Isaac Buabeng

This study investigated New Zealand (NZ) physics teachers’ and physics educators’ views about their Initial Teacher Education (ITE). Specifically, the study explored how well the ITE prepared physics teachers for classroom practice and to become effective teachers. The study employed mixed methods to answer the questions that were formulated to guide the study. The perspectives of the physics teacher educators and physics teachers nationally indicated that the teachers considered themselves not well-prepared in some content areas including electronics, modern physics, and atomic and nuclear physics. A significant difference in perspective also existed between teachers who were educated in NZ and those gaining initial teaching qualifications from overseas. The findings from the study suggested that the non-education degree which provided the teachers most of their content knowledge was perhaps inadequate for a teaching career. The implications for ITE of physics teachers are discussed in the paper.

This study sought insight into the professional learning and development needs of physics teachers in New Zealand high schools. It used a mixed methods approach that comprised a national survey of high-school physics teachers as well as interviews with high-school physics teachers and physics teacher educators. Data from the teacher survey were analysed using descriptive statistical methods. Audio recordings from interviews were transcribed, analysed and used to triangulate and add depth to the survey data. Findings indicated that physics teachers were dissatisfied with the lack of formal physics-focussed professional development opportunities available to support their professional growth. Instead, teachers tended to rely on personal critical inquiry and infrequent practitioner meetings to inform practice. Suggestions for how to support the professional development needs of physics teachers better are discussed.

This study investigated the interactions that occurred as part of the learning from a national survey of high school physics teachers in New Zealand (NZ) in relation to decile ranking. Specifically, the study investigated how often particular teaching strategies and practices such as: teaching approaches, teacher feedback and guidance, and ICT usage, occurred during physics teaching. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistical and inferential statistics – MANOVA. Among other things, the study revealed that learners were not exposed to the teaching methods that potentially give them the chance to observe, engage and/or discover expert strategies in context. There was a lack of use of problem-based or inquiry learning models for learning. However, there was no significant difference between teaching in the various decile rankings. The implications of the findings are discussed.

This paper explores New Zealand (NZ) physics teachers’ and physics educators’ views about Initial Teacher Education (ITE). Perspectives of physics teachers nationally indicated that in general, teachers considered themselves not well-prepared in some content areas including electronics, modern physics, and atomic and nuclear physics. This may be because in NZ, physics teachers have usually gained their content knowledge from an undergraduate science degree where they may have only taken one or two courses in physics. One year postgraduate teacher education programmes do not have sufficient time to cover the physics content taught in the final three years of schooling. The implications for ITE of physics teachers are discussed in terms of the shifts needed to help them to identify the gaps in their content knowledge and to develop their conceptual understanding of physics.

This paper explores New Zealand (NZ) physics teachers’ and physics educators’ views about Initial Teacher Education (ITE). Perspectives of physics teachers nationally indicated that in general, teachers considered themselves not well-prepared in some content areas including electronics, modern physics, and atomic and nuclear physics. This may be because in NZ, physics teachers have usually gained their content knowledge from an undergraduate science degree where they may have only taken one or two courses in physics. One year postgraduate teacher education programmes do not have sufficient time to cover the physics content taught in the final three years of schooling. The implications for ITE of physics teachers are discussed in terms of the shifts needed to help them to identify the gaps in their content knowledge and to develop their conceptual understanding of physics.

This study sought to examine the activities that go on in physics classrooms in Senior High Schools in Ghana.Specifically, the study sought to investigate the pattern of interaction and instructional methods used for teachingphysics and level of coverage of physics syllabus. The survey design was employed for the study in whichquestionnaire was used for data collection. Participants for the study were physics teachers and final year physicsstudents. Findings from the study suggest that classroom interaction seemed to be mostly teacher-centered andtended not to support inquiry-based teaching and learning which is noted for promoting conceptual change andenhance performance. It is recommended among other things that physics teachers should be exposed to efficientpedagogies of teaching and presenting information to learners. The traditional way of teaching where teacher decideson what goes on in the classroom has a limited space in the 21st century science classrooms, particularly physics.

This paper reviews Ghana’s performance in the TIMSS 2011 survey in comparison with other African and some highperforming countries which participated in the TIMSS assessment. Students’ achievement in the science contentareas assessed were summarized and teacher preparation constructs of teachers of the students who took part in theassessment explored with the aim of finding any possible linkage between teacher preparation and studentsachievement. Two set of reviews were done. First, results on the eighth grade (JHS 2) science content achievement inbiology, chemistry, physics, and earth science for Ghana, Morocco and Tunisia were compared. The second reviewcompared how Ghana prepares her teachers to Finland and Singapore who were among the first five performingcountries on the TIMSS 2011 assessment. Some mismatch was identified in terms of teacher preparation andstudents’ achievement in the case of Ghana. Ghanaian teachers scored relatively high on most of the constructs thatwere measured by the TIMSS report under teacher preparation but these were not reflected in the students’achievement. In view of this, it is recommended that other indicators such as classroom instruction, resources forteaching science, and school climate are investigated with the aim of finding any other underlying factors that couldaccount for the mismatch between Ghanaian students’ achievement on the TIMSS science assessment and teachers’preparation.

This paper describes a qualitative study of how to improve females’ involvement in the learning of physics at the tertiary level. The study was conducted at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) and some select Senior High Schools (SHS) in the Cape Coast Metropolis, Ghana. Participants for the study were undergraduate female non-physics students, undergraduate female physics students, SHS final year female science students and physics lecturers and tutors. The study found that majority of female students do not pursue physics at higher levels of education because they perceived the subject as difficult, irrelevant, and one that has no or limited career opportunities. The participants, however, were optimistic that female participation in physics can be improved if necessary steps were taken to erase the widely held perceptions that have been associated with the study of the subject and its related career opportunities.

The study of females‘ interest in physics is an issue of international concern. Of the sciences, physics is the subject in which the increase in the number of females involved has been particularly low. The term 'interest' may usually refers to preference to engage in some types of activities rather than others. This study investigated whether Ghanaian Senior High School female science students would prefer to study physics at the university or not and the reasons for their choice. Two hundred and one final year female students in four Senior High Schools offering biology, chemistry and physics in the Cape Coast Metropolis of the Central Region of Ghana, participated in the study. Data was obtained with Questionnaire on Female Participation in Physics and Interview Protocol, administered to the female students. The findings from the study suggest that female students do not prefer physics as a course of study at the university level due to limited career opportunities in the subject. An implication from this study is that female enrolment in physics will not improve unless information about career awareness in the subject is made available to students. Serious efforts must be made by physics educators as well as Physics Departments to create awareness of career opportunities in the study of physics.

This study was aimed at finding out the impact audio-visual-aided instruction on students’ achievement in physics at Cape Coast township of Cape Coast Metropolis, Ghana. The study was a non-randomized pre-test/post-test group design. A total of 65 students in Senior High School (SHS) formed the sample for the study. The students were fourth year science students from two purposefully selected co-educational SHS. The two selected schools were randomly designated experimental and control groups respectively. A validated physics achievement test instrument of a reliability coefficient of 0.76 was administered. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and t-test statistics were used to test the two hypotheses formulated to guide the study at a significance level 0.05. The results showed that SHS students taught with audio-visual aided instruction performed better than those taught with traditional method. The mean achievement scores of both male and female students improved significantly by the use of the audio-visual aided instruction. It was therefore recommended that SHS physics teachers should explore the use of audio-visual-aided instruction to teach the subject, physics.