Effect of the four-step learning cycle model on students’ understanding of concepts related to simple harmonic motion

Over the last two decades, science education research has revealed that students already have ideas about how physical systems have been even before they start to study physics. In many cases, these ideas called alternative conceptions differ from accepted scientific ideas. There have been consistent calls for constructivist teaching based on the constructivist views of learning during the past decade. There are two arguments to support constructivist educational practices (Perkin, 1999). First, philosophically, the student has to construct or reconstruct what things mean because the stimuli he/she encounters are not logically sufficient to convey the message. Secondly, research shows that active engagement in teaching and learning may lead to better understanding, conceptual change and subsequent retention and utilization of knowledge (Brooks and Brooks, 1993; Fosnot, 1996). Therefore, a better way of teaching and learning physics is to adopt a radical approach that will enhance students’ understanding and eliminate passive approaches to learning across the schools. (Gardener, 1991).