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Basic Teaching Methods in Basic Teaching Methods in Physics and Social Science Physics and Social Science ClassroomClassroom

Jari Lavonen1, Carl Angel2, Reijo Byman1, Ellen Henriksen2 and Ismo Koponen1 1University of Helsinki, Finland, 2University of Oslo, Norway

Reality and upper secondary school students’ expectations

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What might affect on motivation What might affect on motivation to study science?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)

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E. L. Deci & R. M. RyanE. L. Deci & R. M. Ryan: : According to Motivaation theory …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, …

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Research questionsResearch questions

The purpose of the study was to determine1. 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?

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Method and sampleMethod 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

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Teaching methodTeaching 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

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Teaching methods …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?

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How often teaching methods How often teaching methods are used are used nownow in physics in physics

0 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 % 100 %

Discuss problems in small groups

Project work in small groups

Work on problems in small groups

Teacher uses students' ideas

Teacher leads discussion

Work on problems/tasks individually

Teacher presents problems

Teacher presents new materialon the blackboard

never rarely sometimes often daily

Finland, now Norway, now

2= 17.2**

2= 52.5***

2= 14.4**

(nFIN = 398, nNOR = 173)

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How often teaching methods How often teaching methods should beshould be used in physics used in physics (FIN)(FIN)

0 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 % 100 %

Discuss problems in small groups

Project work in small groups

Work on problems in small groups

Teacher uses students' ideas

Teacher leads discussion

Work on problems/tasks individually

Teacher presents problems

Teacher presents new materialon the blackboard

never rarely sometimes often daily

Finland, now

(nFIN = 398)

Finland, wish

Z = 9.2*’*

Z = -3.8**

Z = 9.9*’*

Z = -2.9**

Z = 9.7*’*

Z = 11.9*’* Z = 5.8*’*

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How often teaching methods How often teaching methods should beshould be used in physics (N) used in physics (N)

0 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 % 100 %

Discuss problems in small groups

Project work in small groups

Work on problems in small groups

Teacher uses students' ideas

Teacher leads discussion

Work on problems/tasks individually

Teacher presents problems

Teacher presents new materialon the blackboard

never rarely sometimes often daily(nNOR = 173)

Norway, now Norway, wish

Z = 9.5*’*

Z = 6.7*’*

Z = -3.5**

Z = 8.7*’*

Z = -3.1**

Z = 7.8*’*

Z = 7.5**’*

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Teaching methods in Social Teaching methods in Social Science (N & FIN)Science (N & FIN)

0 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 % 100 %

Discuss tasks in small groups

Project work in small groups

Work on tasks in small groups

Teacher uses students' ideas

Teacher leads discussion

Work on problems/tasks individually

Teacher presents examples/problems

Teacher presents new materialon the blackboard

never rarely sometimes often daily(nSos.Sci = 629)

How it is How it is in PhysWish (social sci)

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Groupping teaching methods Groupping teaching methods by factor analysisby factor analysis

Component loadings

F2: Teacher presentation F2I1: A teacher present/solve problems .668 F2I2: A teacher present new material -.107 .362 .144 F3: Teacher leading discussion F3I1: A teacher leads discussion about concepts .677

% of total variance 21.9 9.2 6.1 2.7

F4: Individual studying F4I1: Work with problems/tasks individually .513

1 2 3 4

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.

F1: Studying in small groupsF1I1: Work with problems/tasks in small groups .774 F1I2: Discuss about difficult concepts in small group .624 .198 F1I3: Have project work in small groups .614 -.105

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Background variablesBackground variables

Physics

0 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 % 100 %

Subject easiness (1=very easy)

Subject interestingness (1=uninteresting)

Quality of instruction (1=poor)

Subject workload (1=small)

1 2 3 4 5

Social science

(nPhys = 570, nSos.Sci = 629)

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Variables explaining how Variables explaining how students wish to studystudents wish to study

Studying in small groups

Teacher presentation

Teacher leading

discussion

Individual studying

t 1) t 1) t 1) t 1) .310 9.6***

-.114 -3,.7***

-.006 -.18ns

-.032 -1.1ns -.075 -2.5* .028 .97ns

-.025 -.82ns

-.318 -9.7***

.118 3.9***

.022 .61ns

-.037 -1.2ns -.004 -.13ns .074 2.6**

-.035 -1.2ns

.317 9.6***

.055 1.8ns

.111 3.0**

-.038 -1.2ns .021 .70ns -.011 -.38ns

-.041 -1.3ns

-.281 -8.4***

.065 2.1*

.017 .46ns

-.095 -3.0** -.013 -.41ns .030 1.0ns

-.025 -.79ns

Specialisation subject (1 =phys, 2 =soc.sc.) Nationality (1=Norwegian, 2=Finnish) Subject interestingness (1=uninteresting) Student sex (1=girl, 2=boy) Quality of instruction (1= poor) Workload of the subject (1= small) Subject easiness (1= difficult) R R2 F

ns

.37 .35 .31 .27

.14 .12 .10 .07 27.3*** 23.7*** 19.5*** 13.2***

1) p > 0,05, * p < 0,05, ** p < 0,01, *** p < 0,001

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Conclusions and Implications 1Conclusions 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

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Conclusions and Implications 2Conclusions and Implications 2

• Student gender as well as other predictors, except nationality and subject of specialisation, explain only little about 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

Thank you!