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Some of the challenges cut across subject areas, others are peculiar to the school, and others are peculiar to the individual.The literature abounds in studies that have been done to find the challenges of NQTs but few studies have been done on NQTs who teach science, and almost all the studies have been done in the more developed countries. Generally, these studies are deficient in focusing on the solutions that the NQTs have applied to their situations. This study enriches the literature in this area by focusing on science teachers' challenges as well as the solutions they have used. Knowing their challenges and how the NQTs have solved them will provide information that will help to equip future teacher trainees to cope with similar challenges.

This study sought to examine the activities that go on in physics classrooms in Senior High Schools in Ghana. Specifically, the study sought to investigate the pattern of interaction and instructional methods used for teaching physics and level of coverage of physics syllabus. The survey design was employed for the study in which questionnaire was used for data collection. Participants for the study were physics teachers and final year physics students. Findings from the study suggest that classroom interaction seemed to be mostly teacher-centered and tended not to support inquiry-based teaching and learning which is noted for promoting conceptual change and enhance performance. It is recommended among other things that physics teachers should be exposed to efficient pedagogies of teaching and presenting information to learners. The traditional way of teaching where teacher decides on what goes on in the classroom has a limited space in the 21 st century science classrooms, particularly physics.

This study aimed at designing a framework to help students develop a conceptual understanding of redox reactions, which draws on constructivist learning theory. This framework was in the form of participatory teaching and learning approach comprising Insight, Interaction, Task, and Forum. The framework was designed and developed based on the literature and used in a teaching trial. At the prototype phase of the design-based approach, a mixed methods design was employed in data collection. Fifteen students from a second-year senior high school class responded to the achievement test and interacted with the researchers. A stratified sampling procedure was used to select the students. In lessons on redox reactions, the framework helped the teacher to identify students" alternative conceptions and confronted them through cognitive engagements leading to conceptual understanding in redox reactions. Percentages, related samples t-test, and themes were used to analyse data. The results showed that there was an improvement in students" conceptual understanding of redox reactions. It is, therefore, recommended that chemistry educators and researchers should use the framework in large scale research to assure the scientific community the efficacy of it in developing conceptual change in students. Contribution/Originality:The study contributes to the existing literature by the design and development of an alternative framework for participatory instruction, which is all encompassing in approach. Unlike other instructions, the framework; Insight, Interaction, Task, and Forum, takes advantage of alternative conceptions and ends with students" ability to evaluate colleague"s presentations. INTRODUCTIONConcepts in electrochemistry (such as oxidation-reduction reactions) are considered to be challenging to high school students with associate alternative conceptions (Osterlund and Ekborg, 2009;Adu-Gyamfi et al., 2015;Bong and Lee, 2016;Adu-Gyamfi and Ampiah, 2019a;2019b). Students labelled the cathode of an electrolytic cell as the positive terminal and the anode, as the negative terminal, which is considered as an alternative conception. This was an alternative conception because students have explained oxidation occurs at the anode and the reduction, at the cathode, something they picked from text books with no conceptual understanding (Bong and Lee, 2016).Regarding balancing redox reactions, students" alternative conceptions are associated with the introduction of H2O, OH -, and H + . For instance, students have explained balancing of redox reactions in acidic medium as H + ions being introduced just because the reaction occurs in the acidic medium (Adu-Gyamfi et al., 2015). Students have