Phenomenography of Teachers’ and Students’ Understanding, Beliefs and Experiences of Physics Learning Assessment

Abstract

The purpose of this phenomenographic study was to explore the understandings, beliefs, and experiences of Physics Learning Assessment (PLA) of senior high school Physics teachers and students in General Physics 1, a subject in the curriculum for the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) strand. Specifically, this study answered the following research questions: (1) What are the SHS teachers' and students' ways of understanding Physics Learning Assessment in the following dimensions of understanding: knowledge, purpose, and process? (2) What are the SHS teachers' and students' beliefs about the effectiveness and efficiency of Physics Learning Assessment? (3) What do the SHS teachers' and students' find significant in their lived experiences of PLA as inferred from their most significant stories, emotions evoked by and insights gained from these experiences? (4) What are the teachers' and students' categories of description of PLA? And (5) What are the relationships among the teachers' and students' conceptions of PLA? The study employed the exploratory-descriptive research design; hence, the sources of data included semi-structured interviews of the teacher-informants and focus group discussions (FGDs) with the student-participants. Classroom observation during a given PLA session and analysis of shared PLA tools for each FGD group of the four teachers were additional sources of data. The study's sample consisted of four teachers and thirty-two students in Grade 12 General Physics 1 classes from two senior high schools in Davao City.

The students made up four FGD groups with eight members in each group. These teachers and students were purposively selected because they were the direct users of PLA. The study adopted the phenomenographic paradigm, specifically the structure of awareness, as the phenomenographic analytical framework. The outputs of the analysis are the description of the SHS teachers' and students' ways of understanding, beliefs, and experiences of PLA; the categories of descriptions; and the outcome space which visually maps the relationships between the teachers' and students' conceptions of PLA. Moreover, the social constructivist perspective of learning and assessment was anchored on as part of the theoretical framework. Based on the results of data analysis, the researcher inferred the following descriptions of the levels of sophistication from lowest to highest of teachers' and students' awareness of their conceptions of PLA: structural or "law abider", practical or "scientist-at-heart", and reflective or "conscientious" for the teachers, and for the students: grade-focused or "grade-conscious"; socially-focused or "social"; real-life focused or "physical world appreciator"; and the motivation-focused or "motivator". The study explored and described the conceptions of the selected SHS teachers and students only, but the research design, specifically the data collection and analysis procedures, may be transferrable to other context and disciplines. It is recommended that Physics education researchers conduct a further study on the analysis of teachers' and students' conceptions of PLA in multi-cultural communities with a larger sample size, more senior high schools and inclusion of female teachers. It is also recommended that curriculum designers evaluate the coverage of the curriculum guide in General Physics 1 to make it more realistic considering the time allotted for the subject and the SHS students' readiness for it