Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 16, Issue 2, Article 9 (Dec., 2015) Yat-yin LEUNG A school-based study on situational interest of investigative study in senior physics Contents Next

A school-based study on situational interest of investigative study in senior physics

 

Yat-yin LEUNG

A former physics teacher & Master of Education student
Chinese University of Hong Kong, HONG KONG

E-mail: ilc_smartleon@yahoo.com

Received 30 Apr., 2015
Revised 27 Dec., 2015

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Contents

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Methodology
• Results
  • Reasons for many students to be interested in IS
  • Test anxietyin school-based assessment
• Discussion
  • Discussion about interest, academic achievement and learning outcome
  • Limitations of the research
  • Implications for learning and teaching
• Conclusion
• References

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Abstract

This paper reports the findings from the interview data of a research aiming at studying how to trigger students’ situational interest in physics and its implications on learning and teaching in the New Senior Secondary (NSS) physics curriculum. 49 students from a boys’ school were invited to write one to three learning experiences in physics that they found to be interesting. Five of them with different levels of individual interest were then selected for interview to elaborate on what they had written. The results showed that investigative study (IS) was the most popular means to induce situational interests, in accordance with IS’s contextual nature.

Keywords: Situational interest, investigative study, authentic task, contextual pedagogy