MSC Thesis Austin Mucholobwe Supervised by Danny Mutambo

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MSc thesis Austin Mucholobwe supervised by Danny

Mutambo
Research and Dissertation (The Copperbelt University)
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INVESTIGATING THE CAUSES OF POOR PERFORMANCE OF GRADE

12 PUPILS IN PHYSICS LESSONS INVOLVING GRAPHS OF MOTION.
MUCHOLOBWE AUSTIN
20152176
A research thesis submitted to The Copperbelt University in partial fulfilment of

the requirement of the Master of Science in Physics Education.
Department of Mathematics and Science Education
School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
The Copperbelt University,
Kitwe, Zambia.
© August, 2022

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DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this M.Sc. in Physics education thesis is my original work and
has not been presented for a master’s degree in any other university, and all
sources of material used for this thesis have been duly acknowledged.
Name: _______________________________________________
Signature: ________________________________________
Date: _________________________________________
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APPROVAL
The research project for Mr. Mucholobwe Austin has been approve/not approved
as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of M.Sc.in physics
Education by the Copperbelt University.
Examiner’s ;
Name……………………………………………………………….
Signature………………………………………………………….
Date…………………………………………………………………
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank God for his mercy for all of us. I would like to present my
deepest appreciation and thanks to my supervisor Mr. Mutambo Danny for his
grateful and unreserved advice and guidance, encouragement, correction and
constructive comments on the whole study from the beginning to the final stage. I
also wish to thank the headteachers, physics teachers and pupils for Mbanyutu and
Luampa secondary schools in Luampa district of Western province for the help
rendered to me during data collection for my research project. May I also take this
opportunity thanking the Copperbelt University and its dedicated lecturers for
allowing me to enroll with the University and give me this rare opportunity to do
this work.
My special thanks goes to my wife Caroline Mudenda Payne and my children for
their financial and moral support and encouragement in my thesis work up to its
end. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to all my friends and staff
members for their comment and information, moral support in my research work.
Mum and Dad thanks for showing and growing me in the academic route.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title……………………………………………………………………………….i
Declaration………………………………………………………………………..ii
Approval………………………………………………………………………….iii
Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………iv
Table of contents………………………………………………………………….v
List of tables…………………………………………………………………….viii
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………..x
CHAPTER ONE
1.1. Introduction………………………………………………………………….1
1.2. Background of the study…………………………………………...............1
1.3. Statement of the problem……………………………………………………2
1.4. Purpose of the study…………………………………………………………3
1.5. Research questions………………………………………………….............3
1.6. Research objectives………………………………………………………… 3
1.7. Justification of the study……………………………………………........... 3
1.8. Significance of the study…………………………………………………....4
1.9. Scope of the study…………………………………………………………. 4
1.10. Study limitations…………………………………………………………….5

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1.11. Definition of the study……………………………………………...........6
1.12. Organisation of the research report………………………………........... 6
CHAPTER TWO
2.0. Literature Review……………………………………………………………7
2.1. Theoretical framework of the study…………………………………………8
2.2. Location and status of secondary schools……….......................................9
2.3. Construction and reading of graphs…………………………………………9
2.4. Zambian science curriculum in comparison with other countries………….14
2.5. Academic Motivation……………………………………………………….15
2.6. Guidance and counselling…………………………………………………..16
2.7. Poor performance in graphing……………………………………………19
2.8. Summary………………………………………………………………….19
CHAPTER THREE
3.0. Research Methodology……………………………………………………..20
3.1. Research Design……………………………………………………………..20
3.2. Study area, population, and sample size……………………………………..20
3.3. Data collection instrument……………………………………………………21
3.4. Data collection procedure……………………………………………………23
3.5. Data analysis procedures and techniques…………………………………….25
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3.6. Summary……………………………………………………………………...27
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0. Research findings and analysis……………………………………………….28
4.1. Tests…………………………………………………………………………..28
4.2. Questionnaires……………………………………………………………….31
4.3. Observation………………………………………………………………...40
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0. Discussions of the study……………………………………………………..43
5.1. Challenges faced by both teachers and learners on graphs of motion and
solutions to reduce challenges faced……………………………………………..44
5.2. Academic motivation…………………………………………………………47
5.3. Poor planning……………………………………………………………48

