Date of Award

3-2010

Thesis Type

PhD

Document Type

Thesis

Divisions

Faculty of Education

Department

Department of Curriculum and Instructional Technology

Institution

Universiti Malaya

Abstract

Physics has always been thought of as the most difficult subject as it involves abstract concepts. Previous research shows that matching learning style strategy with certain technology will be able to increase students learning experience. This study is based on the Felder Silverman Model (1988) which comprises four dimensions (visual/verbal, active/reflective, sequential/global, sensing/intuitive). The objective of this study is to develop a pedagogical module based on technology and Felder-Silverman’s learning style for secondary school Physics curriculum. This research is done in three phases: need analysis, design & development, and usability evaluation. Data in the first phase was collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 Physics teachers in the Klang district. Results showed that the most suitable pedagogy using technology is the abstract concepts and experiments which are difficult as well as impossible to be conducted in laboratory. Data in the second phase was collected from 21 experts using ‘two rounds’ modified Delphi technique. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test shows that overall there is no significant difference on majority of the tested items between the first and the second round of the modified Delphi technique. Next, five expert reviews were used in the development of the pedagogical module. The expert reviews suggested that the pedagogical module should be developed for four learning styles such as active, reflective, visual and verbal. The third phase of the research is the usability evaluation through user retrospective. The module was tested with 14 form 4 Physics students. Two Physics teachers carried two lessons on two gas laws such as ‘Charles Law’ and ‘Boyle’s Law’. Semi-structured interviews were carried out on the two Physics teachers and 10 students from four learning styles. The findings from the usability evaluation based on teachers’ and students’ retrospective showed that they were very satisfied with the technological tools, digital resource support, teaching technique, activities and exercises provided by the module. Furthermore, the results showed that the pedagogical module has seven strengths. Firstly, the module provide space and learning opportunity for students based on their learning styles. Secondly, the module helps students to understand Physics concepts. Thirdly, the module provides effective two way communication. Next, the module helps to increase students’ interest in Physics and increase teachers as well as students IT knowledge. In addition, the module has great potential to be implemented in the future. Finally, the module is easy to be used and it is interesting. The end product of this study is the pedagogical module based on technology and Felder-Silverman learning style for secondary school Physics curriculum which are available to be used by the Ministry of Education, Physics teachers and students. In addition, this study is able to produce a pedagogical model which combine both curriculum (Taba) and technology (ASSURE) models. This model can be replicated by future researchers. Based on these findings, the pedagogical module which is based on technology and learning style, is an effective instructional package.

Initial

khm

Additional Information

Thesis (PhD) – Faculty of Education, Universiti Malaya, 2010.

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