Reflection on my experiences as a Physical Science teacher during school internship

 

To become a teacher is my ambition. I have shaped my academic journey to reach this goal. As the final step to gain the basic qualification to become a teacher, I enrolled for the BEd course during which I could strengthen my basic skills and abilities to become a good teacher. After the necessary training I could do an internship programme for 4months as a Physical science teacher in Emmanuel’s Higher Secondary School Kothanalloor during which I got invaluable experiences that reshaped me to become a competent and influential teacher.

I can proudly say that Emmanuel’s Higher Secondary School is my school. I was very happy that I could do my teaching practice in my alma mater. The many memories during my school days which I treasure sparked in my mind as I went the first day. Some of my teachers were still teaching there. I felt excited to work with them.

I was assigned two divisions-one from standard 8 and another from standard 9. I was little nervous in my first class thinking how the students will behave in my class as they know that I am a teacher trainee. I prepared very well for my first class. And by God’s grace I could manage to overcome my fear and complete my first class. Then I gained confidence and tried to use the theoretical knowledge that I got from B.Ed. classes to become a good teacher. I tried various teaching strategies. As the school was equipped with smart classrooms I could make use of ICT very well. It made the teaching learning process simpler. The harder things could be understood very easily when it was shown using images and videos. In spite of these advantages I faced various threats as the students came to offline mode after a gap of 1.5 years. Most of the students didn’t attend online classes during those days. It was pretty obvious in the classroom interactions. Even the basic arithmetic was tough for the students. Hence, I had to slow down my pace of teaching. The normal teaching hours was not sufficient to teach the concepts properly. The additional substitution periods I got was a blessing for me. Again, when the Covid pandemic situations became worse the classes again went online mode. In my opinion students cannot learn properly in online classes. Less than 30 percent of the students attended online classes. Others had different excuses to skip the class. This led to discontinuity in the process of learning. And those who attended where just passive listeners. Only few had the interest to study. The parents being too much poor in technical knowledge couldn’t guide or control their children properly. The effect of this was clear in the exam that was held when the offline mode was reinstated. Another thing that I felt unhappy about was that I could establish good rapport with a few students only. Rest of them was not cooperating whole heartedly with me during the classroom hours. Sometimes I had to scold them. It had not much effect on them. Even then the classes went smoothly and I could complete the portions. Only thing I feel sad is that I couldn’t instill a love for science in all of them. I had a lot to improve. But I know the limitations of a newbie and felt motivated to study the students more closely and become a better teacher.

The experience that I got from my teaching practice is really precious. I could figure out my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats clearly and shape my path. I could gain first hand experiences in many of the teaching techniques and strategies that ware taught in the B.Ed. classes. I could conduct achievement test, diagnostic test, action research, case study science club activities and many other things. All these have improved my abilities to a great extent.

The happiest part is that many of my students come and talk with me when they see me somewhere like bus stop, even when I couldn’t recognize them. When they call me “teacher” I feel more responsible to the society. In short, the school internship period was really a blessing for me.

IMPROVING PHYSICS PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

 Abstract

Students feel challenged by the numerical questions asked in Physics. They face a series of troubles in solving the questions despite their admirable attitudes towards learning the subject. Hence, the improvement in Physics problem-solving skills was prioritized. Researchers had suggested that Problem solving has been observed to be one of the principal causes of academic failure in areas of science such as Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics. This is so because pupils do not learn how to solve problems but merely memorize solutions explained by teachers. This study focuses on the challenges faced by Class 9 students of Emmanuel’s HSS Kothanalloor. Class tests were conducted to analyse the competency level of students in solving physics numerical problems. Hypotheses were made regarding the reason for the poor achievement of the students in the test. Intervention design was planned out and special problem-solving sessions were arranged. A post-intervention test was conducted after the implementation of the intervention activities and students showed dramatic improvement in their scores. Thus, problem-solving skill can be improved if the teachers give the necessary scaffolding to the students.

Introduction

Almost all the problems in physics include numerical problems/calculations for better understanding of theoretical part. Early chapters in almost all textbooks start with topics like measurement and formulae, equations and calculations. This is the grammar and syntax of physics. Numerical problems in physics are the most difficult areas of study in the subject. Being able to solve problems confidently is critical to achieving success in many exams. It necessitates a thorough comprehension of many issues as well as their practical implications. It also necessitates understanding a large number of formulas and applying them effectively while solving problems. Unfortunately, all these are scary for the students Some students are not even prepared to solve calculations. Hence the primary responsibility of a physics teacher is to help the students to acquire the basic problem-solving skills. 

