[1] Computers in physics education
We start with an exposition of the situation of the physics education community at the beginning of the 21st century. We revise the findings of physics education research and then make a short survey of the different possible uses of computers in education as well as point out what are the best practices in classroom and present some outstanding experiences and uses.
[2] Computational Physics: A Better Model for Physics Education?
Computational physics provides a broader, more balanced, and more flexible education than a traditional physics major. Moreover, presenting physics within a scientific problem-solving paradigm is a more effective and efficient way to teach physics than the traditional approach.
[3] Resource Letter: PER-1: Physics Education Research
The purpose of this Resource Letter is to provide an overview of research on the learning and teaching of physics. The references have been selected to meet the needs of two groups of physicists engaged in physics education. The first is the growing number whose field of scholarly inquiry is (or might become) physics education research. The second is the much larger community of physics instructors whose primary interest is in using the results from research as a guide for improving instruction.
[4] Computer Assisted Teaching and Learning (CATL) to Improve Academic Achievement and Skill in Physics Education
Computer assisted learning (CAL) has been implemented in schools to improve the quality of education. However, the application of CAL without the assistant of teachers is unsatisfactory. This study introduces computer assisted teaching and learning (CATL) with the teacher’s assistance. A test which involved 34 students and 12 observational learning activities for physics learning session at 2 junior high schools in Aceh province Indonesia was conducted. On average, students scored 74.79 when learning physics using CATL, compared to using CAL which scored only 71.23. Teachers’ assistance in CATL can provide a meaningful impact on improving academic learning achievements. Based on interviews, 8 students noted that CATL is better, easier, and more fun. 87.5% of students and 100% of interviewed teachers want CATL to be applied in the physics subject. Thus CATL can improve skills and academic achievements in teaching and learning physics.
[5] Mastery Learning Strategy and Learning Retention: Effects on Senior Secondary School Students’ Achievement in Physical Geography in Ganye Educational Zone, Nigeria
Background: In Ganye Educational Zone, it was observed that the performance of secondary school students in Geography examinations is continually on the decline. Studies have it that the instructional strategies adopted by teachers could influence students’ achievement. The need to alleviate the difficulties of abstraction and improve students’ achievement in Physical Geography informed this research.
Aim: The study investigated the Effects of Mastery Learning Strategy and Learning Retention on Senior Secondary School Students’ Achievement in Physical Geography in Ganye Educational Zone, Nigeria.
Methods: The study adopted the quasi-experimental non-equivalent pre-test, post test control group design. The multi-stage sampling technique at four levels was used to select four co-educational secondary schools in Ganye Educational Zone in Nigeria. The sample for the study was 218 Senior Secondary School two (SS II) students offering Geography from four intact classes in the four selected secondary schools. The instrument used for data collection was “Physical Geography Achievement and Retention Test” (PGART). The instrument was scrutinized and validated by experts in Geography Education. The reliability of the instrument was established using Kendall tau b statistic. This gave a reliability index of 0.74. Data collected were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U and t-Test statistics.
Results: The results showed that Mastery Learning Strategy has the potential to improve students’ learning retention and achievement in all spheres of cognitive domain in Physical Geography better than the Conventional Method.
Conclusion: Since Mastery Learning Strategy was found efficacious in engendering students’ learning outcomes, it was recommended that Geography teachers should incorporate this teaching strategy during instruction so that learners would be guided to learn meaningfully and be assisted to retain content learnt in Geography.
Reference
[1] Esquembre, F., 2002. Computers in physics education. Computer physics communications, 147(1-2), pp.13-18.
[2] Landau, R., 2006. Computational physics: A better model for physics education?. Computing in science & engineering, 8(5), pp.22-30.
[3] McDermott, L.C. and Redish, E.F., 1999. Resource letter: PER-1: Physics education research. American journal of physics, 67(9), pp.755-767.
[4] Alibasyah, M. and Husin, A., 2016. Computer Assisted Teaching and Learning (CATL) to Improve Academic Achievement and Skill in Physics Education. Advances in Research, pp.1-5.
[5] Filgona, J., Filgona, J. and Sababa, L.K., 2017. Mastery learning strategy and learning retention: effects on senior secondary school students’ achievement in physical geography in Ganye educational zone, Nigeria. Asian Research Journal of Arts & Social Sciences, pp.1-14.
