| Summary: | Although the merits of practical work in physics are often questioned, it remains part of
physics curricula world-wide. In distance education the incorporation of practical work into
the curriculum is considerably complicated by the unique logistics of the setting and the high
cost involved. The research reported in this thesis emanated from the need to improve the
practical work module for first year physics at the University of South Africa, one of the
largest distance education universities in the world. Specifically, the home-based component
which, up to the commencement of the research had been entirely text-based, needed to be
addressed. To this end it was necessary to identify a valid and attainable set of objectives and
to determine the characteristics, abilities and needs of the students in the target group. A
survey polling the viewpoints of South African physics lecturers and students about the
objectives of practical work was conducted and an extensive student profile comprising a
biographic, cognitive and affective component was compiled. Biographically, the target
group is unique in the sense that it consists mainly of adult learners, a large percentage of
whom study in a second language. The cognitive component of the profile covered aptitude,
proficiency in English, mathematics and the integrated science process skills and level of
cognitive development, all of which were investigated for possible influence on performance
in practical work. On an affective level, students displayed a very positive attitude towards
practical work, seated mainly in their need for concrete exploration of the theory. A practical
work module structured around an experiential learning cycle adapted to the distance
education environment was subsequently designed. The study material developed for the
module comprised an interactive study guide on data processing and experimental procedure,
a home experiment kit with accompanying workbook and a laboratory manual. From the
pilot study forming part of the development process, it was found that students performed
significantly better in an assignment based on home-experimentation than in any of the pen- and
paper assignments preceding it. Based on the results of the pilot study, a full home
experiment kit was designed, evaluated, refined and implemented. === Physics === D.Phil. (Physics)
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