lesson observations, student reflections about their learning experiences, student and teacher interviews and a student survey. It appears that the limitations of animations arise from a lack of consideration of how students learn. Students need to learn through social interaction and animations might not be able to provide the social interaction and motivation that students need. The study also revealed that computers could not replace classroom teachers as teachers still play a vital role in meeting the students' learning needs. Students need to interact socially with their teachers. They also need teachers to explain concepts in ways that make sense to them, monitor their learning and to motivate them to learn. It is also suggested that a teacher-controlled approach to using computer animations could be effective.
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ItemComputer aided learning for the physics laboratory( 1985)Computer Aided Learning (CAL) can be described as a process by which an infinitely patient machine can (i) deliver material to a student using a variety of methods and media, (ii) interact with the student by accepting responses from the keyboard, and (iii) control a student's progress through a lesson by analysing the responses, then branching to new or repeated parts of the lesson. This thesis reviews some aspects of developing and evaluating such a CAL package. After considering a variety of approaches to the production of CAL adopted by different authors, the study considers in some detail those design rules thought to be pertinent to the development of an effective CAL program. Next the thesis proposes an hypothesis about a particular set of CAL programs, then describes an empirical study in which the hypothesis was tested using three computer aided lessons. These lessons were designed to teach students some of the physical concepts involved in a common physics experiment, and emphasis was placed on using computer simulations to present precisely the phenomenon which students would encounter in a real laboratory situation. Student interaction took the form of (i) using a ruler to measure features of the computer generated data, and (ii) using the keyboard to respond to questions, thereby progressing through the lesson. Small groups of students from local High schools participated in a pilot program, then later in a main study. Data from these experiments were then analysed in accordance with standard procedures. An attempt was made to identify and describe the experimental variables, and to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of this particular computer aided learning process. Readers should appreciate that the scope of the study was restricted and, as a result, the statistical interpretations are only indicative of a small scale empirical study. Readers should also appreciate that design rules proposed in the thesis are continually under review, particularly as new facilities (such as interactive video disk or tape) are introduced as part of the CAL process. The author was encouraged by several observed outcomes of the project, including positive student attitudes to the CAL technique, as well as indications of improved student understanding of the concepts being taught. Computer programs used in the study were simple and somewhat unsophisticated in comparison with more recently produced commercial software. Finally the thesis suggests that in the future CAL will become more prominent in the school and college curriculum. New techniques, particularly those involving interactive video, will have a major impact on the style of presenting material to students, resulting in effective individulized tuition.
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ItemDialogical and collaborative learning in Vietnamese culture: an approach to teaching introductory physics courses( 2001)One of the priorities of the current wide ranging reform in higher education in Vietnam is to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in all subjects. This study describes and investigates the experience afforded by a social interactionist learning model in the author's teaching of a theoretical introductory physics course at a university in Vietnam. This model emphasises the cultural significance of dialogue and collaboration amongst students through group work. The model seeks to reconcile individual and social learning for developing students' physics cognitive and social skills. Students of four introductory physics classes of The University of Fisheries, Vietnam participated in this study. Both quantitative and qualitative techniques were used to collect and analyse the data on the cognitive and situated learning of the students. Aspects of Western and Vietnamese culture were attended to in the interpretation of the students' written responses and the researcher's observations. Findings from the study generally supported the greater attention given to the dialogical and collaborative learning environment in class, through the use of peer-based seminars and demonstrations in physics teaching in Vietnam. Physics seminars and demonstrations were employed in the student-based and highly interactive forms and they were positively accepted by students of the introductory physics classes. Student support and interest in the teaching approaches was attributed to the cultural and social resonance of "collaborative learning" and the relational identity of Vietnamese students. The dialogical and collaborative teaching approach developed in this study and the findings contribute to the teaching of introductory physics courses in Vietnamese universities and a better understanding of Vietnamese learners.
