Abstract:

Many researches show that there are low interest and motivation in physics among Junior high-school students. Students consider physics as a difficult subject for students and uninteresting. Analysis of the Finnish National Curriculum and textbooks in physics shows that there are no references on the scientific picture of nature. To create a functioning scientific picture of nature students must ensure inter-disciplinary relationships between physics and other science subjects. It requires activation of students' knowledge in physics and other science subjects. In order to activate students' knowledge in various science school subjects and simultaneously increase their interest to ensure that pupils are able to understand the scientific picture of nature, we used the teaching model based on the Humanistic and Scientific inquiry-oriented method. We compared this model with the traditional cyclical teaching model and examined how the Humanistic and Scientific inquiry-oriented method affects students' interest and motivation towards physics. Our survey showed that students' Knowledge Increase (KI,%) was 52% and their Competency Level in physics was increased by 38% among boys and 13% among girls. Teaching according the Humanistic and Scientific Inquiry-oriented method enables the use of students' knowledge to create a functioning scientific picture of nature, increasing students' self-esteem and confidence and encourages students to use modern technology for the experiment.

Keywords:

Research projects, students motivation in Physics, cognitive teaching, didactics of Physics, Science teaching, learning and teaching methodologies.