Fostering conceptual understanding in students through the use of physics demonstrations

Abstract

The topic of pressure in Physics was used to study the effectiveness of demonstrations in promoting conceptual understanding among secondary school students. Two classes of secondary school students were used for the test group while another two classes of students served as the control group; the latter group was taught the topic via the conventional chalk-and-talk approach. Analyses of students’ responses to survey instruments as well as of another instrument to gauge content acquisition and conceptual understanding show that the use of demonstrations promotes a learning climate which is conducive for the acquisition of key concepts and also helps to scaffold students’ thinking in a more pronounced manner as compared to the traditional approach. Some implications of this study are also discussed.