CHAPTER SIX
6.0. Conclusion and recommendations…………………………………………..51
6.1. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………..51
6.2. Recommendations…………………………………………………………..54
REFERENCES……………………………………………………………….55
APPENDICES………………………………………………………………..57
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
TABLES
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Table 2.1: table helping to explain how graphs can be plotted…………………..12
Table 4.1: table showing results of pretest for sampled learners………………….28
Table 4.2: table showing posttest results for both control and experimental
group………………………………………………………………………………29
Table 4.3: table showing the results of experimental group………………………29
Table 4.4: table showing results for control group………………………………..30
Table 4.5: table showing results for pupils’ questionnaires for part 1………….30
Table 4.6: table showing results for pupils’ questionnaires for part 2…………...34
Table 4.7: table showing results for teachers’ questionnaires for part 1………..36
Table 4.8: table showing results for teachers’ questionnaires for part 2…………37
FIGURES
Figure 2.1: showing the axis of the graph………………………………………..12
Figure 2.2: showing plotted points of distance against time…………………….13
Figure 2.3: showing distance- time graph………………………………………...14
Figure 5.1: showing one of the scripts for pupils taught using teacher centred
approach…………………………………………………………………………...41
Figure 5.2: showing one of the scripts for the pupils who do not attend lessons
regularly…………………………………………………………………………..43
Figure 5.3: showing one of the scripts for the pupils who were taught using learner
centred approach………………………………………………………………….45
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ABSTRACT
The objective of this study was to investigate the causes of poor performance
among grade 12 pupils on topics related to graphs of motion in Luampa district of
western province at Luampa and Mbanyutu secondary schools. In order to attain
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the objective of this study pre-post quasi experimental and survey designs,
meaning qualitative and quantitative research approach was used. The subjects of
the study were 32 learners or students and 2 teachers of physics who were selected
by simple random sampling technique. The instruments used in this study were
questionnaire and observation and to supplement these instruments, tests, pre-test
and post-test were used to collect data of the study. The data gathered through
tests were analyzed by using statistical package for social science, observation and
questionnaires were analysed using QDA Miner Lite. Results of the study revealed
that learner centred approach and planning lessons before teaching can improve
the performance of grade 12 learners on topics involving graphs of motion. This in
turn improves the performance of learners in physics. The researcher assessed the
impact of learner centred on grade 12 learners’ academic achievement physics as
a result of his assessment he assured that the learner centred approach has an
impact on academic achievement of grade 12 pupils in physics. So the schools
which were under study can make continuous program to support learner centred
approach to improve the academic performance of grade 12 learners in physics.All
the findings showed that learner centred and effective lesson planning can improve
the performance of grade 12 learners in topics which involve graphs of motion in
Luampa district,especially at Mbanyutu and Luampa secondary schools.

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1.0. CHAPTER ONE
1.1. INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY
Physics is one of the subjects which enable those who complete a three year senior secondary
school course to pursue a science related career courses at tertiary levels. But there are few
students who register themselves to do science related courses due to the fact that most of the
students who complete secondary school course do not perform well in their final examinations
which certify the students or pupils to further their education. Poor performance has been
recorded consecutively for the past five years, more especially in science (physics), on questions
which involve graphs. Hence, this prompted the researcher to investigate the cause of poor
performance on questions involving graphs of motion. This overview will be looked at more
under the background of the study, problem statement, purpose of the study, research questions,
significance of the study, study limitations, definitions of the study and organization of the
research report.
1.2. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY.
As a teacher who has taught physics for ten years, it was noticed with great concern that pupils
should be taught scientific skills in order for them to analyze and interpret science effectively.
Most of our pupils have challenges in putting physics problems on graphs. This was noticed
during physics lessons on graphs of motion. For example;
A car starting from rest accelerates uniformly to 20m/s in 5s. And it accelerates more to 40m/s
in 2s and then decelerates until it stops 8s later.Draw the speed-time graph.
The above question demands a pupil to present the information on the graph and such a question
give challenges to most grade 12 pupils.
Being an examiner, it has been noted that most of the pupils who fail science paper one (physics)
are those who don’t perform well in section C. This is a section where pupils are demanded to
put certain information, mostly in figures on the graph or giving a description from the
information presented on the graph. This has been a trend for five years now (ECZ, 2017)

