The role of practical work in senior high school physics teaching

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to find out the role of practical work in senior high school physics teaching. Action Research design was adopted. Form two, 30 science students from Ngleshie Amafro Senior High School Kasoa randomly selected were involved in the study. Five physics topics were taught over a period of four weeks. Five lessons were therefore held in which practical work was used as the main teaching strategy. Findings from the students’ practical activities and discussions made during the lessons served as data. Other observations made during the lesson also served as information. Quite apart from those, students’ responses to evaluation questions were also used as data. Findings from the study showed that the practical work enabled the students to explain the phenomena being studied or physics concepts. The practical work made the lessons interesting and as a result motivated the students to learn more. Additionally it improved upon the manipulative skills of the students while encouraging cooperative learning. Finally the practical work made the work of the teacher easy as teacher involvement was greatly reduced.