 |
Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 10, Issue 2, Article 1 (Dec., 2009) Naki ERDEMİR Determining students’ attitude towards physics through problem-solving strategy |
Determining Students’ Attitude towards Physics through Problem Solving
The purpose of the study was to investigate whether or not the problem solving method has an effect on students’ attitude towards physics. To test the previously stated hypothesis, the scores of the control group (LM) and experimental groups (PST and SLT) in the attitude scale before treatment were subjected to ANOVA in order to know whether they had a different attitude towards problem solving in physics (dynamics). As can be seen in Table 2, the result drawn from analysis showed that there was no significant difference in the attitude of the three groups towards problem solving related to physics (on dynamics) before the treatment.
However, at the end of analysis, it was found that there is a significant difference between attitude scores of the experimental and control groups after treatment. As seen in Table 3, this finding was obtained from analysis that showed there was significant difference in the attitude scores of the three groups towards physics dynamics after the treatment. The brief problem solving method learned by students had a positive effect on their attitudes.
The result showed that there is a significant difference in the attitude scores of the control group (LM) and experimental groups (PST and SLT) after treatment. In order to determine which group had more positive attitude, the mean scores of the three groups were contrasted using Scheffe test, as seen in the Table 4. The results in the table showed that the attitude of the PST group towards physics was more positive than those of the LM group after treatment. Thus, the stated hypothesis that there was no significant difference in the attitude of students towards physics after exposing them to teacher-directed and self-directed problem solving techniques was rejected. However, the results from the analysis indicate that there is no significant difference for students’ attitude towards problem-solving of physics in experimental groups when evaluated with respect to problem solving method. The PST group had a slightly higher, though insignificant, positive attitude than the SLT group. This finding supports the findings by Mattern and Schau (2002) and Saleh (2004), who found no attitude difference towards physics between PST and SLT groups.
Discussing Students’ Attitude towards Physics through Problem Solving
Students in the control group were free to conduct any academic or non-academic activity, as long as they were not under control or within the supervision of their lecturers. Therefore, their attitude towards problem-solving in physics was not influenced by the lecturer method. Based on this method, the findings reveal that students lack knowledge and skills in solving physics problems, compared to problem solving skill of students after treatment. These findings are supported by Morrell & Lederman (1998). For instance, students failed to simplify, as well as to reform expressions; they committed careless mistakes that went against physics laws.
It could be deduced that the problem solving technique was more interesting to the students after they learned the problem solving method. Students are used to being supplied information by the teachers; this is done through lectures and accompanying notes. A positive attitude influences expected achievement and is heavily influenced by attitudes toward science. As would be expected, positive attitudes toward science also lead to better results on achievement measures of science capability (Weinburgh, 1998). A student’s attitude toward science is more likely to influence achievement in science than achievement influencing attitude (Craker, 2006). Similar results were stated by O’Connell (2000), who found that students need to have a positive attitude towards problem-solving to be successful, and thus problem-solving requires students’ knowledge and problem solving skills to overcome risks.
The results demonstrate that knowledge and skills related to solving physics problems are essential to ensure a positive attitude toward physics. This result agrees with Tooke and Lindstrom’s (1998) opinion that students who have a positive attitude towards and beliefs about physics will succeed at a higher level. Charles et al. (1997) are also of the opinion that students’ accomplishment in problem-solving depends on their method knowledge, attitude and self-confidence about their problem solving skills.
In order to delve into the realities of both the outer and the inner world of the individual in an educational environment, episodes, new experiences and life narratives that have an adequate conceptuality must be acquired by the individual for an ever-changing and developing attitude from the rudimentary to a sophisticated level. Thus, an individual should have new experience and information to change their attitude toward an object. Individuals are not born with attitudes, they learn them afterwards. Some attitudes are based on one’s own experiences, knowledge and skills, and some are gained from other sources (Kagıtcıbası, 2004). After all, the findings showed that these new experiences, knowledge and skills changed the beliefs of the students about the difficulty of physics by gaining problem solving knowledge and skills. Thus, the experimental group developed a more positive attitude toward physics after treatment. The attitude was also significantly more positive than the control groups. Physics lectures generally are teacher-centered and theoretical in terms of students. This makes the lectures monotonous, impractical and memory dependent. Since students cannot solve physics problems correctly, the physics course is considered to be the most challenging course. The first reason for this problem is that the method teaching of physics does not match with the nature of physics and the students. The ineffective application of planned techniques is another reason for the problem. The combination effect of these two factors creates a negative attitude toward and failure in physics education. Selecting appropriate, effective methods and putting them into practice helps students develop a more positive attitude toward physics by fixing the mistake outright.
The study indicates that students who are taught by implementing problem solving techniques are willing to try solving problems, and that they enjoy doing physics and are eager to rise to solving challenging problems. The students are willing to spend a great amount of time solving problems and will not stop trying until they find the answers. They develop the resilience to continue, working on a problem until it is done correctly and appropriately. Willingness and enjoyment are commonly referred to as “the language and engine of physics” of success. Research has shown that conventional teaching has a negative effect on most students’ learning than compared to teaching problem solving techniques. Physics education goals cannot be achieved by conventional science teaching (Dieck, 1997; Rivard and Straw, 2000).
When the students have knowledge about problem solving strategies at the stage of problem translation, it has been proven that students in the experimental groups will have the skill to interpret physics problems sentence by sentence, using knowledge and the problem solving method. Students are able to interpret and understand the terms, facts and physical concepts based on their acquired knowledge. At the stage of problem integration, it has been demonstrated that the students in the experimental groups were able to combine the different pieces of interpreted information into a coherent structure in order to plan a solution.
However, if students are not taught the problem solving method, they cannot fully understand what a given question means or what it requires. They cannot relate it to their existing knowledge. They do not know how to choose methods most suited for solving each problem. This view is supported by researchers (Reid & Skryabina, 2002; Gonen and Basaran, 2008) who show that most students do not always know what to practice for solving of problems because of lack of self-confidence and skill. Therefore, a majority of the students learned knowledge and strategy by conventional teaching try to memorize and apply physical rules and definitions without fully understanding the underlying concepts. These opinions are supported by studies done by Adesoji (2008) and Redish (2005).
Physics education research has demonstrated that knowledge and skill of students taught problem solving techniques or methods can play a powerful role in how they use the knowledge they have learned in their physics courses. Student attitudes towards physics also play a powerful role in how they think about using problem-solving method in their physics (or science) courses (Hammer, 1996). Hopefully, students will become more sensitive and creative in the problem-solving related to physics. Lecturers can also enhance students’ problem solving skills by providing appropriate exercises and encouraging positive interaction among students during the learning process. Hence, students will be more skilful in applying their knowledge, and they will find an additional source of knowledge in their learned method. Moreover, according to Snyder (1998), educators must teach an appropriate problem solving method and offer an opportunity for students to explore physics by preparing fun learning activities and by encouraging them to think critically and creatively.
