Abstract
<p style="text-align: justify;">Mechanics, as a large part of physics, shows the most basic concepts we encounter in our daily lives. With this regard, we implemented the mechanics baseline test (MBT) to the University of Rwanda - College of Education before and after the teaching mechanics module to track students learning. About 38 students participated in this study. We found the instructional strategies used to fit in a model we named "teaching and learning bucket" (lecturer backing and learners owning learning) during data analysis. The results showed that the performance occurred only in 12 out of 26 MBT items at a p<.001, and Cohen's D effect size of 1.26. Such analysis also allowed us to identify areas of mechanics that need teaching improvement, such as (a) constant acceleration, (b) average velocity, (c) the first law of Newton, (d) work and energy, and (e) energy conservation. There was also a positive correlation (r=0.58) between students' confidence in answering questions and correct answers provided and vice versa. Therefore, the research significantly informs lecturers to use various teaching approaches to effectively employ the teaching and learning bucket (TLB) model.</p>
Highlights
A mechanics baseline test (MBT) is a universal test covering most introductory mechanics from high school to university level (Hestenes & Wells, 1992)
We found the instructional strategies used to fit in a model we named "teaching and learning bucket" during data analysis
There was an improvement from 19% and 34% of students who succeeded in selected MBT items before and after learning mechanics
Summary
A mechanics baseline test (MBT) is a universal test covering most introductory mechanics from high school to university level (Hestenes & Wells, 1992). Researches have proved that students performed well in the MBT after being taught through active learning methods (Eijkelhof, 2011; Hestenes & Wells, 1992; Jackson, 2003; Mashood & Singh, 2013) by their lecturers. Force concept inventory (Hestenes et al., 1992); another is its successor: force and motion conceptual evaluation (Thornton & Sokoloff, 1998). All of these inventories aim at improving students' mechanical concepts understanding.
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