Running Head: Activity-Based Learning Using Activity-Based Instructional Approaches in Electric Circuits

Abstract

This study examined the effectiveness of activity-based instructional approaches to teach electric circuits. The research population consisted of hundred (100) first year science education students enrolled at a South African university, both from South Africa’s OBE-based curriculum (the NCS) and the Old school curriculum(OSC, the Nated 550). A pre-test/post-test comparison group design was followed. Data analysis was carried out by the use of the “t” test statistic, as well as the average normalised gain scores. The findings showed highly statistically significant gains between the pre-test and post-test scores for both NCS and OSC groups on all the measures(p < 0,05).The average normalised gain was larger than 0,3,thus indicating the effectiveness of the intervention). There was no significant difference in the performance of the two groups.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n15p400