Generative Learning Strategy : Physics Intervention Strategy For Improved Academic Achievement And Motivation By Gender

Some researchers in recent years have lighted the declined in the number of students wishing to continue with the study of physics (Ho & Boo, 2007). A number of factors have been identified by researchers as the contributing factors to this decline. Some students associate this decline to the subjects been boring, irrelevant and too abstract. Literatures (Sillito & Mackinnon, 2000; Boyes & Dickson, 2003) also noted that the study of physics in schools and universities is spiraling into decline as many students believe it is too difficult. Consequently, this has negative effect on the academic achievement of physics students. The kind of learning environment, interaction, and teaching methods utilized by physics teachers at any level of education may also be attributed to the decline in the number of students willing to study physics. Consequently, utilization of appropriate instructional methods could be beneficial to halt this decline. The instructional method which is right for a particular lesson depends on many factors such as the age and cognitive development of the students, what the students already know, and what they need to know to succeed in the subject, the subject matter, students interest and the objective of the lesson. Research has shown that the performance, motivation and interest of learners to learn significantly depend on the teaching strategies adopted by teachers (Makgato & Mji, 2006). A review of literature suggests that the extent to which learners learn depends on their level of motivation which can be stimulated by the nature of the Learning environment and the teaching Strategy utilized by the teacher (Mwanmwenda, 2010). He further added that the teacher’s role is to influence Abstract: The study examined the effect of Generative Learning Strategy on College of Education Students’ academic achievement and motivation to learn physics concepts. The research design employed was pretest-intervention-posttest, non-equivalent comparison-group design using a total of 98 subjects. The subjects were composed of males, females, high achievers and low achievers in physics scores of students’ of Berekum College of Education. Two research instruments, Multiple Choice Items (MCI) and Motivation Perception Survey on Generative Learning (MPSGL) were used to gather data for the study. MCI was used to gather data on students’ academic progression in physics before and after introduction of the intervention while MPSGL was used to assess students’ motivation in physics studies before and after the intervention. Mean, standard deviation, mean gain and effect size were used to answer the research questions, while ttest was also used to test the hypotheses. The results indicated that students instructed using Generative Learning Strategy performed better in the MCI test instrument than those instructed using lecture method fused with demonstration and discussion. Also the results suggest that Generative Learning Strategy increases students’ motivation to learn physics. No significant difference in the performance by gender and high and low achievers with regard to the using Generative Learning Strategy were discovered. Based on the results obtained, it was, therefore, suggested that, physics teachers at the Colleges of Education should be encouraged to use Generative Learning Strategy to teach physics to sustain students’ academic achievement in physics’ concepts and motivation.