- Title
- EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF AN OPTICS TEACHING MODULE IN ENHANCING CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF GRADE 11 LEARNERS AT A SELECTED SCHOOL IN MTHATHA
- Creator
- MERLIN JOHN
- Description
- This study aimed at investigating the conceptions and alternative conceptions regarding the optical phenomena ‘reflection’, ‘refraction’ and ‘total internal reflection’ amongst Grade 11 learners at a selected school in Mthatha, Eastern Cape, South Africa and developing remedies to enhance their conceptual understanding of this area. The study adopted a quasi-experimental pre-test – post-test design. To enhance the credibility of the findings of the study, the data were collected using mixed methods (both questionnaires and interviews). The questionnaires developed for the study were 4 tier Optics Diagnostic Instruments (4ODIs) which were designed in such a way that both qualitative and quantitative data could be collected. To explore the findings from the pre-tests, face-to-face interviews with selected learners from both the groups were conducted. This stage was followed by the design an optics teaching module which aimed at enhancing the experimental group learners’ conceptual understanding of the optical phenomena, whereas the comparison group was taught in the traditional teaching method. To test the effectiveness of the designed teaching module, the 4ODIs were administered as post-tests to both groups. To enhance the credibility of the findings from the post-tests, face-to-face interviews were conducted with some selected learners from the experimental group. Since the aim of the interviews at this stage was to test how the designed optics teaching module helped the experimental group learners in enhancing their conceptual understanding, the comparison group learners were not interviewed at this stage since they were taught in the traditional teaching method. The quantitative analyses were carried out using Microsoft Excel and the statistical software, IBM SPSS Version 20. The qualitative analysis was carried out manually by coding and categorizing the learners’ responses from the questionnaires and the interviews. The item analysis of the 1st tiers was carried out using Microsoft Excel. The statistical comparisons of the test scores of the 1st tiers of the tests (pre-test – post-test comparison of both the groups and the experimental group – comparison group comparison of both the pre-tests and the post-tests) were performed using t-tests (independent samples t-test and paired samples t-test). The 2nd tiers (learners’ confidence levels in their responses to the corresponding 1st tiers) and the 4th tiers (learners’ confidence levels in their responses to the corresponding 3rd tiers) were analysed by (using SPSS) calculating measures of central tendencies of their responses. The 3rd tiers (open-ended questions) and the interviews were analysed manually by coding and categorizing learners’ responses. Before the implementation of the optics teaching module, both the experimental and the comparison groups were found to hold a variety of alternative conceptions about the optical phenomena. Moreover, the performances of both the groups were the same. It was also found that the learners from both the groups were not confident when they approached the pre-tests. The qualitative analyses of the learners’ responses to the 3rd tiers and the interviews suggested that most of the correct responses given by the learners to tier-1 of the pre-test questionnaires originated from a faulty or vague understanding of the scientific concepts. Moreover, some of the incorrect responses identified could not be considered as alternative conceptions because of the very low confidence levels the learners displayed in these responses. Such responses were categorized as ‘errors due to lack of knowledge’. The analyses of the post-test questionnaires, and face-to-face interviews conducted immediately after the post-tests, revealed that the experimental group outperformed the comparison group in terms of their conceptual understanding of the optical phenomena. In other words, the number of experimental group learners who held scientifically-accepted concepts increased for some questions of the post-tests and in some other questions, the experimental group learners developed new scientific understanding of many situations with regard to the optical phenomena. To conclude, the findings of the study proved that the Grade 11 learners in the selected school held a variety of alternative conceptions and errors due to lack of knowledge. However, the optics teaching module, which was designed by taking into consideration the learners’ prior knowledge regarding the particular learning area, could remedy most of the alternative conceptions and errors which were merely due to lack of knowledge.
- Date
- 2014
- Type
- PhD Manuscript
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/11260/2065
- Identifier
- vital:40812
- Identifier
- DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
- Format
- Publisher
- DOCTOR OF EDUCATION (Science Education)
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Walter Sisulu University
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Ms. John D. Ed Thesis 2014 pdf.pdf | 12 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |