Effectiveness of a Constructivistic Multimedia-Learning Package on Shaping and Guiding Students' Attitudes Toward Physics

• Main Authors: Divya C. Senan, Matthew E. Edwards, Salam Khan, Asha J. Vilasini
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Institute of Informatics and Cybernetics 2016-06-01
• Series: Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics
• Subjects: Constructivist; Multi-media Learning Package (MLP); Cognition; Bloom's Affective Domain
• Online Access: http://www.iiisci.org/Journal/CV$/sci/pdfs/SA296XM16.pdf

Physics is considered by some to be the most perplexing area in the sciences and perceived as a hard subject for students from secondary school to the university to adult-graduate education. Educational research has provided evidence that attitudes towards physics change with exposure to it. When students have negative attitudes towards physics, they often do not "like" physics courses or the teachers of those courses. Based on this premise, numerous studies have been conducted to determine the factors that affect students' attitudes towards physics. A goal that is important to most if not all teachers of physics courses is to inspire students to have a positive attitude towards the subject. This goal encompasses an appreciation of how physicists think and how they incorporate the values that it provides, as well as, how it is applied to other areas or related fields, and its application in everyday life. In this regard, the aim of this investigation has been to explore how to impact more effectively positive students' attitudes in physics courses. To that end, we report the effectiveness of a constructivistic multimedia-learning package (MLP) in shaping and guiding students' attitudes towards physics.