Traditional Guided Lab Activities in the Physics Laboratory of Engineering Institutions in Kathmandu District of Nepal

Pankaj Sharma  Ghimire ,; Krishna   Shrestha,

Traditional Guided Lab Activities in the Physics Laboratory of Engineering Institutions in Kathmandu District of Nepal

Pankaj Sharma Ghimire | Krishna Shrestha

Discipline: Education

Abstract:

Laboratory activities play a crucial role in the conceptual understanding of the theoretical aspects of physics. Traditional guided lab activities emphasize a teachercentric pedagogical approach in which learners are merely passive recipients of the content knowledge as delivered by the teacher. The authors in their professional journey at engineering institutions were also guided by the traditional laboratory approach in the teaching and learning process inside the physics laboratory. During our professional journey at engineering institutions, we felt that students had difficulty demonstrating the science process skills and employing the theoretical aspects in real-world situations. The primary objective of this research was to explore the lab activities inside the physics laboratory at diploma engineering institutions in the Kathmandu district of Nepal. For this purpose, an ethnographic method was employed in which multiple laboratory sessions were observed, and open-ended and unstructured interviews were conducted with the research participants at different locations through in-person and online processes. In addition, social constructivist learning theory was utilized in this research process. The findings lead to the conclusion that traditional guided laboratory activities prevailed inside the physics lab of those institutions under study

References:

Anthony, G. (1996). Active learning in a constructivist framework. Educational Studies in Mathematics. 31(4), 349-369.
Brownell, S. E., Kloser, M. J., Fukami, T., & Shavelson, R. (2012). Undergraduate biology lab courses: Comparing the impact of traditionally based" cookbook" and authentic research-based courses on student lab experiences. Journal of College Science Teaching, 41(4), 36-45
Bryman, A. (2012). Social research methods. Oxford University Press.
Chung, C., Kuo, W., & Liu, C. (2010). Facilitating group learning in science laboratory courses using handheld devices. ICLS 2010, 1, 1-8
Clark,T.M., Ricciardo, R., & Weaver, T.(2015). Transitioning from expository laboratory experiments to course-based undergraduate research in general chemistry. Journal of Chemical Education. 93. 56-63. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.5b00371
Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. Pearson Education, Inc.
Darmaji, D., Kurniawan, D.A., & Irdianti, I. (2019). Physics education students’ science process skills. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education, 8(2), 293-298. https://doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v8i2.28646.
Dillashaw, F.G., & Okey, J.R. (1980, April). A test for the integrated science process skills for secondary science students. [Paper presentation]. Annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching. Boston, Massachusetts.
Emaliana, I. (2017). Teacher-centered or student-centered learning approach to promote learning. Journal Social Humaniores. 10(2), 59-70
Fadaei, A. S. (2021). Comparing the effects of cookbook and non-cookbook based lab activities in a calculus-based introductory physics course. International Journal of Physics and Chemistry Education, 13(4), 65-72. https://doi.org/10.51724/ijpce.v13i4.135
Flick, U. (2014). Qualitative data analysis. Sage publication.
Ghimire, P.S. (2023). Teaching and learning practices in physics classrooms of technical schools in Kathmandu: An ethnographic Inquiry. Unpublished M.Phil dissertation. Kathmandu University, Nepal.
Gubrium, J.F., & Holstein, J.A.(2014). Analytic Inspiration in Ethnographic fieldwork. In U. Flick (Eds.). The sage handbook of qualitative data analysis. (pp. 35-48). Sage Publication
Musasia, A.H., Abacha, O.A., & Biyoyo, M.E. (2012). Effect of practical work in physics on girls’ performance, attitude change, and skills acquisition in the form two from three secondary schools’ transition in Kenya. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2(23), 151-166
O’reilly (2005). Ethnographic method. Routledge
Pokhrel, S. (2022). An exploratory multiple-case study of Nepal’s science teacher educators’ knowledge and practices of active learning and culturally responsive teaching. [Doctoral dissertation Clemson University]. Tiger prints. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all/dissertations/3049.
Popham, W. J. (2001). Teaching to the Test? Educational leadership, 58(6), 16-21.
Prayitno, B.A., Corebima, D., Susilo, S., Zubaidah, S., & Ramli, M. (2017). Closing the science process skills gap between students with high and low level academic achievements. Journal of Baltic Science Education. 16(2), 266-277.
Pyatt, K., & Sims, R. (2007). Learner performance and attitudes in traditional versus simulated lab experiences. In ICT: Providing choices for learners and learning. Proceedings ascilite Singapore 2007. 870-879 http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/singapore07/procs/pyatt.pdf
Shahali,E.H., & Halim, L.(2010). Development and validation of a test of integrated science process skills. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences. 142-146.
Singer, S. R., Hilton, M. L., & Schweingruber, H. A. (Eds.). (2006). America's laboratory report: Investigations in high school science. National Research Council.
Taylor, P. C., & Williams, M.C. (1992). Discourse towards balanced rationality in the high school mathematics classroom: Ideas from Habermas’s critical theory, 1- 17.
Ural, E. (2016). The effect of guided-inquiry laboratory experiments on science education students' chemistry laboratory attitudes, anxiety and achievement. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 4(4), 217-227. https://doi.org?10.11114/jets.v4i4.1395
Van Mennon, J. (1988). Tales of the field: On writing ethnography. University of Chicago Press.
Wilcox, B. R., & Lewandowski, H. J. (2016). Open-ended versus guided laboratory activities: Impact on students’ beliefs about experimental physics. Physical Review Physics Education Research, 12(2), 020132
Yesilyurt, E. (2022). Investigating elementary preservice teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning science breadcrumb. Journal of College Science Teaching, 51(5), 23-30