Effects of constructivist teaching strategy on students’ conceptualization of electrostatics in secondary school physics in Nakuru District, Kenya

Abstract

Physics subject is very important for scientific and technological development of any society. However, teaching of physics in our secondary schools has been found wanting. This is clearly depicted by the poor performance in the subject both at the school level and in the national examinations. Consequently, there has been low enrolment in the subject in comparison to other sciences. There is therefore a need to look for new teaching strategies that may improve the physics performance in schools. One of the modem teaching strategies that has been found to enhance learning of science concepts is the constructivist teaching strategy. This study aimed to determine the effects of the constructivist teaching strategy on students' conceptualisation of the topic Electrostatics in the Form One physics syllabus. Solomon-four-group quasi-experimental design was used. The data were collected from four purposively sampled co-educational secondary schools within Nakuru district to ensure homogeneity in characteristics. The sample size of the study comprised 140 Form One students. Teachers in the experimental groups were trained by the researcher for one week on the use of constructivist teaching strategy. Those in the control groups used the Convention Teaching Methods and were only trained in the scoring of the Physics Achievement Test. A Physics Achievement Test (PAT) on the concept Electrostatics was developed and used for data collection. The instrument was pilot-tested in a co-educational secondary school in Nakuru district to ascertain its validity and reliability. A Cronbach's reliability coefficient alpha value of 0.8889 was obtained which is above the recommended threshold value of0.70. Data were analysed using Analysis of Variance (ANOV A) and t-test. The hypotheses were tested at the significance level of alpha value of 0.05 using the computer Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 11. 5. The findings of the study indicate that the use of constructivist teaching strategy enhances conceptualisation of the topic Electrostatics in physics better than the conventional teaching methods. The findings further indicate that there is no statistical significant gender difference in conceptualisation of the topic Electrostatics in physics when constructivist teaching strategy is employed. The findings of the study may greatly help the Ministry of Education, Teachers Training Colleges and Curriculum Developers to incorporate the constructivist teaching strategy in the physics curriculum in order to improve the performance of the subject. Finally recommendations and implication of these findings have been discussed.