By J. K. Nabary
Winneba (C/R), July 19, GNA- Mr. Emmanuel Essuman, Central Regional Director of Education, has called for more investments in the training of teachers to ensure that students receive the best possible education.
He made the call in an address delivered on his behalf by Mr. Richard Arthur, the Regional Science Technology English Mathematics (STEM), Coordinator at a day’s workshop for Physics Tutors in Senior High Schools in the Region at Winneba.
The programme organised by the Department of Physics Education at the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) was under the theme: “Innovative Teaching strategies to address students’ Misconceptions in physics.”
It is to serve as a catalyst for transformative change in teaching practices by engaging in meaningful discussions, sharing research findings, exchanging experiences and collectively exploring novel methods to engage students and clarify their misconceptions about physics.
The mission of UEW is to train competent professional teachers for all levels of education to contribute to educational policy and development.
This is in line with the mission of the Physics Department to train quality physics teachers to teach students to have deeper understanding of the concepts and theories in physics, among others, to help promote physics education in Ghana.
Prof. Victor Antwi, Pro VC of UEW, Prof. M. K. Amedeker, Prof. Kojo Donkor Taale, Dr. Ishmael K. Anderson, Dr. Desmond Appiah and Dr. Michael Gyan lecturers at the University, were the Resource persons.
They took the participants through “Hands-on-Physics Invocations Teaching Techniques, Improvisation Technologies in Teaching Physics, Use of Technological Tools to Manager Daily Activities, Differentiated Instruction in Physics, Misconception in Physics (Density, Heat Energy and Light Energy) and Misconception in physics (Electricity)”.
Mr. Essuman indicated that education was a fundamental human right and key to unlocking the potential of the Nation and that the quality of education students received depended largely on the quality of teachers.
“It is for this reason that I consider the theme for this capacity building workshop very timely and relevant.”
He said, Physics was a fundamental science that explained the workings of the natural world but often perceived as a challenging subject by students, adding that most students developed misconceptions while trying to understand complex concepts such as force, energy and electricity.
“This misconception can hinder student’s learning and understanding of physics, but with accurate teaching strategies we can address them,” he assured.
The Regional Director sharing the West African Senior Secondary Certificate analysis on pass rates in Elective Physics from 2017 to 2022, stated that, the Central Region recorded 85.4 percent pass in 2017, 88.1 percent in 2018, 89.9 percent in 2019, 84.3 percent in 2020, 82.3 percent in 2021 and 84.2 percent in 2022.
“Though the percentages are very encouraging there is more work to be done by teachers with the students to achieve 100 percent pass rate in elective physics,” he stated.
“I wish to thank UEW Authorities for this outstanding initiative and aappeal for more of such workshops to help improve academic performance and to promote teacher professional development in Central Region and Ghana as a whole,” he added.
Dr. Appiah, a Lecturer at the Physics department, who is the initiator of the programme, later in an interview with the GNA said the workshop was to recognise that students had fundamental misunderstanding about physics, which was the backboard of engineering and technology.
“Hence all this while, we thought it imperative to impact the teacher who will in turn impart it to students at their respective institutions.”
He appealed to the government, NGOs, corporate bodies and the society to support the initiative to enable them to extend it to other regions in the country to upgrade the teaching skills of physics teachers.
GNA