Ideal Reflect Upon Reality:Students' Perception Of Effective Teaching In Physics

Physics is a compulsory subject and plays an important role in the process of schooling in secondary education.The previous research on the effectiveness of teaching was often based on the perspectives from teachers,while the perspective of students were barely taken into account.However,students are active learners and centered in the process of teaching.Effective teaching should be evaluated from the perspective of effectively promoting student learning.Therefore,this study focuses on students' perceptions of effective teaching in physics and what student factors influence their perception and expectations as well as the difference between them.There are two research questions: 1)is there any difference between their expectations of ideal effective teaching in physics and perception of actual teaching in physics? 2)What do student factors influence their perception of real physics teaching,expectations of ideal physics teaching,and the differences between them? 540 students from 9 classes in Baise Blessing High School in Guangxi(China)participated in this study.A questionnaire was administrated.This questionnaire consists of two parts: student background information collection(demographic characteristics,academic goals,partner with self-efficacy and interest in physics)and the scale for measuring students' perception of effective teaching in physics(adapted from a popular questionnaire “What is happening in this class?”[WIHIC],modified it by considering the important features in physics,which includes 8 subscales).After data collection,the multiple linear regression technique was adopted to answer the second research question.Results reveal that students' perception of real teaching in physics and expectations of effective teaching in physics are significantly different.Students perceive that in the real teaching in physics teachers fairly treating students has the highest frequency,while classroom participation has the lowest frequency;students expect in ideal teaching in physics equity is the most desirable,while classroom participation is the least desirable;there is a significant difference between reality and ideal in the overall scale and eight subscales,students' perception of scientific inquiry and classroom participation are the most different;student factors(grade,numbers of books at home,academic goals,and self-efficacy and interest in physics)have a significant impact on students' perception of real effective teaching in physics;mobility and interest in physics have a significant impact on their expectations of ideal effective teaching in physics;mobility and grade are significantly related to the overall difference between reality and ideal.Finally,conclusions of the study were made and practical suggestions for high school physics teachers were provided.This study inspires that high school physics teachers would consider different needs of effective teaching in physics from diverse student groups,when they preparing lessons or thinking about issues relevant to teaching.Hearing from students' voices could be the implications from the study for physics teaching in high schools where students populations are similar to those in this study.