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However, constructing and interpreting of graphs is a very important skill which our learners
need to acquire in order for them to elaborate and information describing used in our daily living.
Graphs enable readers to see trends and recognizing important information (Medsen etal, 2013).
For example, graphs can be used to describe the trend of pass rate in schools and learner
enrolments over a particular period of time. In hospitals and other health centres, graphs are used
in explaining weight loss or gain, especially under five clinic cards. Graphs are good in terms of
presenting information because a huge sum of information can be presented in a single graph.
Therefore, graphs can be efficient and powerful instruments and tools in representing huge or
bulk information (Williams, 2014), hence developing such skills in science is very prudent.
Interpreting graphs is a skill which can be achieved through extensive knowledge and
understanding of graphs.
However it has been realized that most learners have difficulties in constructing and interpreting
of graphs in physics, this is due to the fact that learners spend most of the time learning stories
about science rather than learning how to construct and read graphs (Williams, 2014).
1.3. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM.
Science is all about analyzing and constructing information systematically using figures. These
figures can be interpreted meaningfully using graphs. Scientists and teachers find it easy to
explain and interpret given numbers on a particular information using graphs. Despite a lot of
graphs being used in science, physics, most of the students especially grade 12 experience
difficulties in interpreting the given data with figures on graphs during their grade 12 final
examinations (ECZ, 2017). The pupils cannot connect the topic being learnt with the skill of
generating figures, they cannot choose a suitable or reasonable scale that can be used on the axes
(Beichner and Saul, 2014). Most of the pupils fail even to label axes which makes them fail even
to identify the name of the graph. The researcher intends to fill this gap and the result of this
study will be used to minimize the misinterpretation and misconceptions on lessons involving
graphs of motion. Systematic explanation should be done to pupils by perfecting the planning
before teaching and ensure that pupils are engaged from the beginning to promote full
participation by all learners (Mathewson, 2013).

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1.4. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY.
The main purpose of the study was to investigate the reasons why grade 12 pupils perform
poorly in physics lessons involving graphs of motion since 2017 at Mbanyutu and Luampa
secondary schools of Luampa district of western province of Zambia.
1.5. RESEARCH QUESTIONS.

The research questions on the poor performance of grade 12 pupils on graphs of motion (the
study) were to investigate;
1. What causes poor performance in physics lessons involving graphs?

2. What challenges do teachers and students face during the lessons?
3. What can be done to reduce the challenges faced by both teachers and students in order to
improve learners’ performance on graphs of motion?
1.6. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The research objectives of the study were to investigate the;
1. Causes of poor performance in physics lessons involving graphs of motion.
2. Challenges teachers and pupils face during lessons on graphs of motion.
3. Means of reducing challenges faced by both teachers and pupils on lessons involving graphs
of motion.
1.7. JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY
Graphs of motion is all about interpreting and constructing of information systematically from
figures. In this situation, analysis is very important because it brings about creativity. An
individual who is creative cannot fail to satisfy the needs of a society, hence the more creative
individuals the society have, the more development the society will likely to be. The same
creativity enables the student to construct graphs from statements and figures given in a certain
problem in class. This will, on the other hand give skills to students. The acquired skills will help
these students throughout their life time and will enable them to be accepted into the society,
hence developing the society and the nation at large. In short, the topic, graphs of motion enables
one to bring theories into reality. But most school leavers lack skill and creativity because they

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perform poorly in topics like graphs of motion which promote creativity and skill acquiring
(UNESCO, 2013). Hence, prompted the researcher to carry out a research with the aim of
promoting school leavers to acquire skills and creativity.
Talking from experience, the poor performance of most grade 12 leavers in science related topics
like graphs of motion has seen an increase in HIV cases and early pregnancies. Most of the grade
12 leavers will register again to rewrite science under General Certificate of Education (GCE)
due to their previous poor performance. Second attempt mostly give temptations to girls by
engaging themselves in relationships with teachers or businessmen for the sake of passing final
examinations. They can decide to go out with teachers so that they are rendered assistance in
science final examination so that they go and register themselves to train in science related
courses like nursing, engineering and others. They also target businessmen in exchange for
money so that they pay teachers who in turn help them to write an examination. This led to an
increase in HIV/AIDS and early pregnancies among teachers, businessmen and students. Hence,
demand for a research to be done.
Most researchers conducted research on the poor performance of pupils in science, but they did
not look at the impact it has to the learners and the society at large. Therefore, this will enable
the researcher to research on the effective strategies on how to teach topics involving graphs of
motion in order to prevent and preserve lives for the school leavers.
1.8. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY.
Significance of the study was to improve the performance of grade 12 pupils in constructing and
interpreting graphs of motion during lessons in class and during final examinations. As known
that huge sums of information can be presented on a single graph, for example, at school level,
analysis of grade 12 results can be done graphically. Once learners develop the skill of
interpreting and constructing graphs, they can use this skill throughout their lives.
1.9. SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of the study was to investigate the causes of poor performance of grade 12 pupils in
physics lessons involving graphs of motion since 2017.

