Investigating the use of ICT as a constructivist approach to the teaching and learning of physics in some senior high schools in Agona East District of Ghana

Abstract

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become a household name for any country that wants to develop Education. ICT has received significant attention from successive governments over the past decade at the Senior High school level. Teaching and learning have evolved over the years from the traditional instructivism, to the constructivism approach where learners have become active organism with expectations and the teacher becoming a facilitator. The aim of the study was to investigate the use of ICT as a constructivist approach to the teaching and learning of Physics in Swedru Senior High School. The study was underpinned by the constructivist theory. The study adopted a quantitative research approach and descriptive research design. The census method and simple random sampling techniques were used in this research. The sample size was 206 students randomly selected for the study and 8 science teachers were purposely selected. Questionnaire was used as a research instrument for data collection. Descriptive statistical tools were used in analysing the data into frequencies and percentages, means and standard deviations with the support of SPSS version 22.0. The study revealed that the use of ICT in the teaching and learning of Physics developed diverse learning, critical thinking and active student participation which improve student‟s performance in the subject. It was recommended that, the Government should adopt ICT as a constructivist approach to the teaching and learning of Physics in Senior High Schools by providing the necessary logistics and infrastructure so that they can use ICT resources to enhance teaching and learning