Need and Significance of the study

The students of class 9 of Emmanuel’s High school, Kothanalloor faced difficulty in solving problems in Physics class. This was observed in several Physics classes and in class tests. Because of this it was very difficult to proceed the class as the topics deal with concepts which has to be affirmed by application problems related to that. Most of the students lacked the basic arithmetic skills. At each stage of problem-solving lot of time had to be spent. Students were not capable of solving numerical problems even when question which are similar to the previously solved questions were given to them. Hence it had become nearly impossible to convey new concepts and formulae in the class. This has to be changed for better understanding of the topic. Students, when they are capable of solving problem will be motivated to study deeper.

Objectives

1. To study the difficulties of students while solving Physics problems.

2. To find the causes of difficulties faced by student in solving numerical problems.

3. To suggest remedial measures for improving problem solving skills of students.

Research Design

The action research cycle was given as a four-step cycle-reflection, plan, act and observe. That is reflecting on one's practice and identifying the problem or concern, planning a strategy or intervention that may solve the problem, acting or carrying out the plan and finally observing the result or collecting the data

Sample

The study was conducted on one of the batches of class 9 of Emmanuel’s HSS Kothanalloor. There were 20 students in that batch. 

Instrumentation

Students were made to take a test which consisted of 3 questions in ‘Kinematics’. After students were taught the concepts, a post-intervention test was conducted to serve as a check as to whether students really applied the methods and steps they were taught. This test also consisted of 3 items similar to the items in pre-intervention test.

Intervention design and implementation

In order to help students to improve upon the problem-solving skills in physics, an intervention design was planned out. Students were engaged in a comprehensive discussion on the steps involved while solving physics problems, using their normal classroom hours- 2 hours per week for 4 weeks. The steps involved is systematically explained to the students for each question. The questions were analysed in detail. In the beginning itself the formulae, equations, concepts, units etc. used in the problem were explained. Teacher demonstrated how to solve problem whenever a new-pattern question is encounter. Students were allowed to discuss among themselves the different ways to solve the problems. Scaffolding was provided whenever necessary. When students were stuck at certain points, probing-questions were used to improve their critical thinking ability. Immediate feedback was given to motivate the students.

Post-intervention activity

A post-intervention test was conducted after the implementation of the intervention activities. The test was made up of 3 questions similar to the questions in the pre-intervention test. Students’ responses to the question were collected marked and analysed.

Analysis and Interpretation

 

As seen from the result of the pre-intervention test 11 students scored low marks, 6 students got average marks and only 3 students got high marks. Students are found jumping vital steps without showing working. They arrived at the final answer without caring about the procedures and steps needed to arrive at that answer. Hence, they lost about half the total marks for the questions. Those who were able to work to the final answer attached wrong units to them and some even ignored the units altogether. It was also observed that some students rushed into solving physics problems but got stuck along the way, perhaps due to improper analysis before starting the problem. Students appeared to forget the steps needed to solve physics problems after they have been taught. After the four-week classes on problem solving, the post intervention test was conducted. 

    

The result from the table shows that majority of the students exhibited improved the problem-solving skills. 10 students obtained the high marks of whch three got the maximum marks, 6 students got average marks and only four students got low marks. Students could list out all the known and unknown values correctly and made free body diagrams before carrying on with the solution to the problems This might be due to the proper analysis of the problems made by the students before starting them. Many students were able to identify the right formula and equations and variable and were able to plug in values to solve the problems. That could give reasonable answers in terms of number and could attach correct unit to their answers. Hence, it can be concluded that students have really become competent in solving problem, considering their performance in the post-intervention test

Findings and Conclusion

The study has revealed that after the implementation of the intervention students’ problem-solving skills have improved considerably. This was seen in how students presented their class exercises and assignments and how they went about solving problems given to them. Students have developed interest in solving physics problems since they could remember and use the steps needed to solve the problem.

Two distinct reasons for the poor performance of the students in solving physics numerals are students’ lack of requisite mathematical knowledge and inability of students to apply them in physics problems. Mathematics is the language of physics. Thus, it is very important for students to have a solid mathematical ground in order to succeed in physics courses.

In order to become a successful problem solver one is required to have a conceptual understanding of the physics concepts in addition to an understanding of the processes of how to solve the problem. However, many students do not have the basic conceptual understanding nor do they have an adequate set of technical problem-solving skills.

Problem solving in physics commonly involves the application of various mathematician procedures. Hence, teachers should focus on proactive ways of presenting subject material so as to guide students’ learning efforts while students strive to become active constructors of knowledge. This way the perceived difficulty of Physics cannot overshadow its importance in terms of its usefulness in the society.

References

1. How students understand physics equations. Cognition and Instruction. Sherin B. 2001;479-541.

2. Physics problem solving strategy Dr. Mark Hollabaugh

3. Strategies for Solving Problems by David Morin, morin@physics.harvard.edu