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The sample was drawn from a population of eighty (80) grade 12 pupils from Luampa district of
western province of two neighboring schools namely Mbanyutu and Luampa secondary schools.
The sample consisted of thirty -two pupils, seventeen (17) from Mbanyutu secondary, (8 girls
and 9 boys) and sixteen (15) from Luampa secondary school, (8 girls and 7 boys). The sample
was chosen using simple random sampling. The two schools were chosen because they offer
same science, 5124 (physics and chemistry) and had similar social economic environment.
Sample was chosen using purposive because pupils who know how to read were needed in this
particular case and the study was conducted within three months.
Mostly, both teachers and pupils are psychologically defeated that science is a difficult subject.
Such theories discourage teachers from hard working because they are convinced beyond doubt
that even if they work hard pupils will still fail the subject, hence discouraging them from using a
variety of teaching methods (UNESCO, 2013). The same applied to pupils, no matter how much
effort they will put, they can still fail because science is a difficult subject.
This study used both pre-post quasi experimental and survey designs, meaning qualitative and
quantitative research approach has been used. The research questions were the most important
guidelines because they show the type of information needed to be collected. For example, the
first two research questions needed descriptive type of information, hence qualitative and the last
research question needed both descriptive and statistical type of information. This was because
for the problem to be solved the challenges faced by both teachers and pupils were to be
compared with the number of teachers and pupils and also the number of periods each physics
teacher had as compared to other subjects. The experimental group was to allow collaborative
learning approach test or intervention as compared to whole class approach or traditional
learning. (Mangal, 2012).
1.10. STUDY LIMITATIONS
Data collection was done in two weeks’ time instead of the planned three weeks. This was due to
so many district activities which were taking place like, district agricultural show and District
JETS fair. This made the researcher sometimes lose concentration due to huge task of lesson
observation and conducting questionnaires.

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Initially, the planned study population was 120 and the sample was 50. Due to truancy as a result
of initiation ceremonies which were happening in the area, the study population reduced to 80
learners and 32 learners as study sample. These adjustments made the researcher delay in starting
data collection.
Non trained physics teachers (those trained in mathematics) were not very cooperative during
pilot study, more especially those whom we work together at the school where I teach. For
example, it was initially agreed that the filling in of questionnaires be done within two days, but
it was done after a week after frequent reminders. This delayed the researcher in starting the
analysis of the findings.
1.11. DEFINITION OF THE STUDY

The following are some of the terms defined in relation to the study:
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING- Kind of learning where pupils have different ideas and
allowed to discuss in order to have one idea, reaching a consensus.
POOR- Not performing well or something not well done.
GRADE 12- The last grade for Zambian senior secondary schools.
PERFORMANCE- How good or bad something has been done
1.12. ORGANIZATION OF THE RESEARCH REPORT.
This study has been organized into SIX chapters, references, and appendices as follows:
Chapter one: Introduction
Chapter two: Literature Review
Chapter three: Research Methodology
Chapter four: Research Findings and Analysis
Chapter five: Discussions
Chapter six: Conclusions and Recommendations

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SUMMARY OF CHAPTER ONE

The cause of poor performance among grade 12 learners or students or pupils in physics
lessons involving graphs of motion can be as a result of poor teaching approach and lack of
skilled teachers who can teach physics effectively. Despite this, the lessons involving graphs
are very important as it gives learners skills on putting huge sums of information on a single
graph. Therefore, help in summarizing huge information on a single paper. The skill of
constructing and interpreting information onto graphs is still a very big challenge among the
pupils of most secondary schools in Luampa district of western province. Hence, prompted
the researcher to find out more on the poor performance of grade 12 pupils in graphs related
lessons and assessment. It was hoped that once the study was done, it would have brought
changes on the performance of grade 12 learners on topics involving graphs of motion in
physics lessons. This will be dealt more in the next chapter which will help us to see the trend
for each cause of poor performance.
CHAPTER TWO
2.0. LITERATURE REVIEW
Science is one of the subjects required by learners whose aim is to study courses related to
science such engineering, science teaching, medicine and other science related courses. Despite
science being an important subject, grade 12 learners of Mbanyutu and Luampa secondary
schools continued performing poorly in science. Learners who perform well in science are still
very few because of poor performance at grade 12 levels (Tachie, 2013). Very few learners
achieve good marks in science (physics). It entails that just a small number of students will meet
university and college entrance requirements to study science related courses. The chapter will
discuss the following in detail: theoretical framework of the study, location and status of
secondary schools, teaching methods, Zambian science curriculum and performance in other
countries, academic motivation, guidance and counseling, number of teachers of physics and
planning.

