Basic Teaching Methods in Physics and Social Science Classroom

1. Basic Teaching Methods in Physics and Social Science Classroom Reality and upper secondary school students’ expectations Jari Lavonen1, Carl Angel2, Reijo Byman1, Ellen Henriksen2 and Ismo Koponen1 1University of Helsinki, Finland, 2University of Oslo, Norway

2. What might affect on motivation to study science? • Typically, answers are searched by investigating pupils’ interests or attitudes to • 1 science (or domains of science) generally, • 2 to school science subjects, • 3 to studying science subjects or teaching methods used • (Woolnough, 1994, Hoffman, 2002) E S E R A 2003

3. E. L. Deci & R. M. Ryan: According to Motivaation theory … • Students will learn if they are interested to learn (topic and teaching method) • continuum: external motivation – intrinsic m. (≈ interest) • It is possible to have an influence on students’ motivation for example by:- wake up students curiosity (topic and method)- support students’ feeling of autonomy • There are several attributes that have an influence on students motivation: genre, workload, easiness, … E S E R A 2003

4. Research questions The purpose of the study was to determine 1. What is the students’ (physics as their specialisation subject) opinion about how often different teaching methods (categorised by the nature of social interaction) are used and should be used in physics classroom? 2. What kind of background variables (gender, nationality, student orientation to physics or social sciences and subject easiness, interestingness, …) explain how the students wish to study the subject they have selected as their specialisation subject? E S E R A 2003

5. Method and sample • In Norway a paper questionnaires and in Finland a web based questionnaire were used. • A letter was send to headmasters of all upper secondary schools and they were asked to organise a survey at the second year of upper secondary school for 10 students in beginning of alphabetical list. • Altogether 1349 response in Finland and 1487 in Norway were received E S E R A 2003

6. Teaching method • “Teaching method” (Joyce and Weil 1996: 7) • is a ‘synonym’ to learning or instructional method, model, strategy or classroom practice, • help students to acquire new concepts, ways of thinking, behaving, … and skills. • include goal orientation and emphasise social interaction E S E R A 2003

7. Teaching methods … • can be classified from the point of view of social interaction: teacher leading – small group – individual working • are discussed during teacher education from several point of view : goals and teaching methodsmotivation and teaching methods -> why to use versatile teaching methods? E S E R A 2003

8. Norway, now Finland, now 2= 52.5*** 2= 17.2** 2= 14.4** How often teaching methods are used now in physics Teacher presents new materialon the blackboard Teacher presents problems Work on problems/tasks individually Teacher leads discussion Teacher uses students' ideas Work on problems in small groups Project work in small groups Discuss problems in small groups 0 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 % 100 % (nFIN = 398, nNOR = 173) sometimes never rarely often daily E S E R A 2003

9. Finland, wish Finland, now Z = -3.8** Z = -2.9** Z = 9.2*’* Z = 9.9*’* Z = 9.7*’* Z = 5.8*’* Z = 11.9*’* How often teaching methods should be used in physics (FIN) Teacher presents new materialon the blackboard Teacher presents problems Work on problems/tasks individually Teacher leads discussion Teacher uses students' ideas Work on problems in small groups Project work in small groups Discuss problems in small groups 0 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 % 100 % (nFIN = 398) sometimes never rarely often daily E S E R A 2003

10. Norway, now Norway, wish Z = -3.5** Z = -3.1** Z = 6.7*’* Z = 8.7*’* Z = 7.8*’* Z = 7.5**’* Z = 9.5*’* How often teaching methods should be used in physics (N) Teacher presents new materialon the blackboard Teacher presents problems Work on problems/tasks individually Teacher leads discussion Teacher uses students' ideas Work on problems in small groups Project work in small groups Discuss problems in small groups 0 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 % 100 % (nNOR = 173) sometimes never rarely often daily E S E R A 2003

