This study examined the effect of blended laboratory experiments on pre-service physics teachers’(PSPTs’) attitudes toward physics laboratories. The research design was a quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test comparing groups. Participants were 63 2nd-year PSPTs’ enrolled in a physics diploma program from three colleges of teacher education. The treatment groups performed blended and virtual laboratory experiments, whereas the comparison group conducted real laboratory experiments. Data were collected before and after intervention using a 34-item adapted attitude toward physics laboratory questionnaire with a Cronbach alpha value of 0.765. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired-sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Tukey post hoc comparisons. The findings revealed a statistically significant difference in mean post-test results between the treatment and comparison group. The Tukey HSD post hoc analysis revealed that the difference in mean between blended and real was statistically significant, but not on other combinations. Descriptive statistics showed slight attitudinal improvement from pre-test to post-test. This improvement was statistically significant for blended and virtual groups but not in real groups. Blending physics laboratory experiments can be used to enhance attitudes toward physics laboratories. Based on the conclusions, recommendations are made.

The objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of blended physics laboratory experimentation on pre-service physics teachers’ (PSPTs’) understanding of the nature of science (NOS) during an electricity and magnetism laboratory course. The study used a non-equivalent comparison group using a pre-test-post-test quasi-experimental design that contrasted blended, virtual, and real mode of physics experimentations. A total of 63 PSPTs, 16 in blended experimental group, 26 in virtual experimental group, and 21 in real experimental group, participated in the study. Except for the type of manipulatives, the experiments in all the three cases were the same. Quantitative Likert-type questions were administered before and after the intervention and open-ended questions were administered after the intervention. The quantitative data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and ANCOVA, while the qualitative data were categorized under naïve, mixed, and informed views. The results revealed that experimenting with blended, virtual, and real manipulatives were found to be ineffective in enhancing understanding of NOS on the PSPTs’. Apart from the type of experiment used, it was suggested that adequate consideration be paid to NOS issues in the laboratory courses in order to obtain well-educated and trained physics teachers.

This study focused on an assessment of pre-service physics teachers’ conceptual understanding of physics in the domain of electricity and magnetism concepts. The study employed a descriptive survey method of research. The study sample consisted of 100 pre-service physics teachers from five teacher education colleges during the academic year 2021/21. The study used preliminary data from a PhD dissertation that was gathered by administering a conceptual understanding test on electricity and magnetism, which contained 32 items adapted from standardized tests. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, one sample t-tests, independent samples t-tests, and one-way ANOVA. The results of the one sample t-test showed that the conceptual understanding test scores for electricity and magnetism were considerably below 50 and 70 which are the national standard pass mark points and the baseline for certification of competency to the teaching profession, respectively. ANOVA analysis revealed that there was a statistically significant mean difference among the pre-service physics teachers in the colleges. The post hoc test analysis showed that there was a statistically significant mean difference between pre-service teachers from two colleges. The independent samples t-test revealed that there was statistically significant mean difference between test scores of males and females in favor of male pre-service physics teachers. In addition, the participation of female candidates was too low compared to their male counterparts. In conclusion, the achievement of pre-service physics teachers was below the expected values; differences among colleges were detected; and there was an achievement and participation imbalance in relation to gender, though consecutive measures were taken. Based on the conclusions, recommendations are given that could be applicable.