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2.1. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF THE STUDY
Graphs consist of two or more points, vertices which are joined together using lines or arcs as
edges (Sokolloff and Thornton, 2012). Each vertex shows values of two points on the axes from
which the size (magnitude) of information can be derived. More axes can be located on a single
graph providing a huge sum of information. Such huge sum of information can confuse the
reader of the graph if the background knowledge of the information is not well backed with its
source or where the information was gotten from, which forms the graph. Thus interpretation of
the graph depends on one’s ability to engage in constructing one (Maleunberg, 2015).
Constructing a graph involves an individual’s cognitive ability. Such abilities need to be
developed from early age for critical and creative thinking both of which may constitute quality
teaching and learning (Roth, 2012). Such cognitive abilities can develop easily by means of
learning practically, for example, constructing graphs of motion. But mostly teachers can teach
the whole topic on graphs of motion without the practical aspect done, hence failing to develop
learners’ cognitive abilities. The following are some of the theories upon which the study was
based.
Introduction of the skills on graph construction and interpretation is done at later grades instead
of early grades. This has affected the learners negatively because it becomes new concepts in
their educational route. Cognitively concepts which seems to be new takes time to be
accommodated in the mind. This can lead to poor performance in learners.
According to National Science Centre, it was discovered that most of the teachers teach science
theoretically. Teaching graphs of motion can lead to poor performance because learners can only
attain skills on construction and interpretation of graphs through practice in groups where they
discuss and render help to each other.
The good quality of science instructions also depends on the teaching approach chosen. Quality
instruction will seek an approach that will minimize learners’ misconceptions such as taking
graphs to be equivalent to pictures (Makros, 2012). Many learners do not have the mental
tool to engage in high level construction of graphs and their interpretation. This may be due to
a poor educational background from previous grades, for example, pupils are always engaged in

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low level activities in the classroom situation, hence deficit in cognitive abilities and cognitive
development. These cognitive structures are the pillars upon which teachers should anchor their
pedagogy. Also, teachers are to educate learners to develop various skills as the most important
resources at school by reducing learners’ misconceptions (Marie and Sigh, 2013). Thus,
teachers’ Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) contributes substantially to learners’
achievements in constructing and interpreting graphs.
2.2. LOCATION AND STATUS OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS.
Large differences in science learners ‘achievements exist between poor resourced rural schools
and that of well-resourced urban schools (National Science Centre, 2018). A number of poor
rural public schools lack resources and coincidentally science teachers may also lack adequate
college training to teach science effectively. This renders such teachers to believe that their
learners are incapable of answering high-order questions in a science classroom. Consequently,
learners are not encouraged by such teachers to explore various options in order to solve
problems in Physical Sciences.
2.3. CONSTRUCTION AND READING OF GRAPHS.
Despite their importance, research shows that students show a significant lack of skills required
to deal with inscriptions of all sorts. For instance, it was found that students have difficulties
even in interpreting inscription that are naturally visual displays, such as science textbooks
pictures (Stylianidou, 2012). It is not surprising, therefore, that students were found to show lack
of skills required to deal with more abstract inscriptions such as graphs. To understand why
handling graphs is challenging for students one should bear in mind that while inscriptions
represent the real world they still also entail a separation from it. Reading and creating graphs
require students to form abstractions of the real world. This involves individuals perceiving
mathematical entities as separate of the object to which they relate (Hershkowitz et al., 2011). In
kinematics, the focus topic of this research, abstraction is a must. The following example taken
from Foster (2014) illustrates this point. With distance travelled by a moving car, the distance
values are considered separately to the car and might be linked to time, that is, be casted as a
function of time d=f(t). According to the author, based on Sfard (2018), abstraction continues