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ItemForm 4 attitudes to science and the choice of a science and in particular physics in Form 5( 1976)Although the more recent curriculum writers have stressed the importance of affective outcomes in science education, students who study physics come to enjoy it less. Also, the proportional and absolute enrolments in physics have continued to decline. A review of the research literature suggested that attitudes to science are a factor in the choice of science and physics study. Attitudes to the science oriented concepts science and physics, scientists, science career and science teacher are pervasively unfavourable. Furthermore, student perceptions of science and physics suggested that the physical sciences were avoided because of certain inherent characteristics (physical science traits) and the absence of humanitarian, social and freedom connotations (non-science traits). Several research studies implicitly supported the hypothesis that favourable attitudes to science oriented concepts and physical science traits were associated with a science study preference whilst favourable attitudes to non-science traits were associated with a non-science study preference. The purpose of the present study was to explicitly examine the assertion that form 4 student attitudes to the above three classes of concepts were associated with the preference to pursue a form 5 science subject and in particular physics. Two identical sets of research hypotheses were formulated for the preference to pursue Science versus No Science and Physics versus No Physics. A questionnaire was administered to 385 form 4 Victorian secondary students in August 1974. The questionnaire elicited student responses to twenty two concepts using a form of\the semantic differential (Osgood, Suci & Tannenbaum, 1957) and their form 5 study preferences. Student attitudes were determined using the D (distance) statistic for profile congruence (Osgood, Suci & Tannenbaum, 1957) using the marker concepts Things I Like and Things I Dislike. The DLike and DDislike concept profiles were separately subjected to a multivariate analysis of variance procedure (Clyde, Cramer & Sherin, 1966) with Expressed Preference for Form 5 Study and Sex as the independent variables. Within the former independent variable, there were two orthogonal contrasts. These were Science versus No Science and Science (Physics) versus Science (No Physics). The two contrasts were necessarily taken together for the set of Physics versus No Physics research hypotheses. In general, the results based on the DLike profiles supported the assertions that student attitudes to science oriented concepts and physical science traits were associated with the preference for a future science subject and in particular physics. However, student attitudes to non-science traits were not associated with the preference to avoid science and physics. The results based on the DDislike profiles were consistent but less pervasive than the DLike profile data. The substantial disparity in the number of significant findings for the DLike and DDislike profile data further suggested that subject choices are made on the basis of "likes" rather than "dislikes". The overall findings of the research investigation presented a tentative picture of subject choice. Prospective science science and in particular physics students have an affinity for ("likes") and their non-science counter-parts an indifference to (rather than "dislikes") science in general and the nature of the physical science curriculum. Furthermore, since such preference groups did not differ in their attitudes to non-science traits, it may be argued that prospective non-science students are indifferent to their actual subject choices. However, this argument could not be overstated. The implications of the research investigation are that attitudes to science (in general) and the nature of the physical science are an important factor in a future choice of science and in particular physics. If future physical science enrolments are to increase, then the attitudes of those students who avoid science and physics must be nurtured. This may be effected through incorporating additional dimensions into the physical science curriculum and the consideration of teacher behaviour on student attitudes to science.
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ItemA comparison of the educational set of students in two introductory physics courses( 1972)The P.S.S.C. physics course and a traditional physics course taught in Tasmania were examined for differences in aims that might lead to differences in the educational set developed in students taking the two courses. A six-category model of educational set in physics involving recall of specifics, practical applications, mathematical generalizations, verbal generalizations, constructive criticism and destructive criticism was developed and a 24 item test instrument (Test E.S. (Physics)) constructed, subsequent to two different trials. Test E.S. (Physics), the Educational Set Scale of Siegal and Siegal and tests AL and AQ were administered to a sample of 389 students made up as follows:- Form IV - 97 in Tasmania and 58 in Victoria Form V - 49 in Tasmania and 82 in Victoria Form VI - 51 in Tasmania and 50 in Victoria Classes from two schools were included in each sub-sample. AL plus AQ was used as the covariate and the appropriate corrections were made before the technique of planned comparisons was used in a variety of within-state and between-state comparisons. The only significant between-state difference detected was in the categories of mathematical generalization. Within each state the comparison between Form IV students and students in later years resulted in significant differences in all comparison except for category 1 (specific facts). A number of correlations were investigated without any clear pattern emerging although category 3 (mathematical generalizations) was involved in several significant correlations. An off-shoot of the major study lead to the development of an Education Set Test based on Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. The administration of the test gave results consistent with the order between categories suggested by the Bloom model. The major finding of the study was that both physics courses probably produced significant changes in students' educational set but these changes did not seem to be consistent with the differences between their aims.