Douglas Darko Agyei

<p>This research reports on the design aspect of a bigger project which sought to design and implement information and communication technology (ICT)-based interventions for the purpose of developing pre-service teachers’ ICT competency for teaching physics in an interactive manner using a three-stage (design stage, implementation and evaluation stage, and documentation and reflection stage) design-based research approach. Using literature as a lens, this research examines the interventions that we designed in the first stage of the project with the intent to determine its features that promote interactive teaching and fit the Ghanaian senior high school physics classroom context. Findings show that the intervention with inherent features comprising of: a readily available, sustainable, context- and content-specific ICT teaching and learning environment; an ICT-oriented knowledge base for teachers’ uptake of ICT; an underlining framework for defining interactive and learner-centred teaching approach with ICT; ICT-driven interactive lesson objectives; an inquiry-driven, activity- and ICT-based learning material; and a collaborative classroom arrangement is appropriate and sensitive to the needs of the Ghanaian physics classroom context and, hence, possess the potential for promoting interactive teaching. The features of the interventions, as situated in the specific context of the research and implications of the findings are discussed.<strong></strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p>

The dwindling interest and perceived difficulty experienced by science students in learning physics at the senior high school level of education in Ghana speak to the need for the creation of authentic instructional platforms that promote enhanced learning as well as motivate students’ interest in physics. This study used an explanatory case study design to examine the affordances of Physics Education Technology simulations (PhETs) as an instructional tool with the intent to explain how enhanced students’ learning of physics concepts with simulations through implementation processes are possible in the context of Ghana. Nine pre-service physics teachers were engaged as learners to mimic the role of senior high school science students in witnessing simulation-based physics lessons. Questionnaires, pre- and post-tests and focus group interviews were the data sources employed in this study. The results showed that the learners’ learning enhanced with the use of PhETs because their learning outcomes improved and also, they had positive experiences with the simulations. Consequently, the study advocates that enhanced learning of concepts in physics with simulations are possible through interactive implementation processes that are exploratory and demonstrative in nature and context-sensitive.