COMMON DIFFICULTIES FACED BY THE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE PHYSICS CLASS ROOM


ABSTRACT

    The main learning objectives emphasized in the physics curriculum not only stress the need for the students to learn and master the primary concepts of physics but also undergo intellectual development to literate the citizen. The high demands of conceptual learning require physics teachers to let go of transmission-oriented practices they need to carefully prepare lesson plans, student worksheets, assignments and assessment tasks to be able to think about and convey the subject matter in different ways. The teachers are familiar with the variety of challenges faced by students in in-depth learning of subject matter. To reflect on the findings regarding the difficulties underlying in depth During my school internship days I briefly examined the nature and causes of difficulties students face in coping with the concepts and the teacher's action to remedy them Through regular observation, practical sessions and test papers, studied the problem in  The sample taken was 32 students of 8 th standard from SNHSS, Okkal. I analysed the causes with the evidence and came up with suggestions. The same was implemented among the students and they exhibited a marked improvement.

INTRODUCTION

    Physics is taught as a compulsory subject to high school students. Most of the students who study physics at the secondary level are not satisfied with their experience of learning.Moreover,high school and secondary level students requires significant prerequisite knowledge and understanding of every basic concepts.Science is inherently linked with their  social and life experiences and thereby student's level of success in learning science is attributed to the level of motivation they bring to learning the subject. Poor understanding about the fundamental concepts has tremendous implications for the conceptual learning of numerous concepts in the temporal curriculum in physics.The conceptual hurdles students faced with learning subject-matter knowledge such as understanding the basic concepts of units, unit conversions rather are interlinked in many ways.Student's learning of subject matter  with deeper understanding may not take place in the classroom in an isolated fashion. In depth learning is closely connected with various conditions outside and inside the classrooms.This calls for synchronization and integration of efforts on the part of schools.Physics is an integral part of school curriculum.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

  • To develop scientific attitude among students to study the subject matter.
  • To identify the common difficulties faced by students in physics subject.
  • To understand about the lack of interest of students in physics.
  • To analyze the most difficult topics in physics.

DEFINING AND ANALYSING THE PROBLEM

    The 8th-standard students faced difficulty in understanding the subject matter of physics, The concept of motion and friction and allied sub-concepts form the very foundation on which the learning of the entire discipline depends. But later after observations and tests, it revealed that friction and pressure are a problematic area where students lacked the depth and breadth of understanding. They often confuse the definition of pressure with the definition of thrust. Besides students do not have the facility to experiment to verify the information and the concept. The next one was difficulty in students' poor understanding of the primary knowledge in the background of primary knowledge in the background of information of basic units and measurements. The next one is difficulty in doing physics problem-type questions. This implies that understanding concepts such as a physics equation is a multilayer and dynamic phenomenon. Various social factors, contextual cultural factors and academic factors combine to affect students' multilayered and dynamic phenomena. Various social factors, contextual cultural factors and academic factors combine to affect students' attitudes, their ability to engage in science learning and achievement. The main goal of this study is to emphasize students about the physics curriculum and the need for students to learn and master the primary concepts of physics.

METHODOLOGY

    The study mainly focuses about the common conceptual difficulties students faced in learning subject matter in physics classrooms in high school. Classroom observations helped to document the activities and processes about student's difficulty in concepts and tracher's pedagogical move to remedy these difficulties.Students were not able to follow some difficult topics in chemistry with a short interval of time.They faced difficulty to apply the studied concept in real life applications and their lack of interest in learning physics.The main reason for this difficulties is that they are not getting practiacal sessions.Through regular observations,practical sessions and test papers,the problem was studied in details.

RESULTS

The study reveals the following results:

    Student's tensions and difficulties were manifested by the close observations of the following situations in the classroom:when the teacher introduced a new concept in a lesson involving more advanced level information pertaining to the subject matter under the considerations,students recalling factual considerations,students recalling factual information instead of describing the ideas,information or meaning in their owwn words;student's inability to linking ideas or making connections;students not offering explanation in support of their viewpoint and students not asking questions.The students who were not reluctant to raise their hands and might have difficulty in recalling the information.

    considerations, students recalling factual information instead of describing the ideas,These various facts explain the complexity of the situation teachers are faced with in dealing with the situation such as assessing students prior knowledge of the subject matter,catering to or dealing with the individuals level of understanding or learning needs and thereby achieving uniformity in student's level of understanding or learning needs by understanding the concepts.

SUGGESTIONS

  • Encourage discovery learning
  • Use models and audio visual aids
  • Use more interesting and innovative methods of teaching.
  • Provide remedial teaching.
  • Provide different situations to students to interpret the concepts.
  • Provide activities for students to understand more about force,pressure,friction and motion.

CONCLUSION

    The main learning objectives emphasized in the physics curriculum not only stress the need for students to learn and master primary concepts of physics but also to undergo intellectual development as scientifically liberate citizen.These objectives can oly be if students gain conceptual understanding in science knowledge.Not a single factor contributes to conceptual learning but it occurs within a million in turn as a result of interplay of muliple factors ranging from curriculum to teachers ability to stuctural and human resources.Efforts toward promoting conceptual learning in science class room and development of students cognitive skills need to be informed by the knowledge and understanding contributed by differentgenre of research such as a cognitive psychology,social psychology and attitudinal and intervention- based research. It is now well established that what an individual learns is as result of the learner's actively relating what is already known to what is being taught or explained.

REFERENCE

  1. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/215824401244729
  2. www.blogger.com
  3. Action research

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