Enhancing Transfer of Knowledge in Physics through Effective Teaching Strategies

Abstract

The study assessed the enhancement of transfer of knowledge in physics through the use of effective teaching strategies in Nigerian senior secondary schools. Non-randomized pretest-posttest control group design was adopted for the study. A total of 278 physics students took part in the study. Transfer of Knowledge Test in Physics (TKTP) with the internal consistency of 0.76 using Kuder Richardson formula 21 was the instrument used in collecting data. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and t-test were used to analyze the data. The results showed that guided discovery was the most effective in facilitating students’ transfer of knowledge in physics. This was followed by demonstration while expository was found to be the least effective. Also, there exists no significant difference in the transfer of knowledge of male and female physics students taught with guided discovery, demonstration and expository teaching strategies. It is recommended that guided discovery and other student-centred teaching strategies should be adopted for teaching various concepts in physics so as to engage the students in various activities for meaningful acquisition and transfer of scientific knowledge processes and ethics.  Also, physics teacher must emphasize on variety of procedures for promoting insight, meaningfulness, organization of experience, discovery of interrelatedness among ideas and techniques, and the application of knowledge acquired in one situation to a variety of situations.

Keywords: Physics, Knowledge, Teaching strategies, Learning.