Research Information System
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND SCIENCE EDUCATION, vol.9, pp.133-157, 2014 (Peer-Reviewed Journal)
In Turkey, a new Turkish High School Physics Curriculum (THSPC) was put
into practice, starting initially with the Grade 9 in the 2008-2009
education-year. When compared with the previous ones, this curriculum
emphasized the importance of students’ active involvement in learning,
use of real-life contexts and development of new skills. Even though
what is intended with the new curriculum reflects the global trends in
science/physics education, its success (or failure thereof) depends a
great deal on teachers since they are the main actors to put the
curriculum into practice. Whether teachers can implement the curriculum
as intended by the curriculum developers remains an important question. A
teacher’s belief is an important factor, among others, that affects
his/her implementation of the THSPC. In this regard, the aim of this
study was to investigate physics teachers’ beliefs related to the
teaching of physics according to the THSPC. Four physics teachers from
different schools participated in this study. Data were collected
through interviews, classroom observations and an open-ended
questionnaire. According to our findings, physics teachers believed that
teaching physics based on the THSPC helped students use their skills,
become more interested in physics lessons, relate physics to their daily
life and understand physics better. However, teachers believed that
factors such as students’ interest in physics, the university entrance
exam, inadequate laboratory facilities, limited lesson hours per week,
and lack of information and communication technologies affected the
implementation of the THSPC. For more effective implementation of the
THSPC, making some changes in the curriculum should be necessary.