Learners’ Conceptual Understanding about Image Formation by a Convex Lens: How and to What Extent Can it be improved?

Abstract

The research conducted for this paper evaluates the effectiveness of an interactive optics teaching module, designed to enhance conceptual understanding by adopting a quasi-experimental pre-testpost-test design. One intact Grade 11 class in a selected school was chosen as the experimental group (N = 36) and another intact Grade 11 class in the same school was chosen as the comparison group (N = 44). The data were collected from four relevant questions of a 4-tier Optics Diagnostic Instrument (4ODI), which was designed for the larger version of the study. Even though there were 4 tiers for each question of the 4ODI, this paper reports only on the data collected from the participants' responses to the 1 st (answer tier) and the 3 rd tier (reason tier) of each of the four questions. The findings suggest that the practical experiment, supported by carefully-designed worksheets, worked significantly better than the computer simulation in improving learners' conceptual understanding of image formation by lenses. The main contribution of this study lies in its authenticity in advocating that Physics education researchers and educators need to integrate technology and practical experiments appropriately into the traditional worksheet-based learning and teaching activities. Furthermore, the study recommends that practical experiments, if properly designed and implemented, can act as an effective approach to science teaching and learning.