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when the function is recognized as an entity that can be operated on; for example, the gradients
of the graph of the distance-time function might be calculated to yield the new entity ‘velocity as
a function of time.’ In other words, while on the one hand, position, velocity and acceleration
versus time graphs represents the object’s movement, they are just mathematical representations
separated from the physical object. For scientists such abstractions are routine, for students and
even university students, such abstractions pose a significant challenge. This means that it is hard
for students to connect the real world and the graphs which are abstract representation of that
same world. McDermott et al. (2011) identified 2 categories, each divided into 5 subcategories,
of student difficulties related to kinematic graphs: (I) Difficulty in connecting graphs to physical
concepts such as; Discriminating between slope and height, Interpreting changes in height and
changes in slope, Relating one graph to another, Matching narrative information to the graph,
and Interpreting the area under a graph. (II) Difficulties in connecting graphs to the real world
such as: Representing continuous motion by a continuous line, separating the shape of a graph
from the path of the motion, representing a negative velocity on a velocity versus time graph,
representing constant acceleration on acceleration versus time graph, and distinguishing different
types of motion graphs. Based on McDermott et al. (2013) and other studies, Beichner (2014)
developed the Test for Understanding Graphs in Kinematics and also showed that students had
difficulties in understanding graphs.
Construction of graphs is not done haphazardly; it follows certain steps which teachers are
supposed to outline when teaching graphs. Some of the known steps are as follows:
1st STEP: AXES LABELLING
The first step in graph plotting is identifying the axes of the graph. Upon identifying the axes,
mark the axis can be marked by drawing two perpendicular lines crossing each other at a zero
point. Then mark the axis as x and y.
For example if you are drawing distance- time graph, then time can be taken along the x-axis
time will be taken along the x-axis because generally independent variables are taken along the
x-axis. Distance then can be taken along y-axis as dependent variable. Therefore OX will
represent time and OY will represent distance. Hence, OX and OY are named after the variables
or quantities they represent. So the line OX represents time and line OY represents distance.
These lines OX and OY are named after the quantities they represent.
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Figure 2.1: showing the axis of the graph, the first step in graph construction.
KEY
Time=OX and distance=OY.
2nd STEP: SCALE IDENTIFICATION

Step number two is to identify the appropriate scale to be used on the axes identified on the first
step. Appropriate scale has to be identified because the space on the paper is very limited.the
numbers are marked equally on the space available. This should be done in a systematic way to
ensure that all the numbers or values of the represented quantity should be accommodated in the
length or space available on each quantity.
3RD STEP: POINTS PLOTTING
Table 2.1: help to explain how graphs can be plotted.
Distance in kilometers Time in minutes
0 0
6 11
12 20
18 30
24 38
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The third step is about points plotting. Where a set of values of the two quantities meet, they are
represented by a point on the given graph. For instance, the first set of 11 minutes and 6
kilometers can be represented by point A on the graph. For the purpose of getting the point on
the graph, mark 11 minutes and draw a perpendicular line going up on the x- axis. In the same
way, locate and mark 6 kilometers on the Y –axis and draw a perpendicular on the y-axis. Where
the two lines meet intersect, that’s point A.
Figure 2.2: showing plotted points of distance against time.
Where the two perpendicular lines meet is called point A. hence, all the values on table 2.1
above can be plotted.
4th STEP: POINTS JOINING/LINKING
The fourth step is about linking or joining the plotted points using a line with the assistance of a
ruler. Hence, the production of a smooth curve in obtaining a graph as shown in the figure
below;
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Figure 2.3: showing distance-time graph.
Referring from figure 2.3 above, we can see a straight line being obtained, which represents
uniform motion. Hence gotten the concept on how graphs can be plotted. If one has the available
knowledge on how distance varies with time of the given object, it becomes easy to plot
distance- time graph. The obtained knowledge can also be used to construct and plot other types
of graphs like speed- time graph and others using the identified steps in the study.
2.3.1.. TEACHERS’ CHALLENGES

The most common teaching and learning approach is teacher centered or teacher exposition or
lecture method. During such times pupils are bored because they are not active; hence fail to
grasp the intended concepts. Mostly teachers take pupils for granted that they do not know
anything. The moment teacher centred approach is employed; it will be difficult for teachers to
know the preconceived knowledge in learners, leaving the needs of a learner. Traditional style
teaching does not appear to be solving these problems (Charles, 2017).
Sometimes teachers teach using group discussion methods which is not controlled. Small group
discussion is the powerful approach in learning of science, but mostly teachers of physics will
quite alright put learners in those groups, the teacher will leave learners to discuss in their
respective groups and go outside to chat with others or watching a game in the staff room instead
of regulating pupils’ discussions and take not of the misconceptions pupils have in their
preconceived knowledge. Such teachers do not understand the incense of group discussion. Due
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to such behavior from teachers, learners developed negative attitude towards group discussion
and took it that it is time to make noise and discuss other issues that concerns them. The trend of
hating group work among learners has grown so rapidly because of the way teachers treat group
discussion methods. If not paid attention as quickly as possible, scientific skills will not be
acquired by learners.
2.3.2. LEARNERS’ CHALLENGES.
According to a little experience on graphs of motion the following challenges in learners have
been noticed; learners think that the graph is a literal picture of the motion; as a result learners
think if an object rolls down a bumpy road then the graph will also look bumpy. Learners also
confuse a large slope of the line with the height of a point on a line. The students believe the
largest slope must involve the line with the highest value on the graph (Charles, 2017). Beichner
and Saul also made the point that graphing allows students to use fundamental principles in
physics in a nonverbal way. Students taught by traditional lectures fail to learn these fundamental
concepts. When these graphical issues are improved, students’ conceptual understanding will
increase along with their attitudes toward the subject matter (Beichner and Saul, 2014).
2.4. ZAMBIAN SCIENCE CURRICULUM IN COMPARISON WITH OTHER

