Perception of secondary schools' students about Physics practical work: Intended and enacted curriculum perspective

Abstract

The syntactic and pragmatic nature of science is learnt better through practical work. Practical work supports cognitive, neuromotor and attitudinal domains of learning through scientific reasoning. Laboratory apparatus availability, their functionality, usability and standard schedule in academic curricula are essential for smooth conduct of practical work. Teachers’ perceptions about practical and students’ scientific inquiry about practical work are linked with effective curriculum implementation. The current study was planned to examine the gap between intended curriculum and enacted national curriculum of physics focusing conduct of practical and the availability of laboratory apparatus. The study was descriptive in nature, following quantitative research design, and a survey method was used to frame the study. A multistage stratified random sampling technique was used to collect the data. Secondary school physics teachers, students, laboratory stock register and the national curriculum for physics were sources of the data. The sample of study consisted of 2,880 students enrolled in 10th grade. The reliability of the instrument was confirmed through calculating Cronbach’s Alpha score; 0.823. The results of the study showed moderate practice 55.8% for the conduct of practical and poor practices 20.2% for the availability of laboratory apparatus for the conduct of practical. There existed gap between theory and practical periods 8:1 in schools’ timetable. Further, the results of the independent sample t-test claimed a significant difference between urban and rural schools’ teachers in conducting practical work, urban teachers were conducting more practical as compared to rural schools’ teachers. The study recommended that government may provide funds to purchase laboratory apparatus, head-teachers ensure availability and functionality of laboratory with apparatus and physics teachers are provided training to conduct practical.