A SUMMARY ON THE ACHIEVEMENT IN THE "PHYSICAL SCIENCE" IN LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL

Abstract

The purpose of this study focused on elucidating how lower secondary school students are able to solve the problems in physics and in chemistry based on the "advance organizer" as well as what causes them to fail to solve problems. Three kinds of problems from the teaching unit "electric current" were given to each of the students and the correlations among the results were examined. The three kinds are: first problem which require the students to find out the solution procedure and to apply the basic concepts successfully, second problem which is provided with a sub-test as clues for the solution procedure, and third problem which asks an independent basic concept. The results have revealed that more than 60% of the acquisition of basic concepts should be necessary to solve the first and the second problems. Furthermore; they also have revealed that not a few students, though they had acquired the basic concepts, could not apply the knowledge to solve the first and the second problems. Three kinds of problems, described above, suggest that it is necessary for them not only to learn declarative knowledge but also to structurize this knowledge and the teaching strategies through tackling complicated problems. Thus, by giving three kinds of tests, it is possible to identify the causes of the students' failures and to make clearer the gradual steps for the study of physics. It is hoped that this diagnostic method will be much more appropriate than the more conventional method based on one-dimensional evaluation.