COUNTRIES.
Many countries have made great efforts to progress in teaching and learning of science, whereas
other countries like Zambia are still performing poorly. For example, countries like India and
Japan are performing extremely well in science; it is therefore of great importance for this study
to look at curriculum transformations made and good practices introduced by these performing
countries in order to identify where we go wrong in our Zambian curriculum.
Educational institutions are agents of social change (transformation). The success of a school is
measured by the quality of students it produces. In Zambia, the curriculum and syllabi are
examination oriented. This has encouraged teachers to teach in order for learners to pass an
examination rather than acquiring knowledge and skills. In India the curriculum is heavily
monitored in skill acquiring rather than passing an examination (Demeke, 2018).
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2.5. ACADEMIC MOTIVATION
Students’ motivation is very important in attaining high levels of successful learning (Seifert and
Sutton, 2012). Students that are motivated have positive attitude towards the lesson being taught
in that particular subject, like graphs of motion in physics. Motivated learners pay more attention
to that particular lesson and their attention span tends to be prolonged, hence spending more time
in learning. Motivation is an important and key factor in determining whether a learner can
embark on a task diligently.
Learner centred approach is a very important way of teaching because it provides guidance to
learners. Guidance done during learning helps to prevent problems encountered during learning
and solving those problems which act as stumbling block on the academic success. Therefore,
offering guidance and counseling during learning and at school level helps learners to improve in
their academic performance, how to study and how to allocate time for academic activities.
Gottfried (2011) defines academic motivations as an excitement of school learning characterized
by a mastery orientation; curiosity; persistence; task-endogens and the learning of challenging,
difficult, and novel tasks.
Motivation is a combination of interest and actions that are all closely related to achieve some
outcomes. According to this idea, a learner in his/her motivated state can achieve what he/she is
interested in. When teachers consider this academic motivation in their teaching and learning
process, their students would be interested in learning. Intrinsic motivation is a motivation that is
characterized by personal enjoyment, interest or pleasure. Intrinsic motivation energizes and
sustains activities through the spontaneous satisfactions inherent in effective volitional action .It
is manifested in behaviors such as play, exploration and challenge seeking that people often do
for external rewards(Tsegaye, 2013). Researchers often contrast intrinsic motivation with
extrinsic motivation, which is a motivation governed by reinforcement contingencies. As stated
here above intrinsic motivation was more important than extrinsic motivation to be absorbed in
ones activity by volitional action for self-satisfaction and to achieve some intended goal.
According to this statement teachers in their teaching process should consider intrinsic or
internal motivation for better academic achievement of their students. . The following factors can
bring about academic motivation in learners if well handled.
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2.5.1 GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING

