The Effects of Peer Instruction Method on Attitudes of 9th Grade Students towards Physics Course

摘要

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of peer instruction method on student attitudes towards physics
style="font-size:9pt">course. In the study, single group pre and posttest quasi- experimental design was adopted. The study was  style="font-size:9pt">conducted with 46 students registered to 9 style="font-size:6pt">th style="font-size:9pt">grade in a secondary school situated in Ankara province in Turkey in  style="font-size:9pt">the spring term of 2012-2013 educational year. During 50 class hours “Force and Motion” and “Energy” units  style="font-size:9pt">were instructed with peer instruction method. “Physics Attitude Scale (PAS)” was utilized as the main data  style="font-size:9pt">collection tool of the study. PAS is 5-choice Likert type scale with 30 items. The reliability coefficient Cronbach  style="font-size:9pt">Alpha of the PAS was calculated as 0.963. PAS which, was applied onto the students before and after peer  style="font-size:9pt">instruction period has 4 factors called; ‘physics course perception’, ‘appreciating the value of physics course’,  style="font-size:9pt">‘expectations about physics course’ and ‘hesitations about physics course’. The data obtained with PAS were  style="font-size:9pt">analyzed with dependent samples t-test. There was statistically significant difference between ‘appreciating the  style="font-size:9pt">value of physics course’ and ‘expectations about physics course’ factors. This difference may arise from that the  style="font-size:9pt">peer instruction method encourages students to speak and share ideas among peers more frequently about  style="font-size:9pt">physics phenomena. As a result of the study the application of peer instruction method was recommended as it  style="font-size:9pt">facilitates conceptual discussions in abstract concepts of physics.