DEVELOPING PHYSICAL SCIENCE TEACHERS’ CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY BY MEANS OF HANDS-ON AND VIRTUAL EXPERIMENTS

Abstract

To advance academic performance and classroom practices, teachers must understand and continually improve their content knowledge and teaching skills. Physical Science teaching and learning require this level of understanding, as it serves as the foundation for didactical content knowledge and scientific practices. Physical science teachers usually use traditional teaching methods, which explains the lack of effective methods for improving physical science knowledge. This article demonstrates a teaching approach that can enhance the teaching and learning of Physical Science in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) classrooms. A professional development workshop for Physical Science teachers was conducted to compare two different TLS (Teaching and Learning Sequences). TLS were designed, and one method incorporated virtual and hands-on experiments. The TLS were used to enhance teachers' understanding of electromagnetic theory, a topic prescribed for learners taught by the sampled group. A qualitative method supported by secondary quantitative data was applied to collect data from 16 and 15 in-service physical science teachers, respectively. The analytical responses were categorized using participatory observation and factor analysis, as well as a mean of normalized gain to determine improvement in knowledge. Teachers' conceptual understanding of electromagnetic theory was attributed to virtual and hands-on experiments in teaching-learning processes. Re-evaluation of TLS and the integration of practical and science teaching in the classroom were recommended.