USING INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS TO HELP LEVEL "100 A" STUDENTS OF ATEBUBU COLLEGE OF EDUCATION HAVE BETTER CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF REFLECTION AND REFRACTION OF LIGHT

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to use instructional materials to help level "100A" students of Atebubu College of Education have better conceptual understanding of reflection and refraction of light. The study was an action research which falls under descriptive research design. The population of the study was all students of Atebubu College of Education. The target population for the research was all the Level 100 students of Atebubu College of Education but the accessible population was the level "100A" students of the College. The class was made up of forty (40) students. The researcher used purposive sampling to carefully select the students based on their peculiar problems. The instruments used for the research were observation, regular class exercises, interview, pre and post- tests. From the analysis of the data from the study, the following major findings were observed. During the pre-intervention exercise, it was revealed that most of the students were lacking the basic knowledge and understanding about the concepts of reflection and refraction of light, and that; they performed poorly in their pretest questions. After the implementation of the intervention activities, results from the post-test did indicate that about 85% have improved in their conceptual understanding of reflection of light. Again, about 75% also improved in their conceptual understanding of refraction of light after the intervention. These showed that a great majority of the students have overcome their difficulties in the concepts of reflection and refraction of light. Thus students’ conceptual understanding of reflection of light as well as refraction of light improved. There were mixed opinions to the research question three. Students’ opinions showed that majority of them supported the use of instructional materials in the learning process. Based on the research conducted, the following recommendation was made, Physics teachers should solely depend on the use of instructional materials for effective delivery and achievement of lesson objectives.