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Identifying and Dispelling Students’ Misconceptions about Electricity and Magnetism Using Inquiry-Based Learning in Selected Junior High Schools

Humphrey Darkeh Assem(1), Micheal Owusu(2), Salifu Issah(3), Baba Issah(4),


(1) Wesley College of Education
(2) Wesley College of Education
(3) Wesley College of Education
(4) Wesley College of Education
Corresponding Author

Abstract


This study was carried out among selected 80 Junior High School students in the Ashanti Region of Ghana to give answers to a misconception test dubbed Electricity-Magnetism Inventory Test (EMIT). The responses were graded and compared based on the pretest and posttest performances using simple descriptive statistics generated from the IBM SPSS software. The inquiry-based method of teaching was used to address the problem through a series of lessons designed on the concept of Electricity and Magnetism after which the EMIT was administered again to ascertain the efficiency of the intervention conducted. Findings from the data available indicated that students’ misconceptions emanated from their socio-economic background, socio-cultural background, previous experiences that they encountered as they were growing up, and some lessons that were taught by teachers who thought them at lower levels. The misconceptions were largely cleared after they had been taken through the inquiry-based lessons. The study concludes that there the inquiry method is a panacea for dispelling students’ misconceptions. The pretest results and the posttest results from the EMIT were evidence that misconceptions among students have been eliminated to a considerable level

Keywords


Basic school; Conceptual; Electricity; Implications; Inquiry-based learning; Learning; Magnetism; Misunderstanding; Teaching

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