Date of Award

12-2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Master of Education (MEd)

First Supervisor/Advisor

Mussa Mohamed

Second Supervisor/Advisor

Dr. Fredrick Japhet Mtenzi

Department

Institute for Educational Development, East Africa

Abstract

This study examined Secondary School students’ attitude towards Physics subject by assessing the factors associated with such attitude. Qualitative research approach with case study design was adopted. The study had four questions; What are the positive factors that affect student’s attitude towards Physics? What are the negative factors that affect student’s attitude towards Physics? What are the effects of the negative attitudes of students towards Physics? To what extent are these factors affecting the attitude of the students towards Physics? The study sample size comprised of two teachers (academic teacher, and Physics teacher) who were purposively sampled; and 12 form three students who were stratified sampled. The interview guide, focus group discussion guide and document analysis protocol were employed as data collection instruments. The study found that factors such as; career goals, parental influence, and care, form two national examination results, and availability of competent subject teacher affected positively the attitude of students towards Physics. On the other hand, factors such as; inadequate teaching and learning resources, peer influence and poor background of a student from primary education regarding the science and mathematics subjects, affected their attitude negatively towards Physics. These negative factors made some students to drop the subject, hence lowered the enrolment rate of students in the subject and also cause poor performance in national examinations. The study concluded that students’ attitude towards Physics varied significantly depending on the factors identified. Finally, the study concluded that the schools should provide a supportive environment that will positively influence a student’s attitude towards any subject, teachers should use available resources in order to improve students positive towards Physics, students need to be encouraged along their subject combination option in line with their various career paths, Physics and mathematics teachers should work hand to hand to support students in mathematical function foundation. Similarly, the government should deploy more teachers of Physics in secondary schools.

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