مفاهيم الفيزياء الرئيسة المناسب تدريسها لطلاب المرحلة الثانوية في المملكة العربية السعودية

Abstract

This study aimed at finding out the main -physices concepts which are suitable for secondary school students in Saudi Arabia. It, also aimed at finding out whether the physics textbooks designed for the three forms the secondary level have actually contained these concepts or not. Further, it aimed at giving the curriculum designers a new insight that might help them to improve the student textbooks. The importance of this study resides in the importance of the physical concepts themselves, which reflects a new trend in building school curricula. Also, the dependence of other natural sciences on physics gives this study further importance. Moreover, the importance of this study emanates from the importance of the secondary stage since it marks a departing point to either the university education where specialization is required or to the public life where the secondary school graduates are exposed to the job market. Not only for the reasons mentioned above, but also the importance of this study lies in the scarcity of studies dealt with the physical concepts in the Saudi secondary physics textbooks. The researcher selected the descriptive research method in conducting his research. As a means of collecting data the researcher designed a questionnaire of his own. The testing of that questionnaire showed that the range of its validity was between 0.96 and 0.99 in all its major parts, and the range of its reliability was between 0.92 and 0.98 with respect to all its criteria. The population of the study was 895 individuals, whereas the sample study was confined to 359. The sample included 200 teachers selected randomly, constituting 27% of the population of teachers. All supen/isors and all instructors in universities and colleges in the population were included in the sample study. For analysis, the researcher applied a number of statistical tools such as: frequencies, percentages, arithmetic mean, t-test, analysis of variance and Kudr- Richardson formula. , The analysis of the study has revealed some important results which can‘ be summarized in the following: - The secondary school physics textbooks for the school year 1424~1425 H have contained 686 physical concepts; of which 465 concepts were for purposeful learning. The afore-mentioned concepts contained 318 principal concepts (56 in the first secondary textbook, 102 in the second and 160 in the third)» ¢ All principal concepts were suitable for all secondary school years with reference to the four criteria involved in the study in general, and with reference to comprehension, class, and presnet-time demands in particular. - Some concepts were not related to the student's realities (six of which were in the first secondary textbook, two in second, and eleven in the third). - Some physical concepts suitable for the students in the secondary school stage were not included in their textbooks (five of which were suitable for the first secondary, three for the second and four for the third). ' o The sample study individuals were unable to reorder the physical concepts in a hierarchy congruent with the logical order of the science of physics in all secondary school physics textbooks. - The lack of differences in the opinions of the sample study classifying the physical concepts could be attributed to the nature of their jobs, yearsl _of experience, and educational background at the level of the four criteria considered in this study. I '

The lack of differences in the opinions of the sample study in classifying the physical concepts could be attributed to the academic standard with three criteria; namely: comprehension level, present-time demands, and relationship to real life. At the same time, it was found that there was an insignificant difference with reference to the suitability of the concepts to the class level. The lack of differences in the ‘opinions of the sample study in classifying the physical concepts could be attributed to the educational districts with reference to three criteria; namely: comprehension level, present-time demands and relationship to real life. At the same time, it was found that there was a significant difference with reference to the suitability of the concepts of the class level, when the comparison was made between Asseer District and the Eastern District in favor of the latter. In the light of the results of this study, the researcher suggests the following recommendations: Concerning the sample study individuals, the researcher sees a pressing need for creating educational programs for teachers as an attempt to improve their teaching skills and to enhance their academic status. This need seems to be very acute for teachers in general, and for physics teachers in particular. This foreseen development of the teachers‘ professional skills train them to analyze the textbooks’ content and extract the principal physical concepts from them. Being able to do so, the teachers will be more qualified to select ‘the most appropriate teaching methods for these physical concepts. Concerning the content it is highly preferred to either eliminate the physical concepts which are not related to the students’ realities, or add to the content an extra material for the purpose of filling the curricular gap existing in the current textbooks. Doing so will enable the students to benefit from these concepts in their real life. Moreover, it is recommended to add the missing suitable physical concepts to the content of each textbook. The researcher strongly recommends a reduction in the number of physical concepts contained in the three secondary textbooks in order to make a balance between the size of the content of each textbook and the time allocated for teaching it . This recommendation is more emphasized in the second and third secondary years. Other observations disclosed by this study ought to be taken into consideration whenever they appear to be important, plausible, and viable. Hopefully, an attempt of this nature will lead to developing teachers‘ skills and physics textbooks as well.