Usability of Electronic Instructional Tools in the Physics Classroom
Kizito Ndihokubwayo 1 * , Jean Uwamahoro 1, Irénée Ndayambaje 2
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1 University of Rwanda-College of Education (UR-CE), African Centre of Excellence for Innovative Teaching and Learning Mathematics and Science (ACEITLMS), RWANDA2 Rwanda Education Board (REB), RWANDA* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Information Communication Technology (ICT) is becoming valuable tools to help improve education, especially during teaching and learning of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects. In this regard, we conducted this study to explore the usability of ICT tools in Physics taught courses. To collect data, we used classroom observation protocol for undergraduate STEM to assess how teachers and learners spend time on classroom activities among day and boarding schools and urban and rural schools. We also surveyed physics teachers after a short workshop on the use of PhET simulations and YouTube videos for teaching optics to reveal their workability and usefulness. As a result, we found that teachers in the day schools guide and assign more work to their learners, allow them to work in groups more than those in boarding schools. Similarly, learners in rural schools spend much time working in groups more than their colleagues in urban schools. However, teachers in urban schools spend much time guiding their learners than teachers in rural schools. Teachers use more of textbooks among various instructional tools. Teachers were not aware of and used to PhET simulations and YouTube videos in physics class; however, after the workshop, they conceived them as convenient electronic instructional tools that can accelerate the active learning of Optics. Since these resources are free to access and easy to use, we highly recommend teachers to use them in their daily teaching and learning activities.

License

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, 2020, Volume 16, Issue 11, Article No: em1897

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/8549

Publication date: 26 Sep 2020

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Article Downloads: 1356

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