The physics curriculum at the basic education level in Libya : an evaluation

Abstract

This evaluation study was conducted to identify the merit, worth and shortcomings of the physics curriculum in the Basic Education Level in Libya. A broad focus of the three stages of the physics curriculum; the intended, implemented, and achieved, was adopted using Stufflebeam's CIPP evaluation model. The study sample consisted of twenty-four Basic Education Level (BEL) schools, randomly selected, to represent all education offices in Tripoli area. An intact class, one from each grade of the Basic Education Level (Grades 7, 8, and 9), was randomly selected from each school. Thus the students of these classes, a total of 1951 students, the teachers, a total of 56, and thirteen physics supervisors represented the students', the teachers' and the supervisors' sample in Tripoli area. The instruments used included content analysis of the curriculum materials, students', teachers', and supervisors' closed-ended questionnaires, achievement tests, an attitude scale, a nature of science test (NOST), check lists, and a textbook rating scale. Open-ended questionnaires were administered to three members of the physics curriculum "Technical Committee" and a sample of physics teachers and supervisors. The main findings of the study were that the traditional view of many concepts and processes concerning curriculum design, development, implementation, and evaluation are dominating the education scene in Libya. This is reflected in the different dimensions of mismatch between the three stages of the physics curriculum and the conception and conducting of many aspects of the teaching-learning process. More specifically, the major findings of the study were: • Lack of laboratories and shortage of needed materials, equipment and resources is the most serious obstacle to the proper implementation of the physics curriculum and to adequate teaching of physics. On average, 73.7% of the practical activities and experiments prescribed in the textbooks were not carried out at all. • Physics teachers lack adequate perception of the nature of science, which is a result of both inadequate initial training and lack of in-service training. • The physics textbooks are not of good quality in aspects related especially to the content, organization, laboratory activities, and questions. • Lecturing, teacher-student discussion, and questions and answers were the most frequently used methods in physics teaching. • Students' performance in the achievement tests constructed for the present study was low in the whole test and all sub-tests in all three grades. However, students' performance in the 9th grade SOE physics examination was quite satisfactory. Male students performed better than female students in the beginning of the BEL, grade seven, but by the end of this level, grade nine, the female students, significantly, out performed the male students in both the achievement test and the SOE examination. • Students showed positive attitudes toward physics, as measured by the Physics Related Attitude Scale (PRAS). They start to develop their positive attitudes in grade seven, increases in grade eight, then decreases toward the final year of the BEL, but remain positive and stronger than the first year of this level. Female students showed more positive attitudes toward physics than male students in the whole attitude scale and all four sub-scales.