Using Real-Life Activities in an Interactive Engagement Manner in the Teaching and Learning of Newton’s First Law of Motion in a Ghanaian University

Abstract

Most Ghanaian university physics students depend on rote learning and rote problem solving, without having the conceptual knowledge of concepts that are being studied. This is so because the Ghanaian style of setting and answering of questions favour those students who have the ability to do rote memorization of learning. The instructors start physics (mechanics) teaching by first introducing the topic and lecturing on general principles. They then use the principles to derive mathematical models, show illustrative applications of the models and give students some practice question(s) in similar derivations and finally test their ability to do the same during examination. Little or no attention is paid to the question why any of that is being done, what real world phenomena the models can explain and which practical problems can be used to solve them. Ghana cannot afford to follow this trend, where the youth seem to lose their interest for understanding the concepts of physics and other science subjects in our universities and schools. The advances in physics provide human beings with the ability to achieve greater and more in-depth understanding of nature. In this study, real-life activities were used in an interactive engagement manner in the teaching and learning of Newton’s first law of motion in a Ghanaian lecture room. The analyses of teaching and learning processes that were videoed and transcribed showed that students’ involvement or interactive engagement in class led to enhance their conceptual understanding of the concepts of Newton’s first law of motion.

Keywords: Ghanaian university, Newton’s first law, interactive engagement, real-life activities