Determining students’ attitude towards physics through problem-solving strategy

Participants
The sample consisted of 270 secondary school students, who were randomly selected from nine schools in the fall semester of the 2007-2008 academic year. 155 of the participants were males and 115 were females (from 16 to 19 years-old). All of these students were studying the same topics in their physics program. Thirty students were randomly recruited from each of the nine schools and for each of the three groups: – teacher-directed and self-directed problem solving techniques (experimental groups), and a control group of ninety students (90). Assigning schools to the experimental and control groups was also a random process. The experimental groups were exposed to problem-solving techniques, one was teacher-directed, whereas the other one was self-directed. The control group was exposed to lecture method (LM).

Treatments
Two treatments and one instrument were developed for the study. The treatments (stimulus instruments) were:

(a) the problem solving technique (PST) aiming to teach dynamics; and

(b)the self-learning material, called programmed text for physics (SLT) (a problem solving packagebased on dynamics), to learn dynamics.

The group taught by teacher using the lecture method (LM) is the control group, and the PST and SLT groups are experimental groups. The control group (LM) was taught dynamics topics by the teacher using traditional method (direct speech, discussion, etc.). Likewise, the PST group was taught the dynamics topics by a teacher using traditional method; moreover, the teacher instructed the PST group by implementing problem solving strategy techniques; that is, the students in the PST group was directed by a teacher. However, the SLT group was instructed for only in content knowledge of the dynamics by the teacher, and but they were supposed to learn problem solving by themselves; that is, the students in the SLT group were not directed by the teacher about how to learn and put into practice the problem solving strategy techniques.

The problem solving skills tested in this study are based on Mayer’s (1992) model for problem solving, which consists of four phases: problem translation, problem integration, solution planning and monitoring and solution execution. During the first phase of problem translation, the problem-solver transforms the statements of the problem into a mental model that represents the problem-solver's interpretation of the problem. In the second phase, problem integration, the different pieces of this interpretation are combined into a coherent structure that will support a problem-solving plan. During the third phase, solution planning and monitoring, the problem-solver formulates a plan in the form of a sequence of steps for solving the problem. Finally, during the solution execution phase, the problem-solver carries out this plan, and solves the problem.

The Instrument
An attitude measuring scale was used for pre and post attitude measure. The PST was in line with the four stages model of solving of physics problems (McGowan, 2008). The SLT was based on the content of the problem solving technique procedure, and prepared in the standard form. The researcher developed both the PST and the SLT. The attitude measuring scale was a twenty items, with five Likert-type options. A five-point scale used was ranged from SD= Strongly Disagree, D= Disagree, QA= Slightly Agree, and A=Agree to SA= Strongly Agree. The total score for each attitude category indicates level of favorable attitude in that category. Six of the thirty items are related to willingness, six are related to perseverance and eight are related to self-confidence. However, they will not be considered in sub-scale. Score for the negative items is recoded so that all the items have a positive value of measurement. The minimum score for an item is 1, and its maximum value is 5. For both the willingness and perseverance scale, the minimum score is 6, and the maximum score is 30. Meanwhile, for self-confidence, the minimum score is 8, and the maximum score is 40. Overall, the minimum score is 20, and the maximum score is 100 for all the items.

A committee of three experts moderated the frames of the SLT. The content of the problem solving technique procedure (PST) was controlled and validated by four physics education lecturers who certified the procedure to be adequate for teaching steps and strategies of problem solving. Experts in Science education helped to examine the 20-item attitude scale. They also helped to identify the positive and negative statements. The reliability determination of the instrument was carried out by using Cronbach’s alpha method with the scores acquired from the responses of sixty students. Cronbach’s alpha was found to be 0.81. The questionnaire contained personal data, such as name, sex, age, and parent occupation.

Procedure
Prior to teaching the planned topics, both groups were given an attitude measuring scale for pre-test and thus, preliminary data was collected from the both groups, and levels of the groups’ attitude were found in equally. The three groups were lectured on the selected topic for three weeks after the completion of the attitude scale. The PST group was taught problem solving technique procedure for another three weeks by the researcher before they completed the attitude scale. Programmed texts, based on the systematic approach to problem solving were distributed to students in the SLT group each time they had physics for their independent studies. They also completed the attitude scale after treatment. The LM group received lectures on the selected topic for three weeks without any trace of problem solving. They also completed the attitude scale thereafter.

After each test, the data collected was loaded into a computer via SPSS for Windows package for the experimental group and the control group. In collaboration with a statistics expert, the researcher analyzed the data collected. In order to make comparison of pretest, final test scores between experimental and control groups, the statistics analysis includes the arithmetic mean, standard deviation and a one-way ANOVA. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) is a statistical method through which the differences between the means of two or more independent groups can be evaluated. ANOVA puts all the data into one number (F) and gives us one P for the null hypothesis (Buyukozturk, 2002; Cohen, et al., 2003; Ferguson & Takane, 2005).