Richmond Quarcoo-Nelson

The study of females‘ interest in physics is an issue of international concern. Of the sciences, physics is the subject in which the increase in the number of females involved has been particularly low. The term 'interest' may usually refers to preference to engage in some types of activities rather than others. This study investigated whether Ghanaian Senior High School female science students would prefer to study physics at the university or not and the reasons for their choice. Two hundred and one final year female students in four Senior High Schools offering biology, chemistry and physics in the Cape Coast Metropolis of the Central Region of Ghana, participated in the study. Data was obtained with Questionnaire on Female Participation in Physics and Interview Protocol, administered to the female students. The findings from the study suggest that female students do not prefer physics as a course of study at the university level due to limited career opportunities in the subject. An implication from this study is that female enrolment in physics will not improve unless information about career awareness in the subject is made available to students. Serious efforts must be made by physics educators as well as Physics Departments to create awareness of career opportunities in the study of physics.

This study was aimed at finding out the impact audio-visual-aided instruction on students’ achievement in physics at Cape Coast township of Cape Coast Metropolis, Ghana. The study was a non-randomized pre-test/post-test group design. A total of 65 students in Senior High School (SHS) formed the sample for the study. The students were fourth year science students from two purposefully selected co-educational SHS. The two selected schools were randomly designated experimental and control groups respectively. A validated physics achievement test instrument of a reliability coefficient of 0.76 was administered. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and t-test statistics were used to test the two hypotheses formulated to guide the study at a significance level 0.05. The results showed that SHS students taught with audio-visual aided instruction performed better than those taught with traditional method. The mean achievement scores of both male and female students improved significantly by the use of the audio-visual aided instruction. It was therefore recommended that SHS physics teachers should explore the use of audio-visual-aided instruction to teach the subject, physics.