11. How it is Wish (social sci) How it is in Phys Teaching methods in Social Science (N & FIN) Teacher presents new materialon the blackboard Teacher presents examples/problems Work on problems/tasks individually Teacher leads discussion Teacher uses students' ideas Work on tasks in small groups Project work in small groups Discuss tasks in small groups 0 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 % 100 % (nSos.Sci = 629) sometimes never rarely often daily E S E R A 2003

12. 1 2 3 4 F1: Studying in small groups F1I1: W ork with problems/tasks in small groups . 774 Promax with Kaiser Normalization -Rotated factor loading matrix for Maximum Likelihood Factoring calculated for items measuring students' (n = 1216) opinions about how they wish to study during their lessons in Physics or Social sciences. F1I2: D iscuss about difficult concepts in small group .198 .624 F1I3: H ave project work in small groups - .105 .614 F2: Teacher presentation F2I1: A teacher present /solve problems .66 8 F2I2: A teacher present new material - .107 .144 .3 62 F3: Teach er leading discussion F3I1: A teacher leads discussion about concepts .677 F4: Individual studying F4I1: W ork with problems/tasks individually .5 13 Groupping teaching methods by factor analysis Component loadings % of total variance 21.9 9.2 6.1 2. 7 E S E R A 2003

13. Physics Social science Background variables Subject workload (1=small) Quality of instruction (1=poor) Subject interestingness (1=uninteresting) Subject easiness (1=very easy) 0 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 % 100 % (nPhys = 570, nSos.Sci = 629) 1 2 3 4 5 E S E R A 2003

14. Variables explaining how students wish to study Studying in Teacher Teacher Individual small groups presentation leading studying discussion 1) 1) 1) 1) b b b b t t t t Specialisation subject .31 0 9. 6 *** - .31 8 - 9. 7 *** .3 17 9.6*** - .2 81 - 8.4 *** (1 =phys, 2 =soc.sc.) ns Nationality - .11 4 - 3,. 7 .1 18 3.9*** .05 5 1. 8 .06 5 2. 1 * *** ( 1=Norwegian, 2=Finnish) ns ns ns Subject interestingness - .00 6 - . 18 .02 2 . 61 .11 1 3. 0 ** .0 17 . 46 (1=uninterestin g) ns ns ns Student sex (1=girl, 2=boy) - .03 2 - 1.1 - .037 - 1.2 - .038 - 1.2 - .09 5 - 3.0** ns ns ns Quality of instruction (1= poor) - .07 5 - 2.5* - .00 4 - . 13 .02 1 .7 0 - .01 3 - . 41 ns ns ns 0 74 Workload of the subject .02 8 . 9 7 . 2. 6* * - .01 1 - . 38 .0 30 1.0 (1= small) ns ns ns ns Subject easiness (1= difficult) - . 0 25 - . 82 - .0 35 - 1.2 - .0 41 - 1. 3 - .0 2 5 - . 79 R .37 .35 .3 1 .27 2 R .14 .12 .10 .07 F 2 7.3 *** 2 3.7 *** 1 9 . 5 *** 1 3 . 2 *** ns p > 0,05, * p < 0,05, ** p < 0,01, *** p < 0,001 1) E S E R A 2003

15. Conclusions and Implications 1 • It is typical that in Physics teacher present new material or solve problems on the blackboard. This is also students’ wish. • The students would like to discuss more about concepts and problems as well as work with them in small groups. The teacher should support autonomy! • The differences between Finnish and Norwegian students are dealing with how students work with problems: in Finland teacher should present or solve problems - in Norway the students like to work individually E S E R A 2003

16. Conclusions and Implications 2 • Student gender as well as other predictors,exceptnationality and subject of specialisation, explain only littleabout students wishes how they like to study their specialisation subject. • The students preferred more versatile teaching methods than it is in present used and, therefore, the teacher should also think about models when (s)he plan instruction E S E R A 2003

17. Thank you!