Guidance and counseling is an important aspect of education that helps the learners. It is
essential service that can facilitate instructional work to enable students to develop their abilities
like personal, social, economic, and academic problems can be alleviated by guidance and
counseling service in school. Concerning this point, as cited in Abebe, which states that
counseling is the act of assisting an individual, comforter guidance to relieve or overcome
problems that trouble since children learn best when they are free from worries or matters that
interfere negatively in their academic and personal development. Research has shown that the
advices given by guidance and counselor to clients often tend to encourage youths to change
their perception towards a certain lesson. Thus the condition calls up on trained counselors for
secondary school students to adjust themselves to their school environment, their home, and their
peers.
As a whole, well organized counseling service increases students’ performance. In schools with
fully implemented comprehensive guidance programs students reported higher grades, students
were more likely to report a positive school climate that means defined in terms of safety and
belongingness as stated by Lepan, etal. (2011). Similarly UNESCO (United Nations educational
scientific and cultural organization, 2012) also stated that, poor progress of students’ in
education can be reduced by means of properly organized guidance and counseling service in
secondary schools.
2.5.2. NUMBER OF TEACHERS OF PHYSICS
The number of teachers of physics can also affect the performance of pupils or students
negatively. Through physical counting and analysis it was discovered that physics subject has the
least number of teachers in most secondary schools of Luampa district and coincidentally, there
are no laboratory technicians to help the few teachers in organizing the teaching and learning
resources. Due to this hectic work given to such teachers of physics on top of the more number
of periods, they are forced to teach physics theoretically rather than practically. This will see a
number of pupils hating topics which require practical dealings, like graphs of motion. Once
pupils hate the subject due to teaching styles, it means they will fail the subject, hence poor
performance. Apart from that teachers of physics are not supported by the school administration
in terms of teaching and learning resources (Demeke, 2012). This is due to the fact that there are
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few voices coming from physics which claims for support. This has even seen teachers who did
physics education at diploma level to divert to other subjects as they attain degrees and other
high level papers. These are the same teachers who can even go round and tell learners that
physics is a difficult subject, hence demoralize the children. Teaching children who are
demoralized by a frustrated teacher will automatically produce the poorest performance.
2.5.3. PLANNING
Due to the number of teachers of physics and the pressure of work they encounter, teachers of
physics lack effective planning. Once the planning is compromised the teaching and its teaching
styles are also compromised. This means that even the performance of learners can be poor
because whatever happens in class determines the performance of a learner.
Social media also has contributed to laziness in planning among teachers of physics. This is so
because they share the already planned teaching documents done by others and coincidentally a
province supported common teaching schemes. Already planned teaching documents cannot be
fully understood by a second user. Others will only understand thirty percent of the planned
documents. Such kind of documents encourages teachers to skip the work they don’t understand.
This will produce half or even quarter baked students whose performance will be poor.
Teaching common schemes are not very good because if the planning was done poorly by the
initial person, then the whole province’s work becomes compromised hence disadvantaging all
pupils in the province or nation at large. Therefore, teachers should be encouraged to plan from
the outlined content of the curriculum.
2.5.4. TEACHING METHODS
Textbooks are regarded as important resources in learners’ learning of science content and
guides towards achieving specific learning outcomes. This means that teachers and learners help
each other to achieve these outcomes during the lesson. However, most learners fail to
understand graphs because teachers do not use effective methods of teaching. Beichner (2014)
argues that many learners fail to produce graphs correctly because teachers do not teach concepts
in a practical manner. The role of teachers is to facilitate learning in classroom activities
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(National Science Centre, 2018). National science centre encourage the use of effective science
teaching methods in order to reduce the emphasis on drill and memorization of information;
increasing the emphasis on applying knowledge to the learners’ environment and using
manipulative skills to model scientific ideas. These manipulative skills cannot be inculcated in
learners if there is no room for learners to collaborate during and after the lesson. In schools
learners should participate competently in graphing practices; instead they are regarded as
vessels waiting to receive information and consequently learners depend on other people‘s
interpretations. It is, therefore, imperative for teachers to teach constructing of graphs and their
interpretation by deploying a lot of practice at high schools. Teachers need to deploy strategies,
that allow for an on-going assessment of learners ‘understanding (Williams, 2014). Although
on-going assessment is sometimes done in many schools it deals with other components like time
management, materials used and learners’ behavior. At times, teachers are not available to assess
on an on- going basis. This may show a diverted aim of an on-going assessment and may
explain why at the end of high school level learners are not able to answer questions regarding
graphs and their interpretation (Makros, 2012). Ironically, constructing and interpreting graphs
as skills are examinable in both Life Sciences and Physical Sciences (Grade 12)
examinations.
This study investigates the generative model and the dialectical theory‘ to analyze ideas
behind graph interpretations learners produce. Generative here means that researchers account
for the processes and products of constructing graphs and their interpretation. Hence, four
components of the model are first, "Attribution" as a motivational process, second,
"Preconceptions" as a learning process, third, knowledge creation by using different parts
of the information in the text and fourth, prior learning and experience that guide the
process of interpretation of a phenomenon, in this case a graph or a text. Briefly, in the
generative theory involves: coding, elaboration, reorganization, and re-conceptualization of
graphs or texts. In this study, the dialectical principles will be used on graphs and the
interpretations produced by learners. The dialectical theory uses argumentation and discussions
where a consensus is reached and also uses acceptance of defeat for those ideas that are not
congruent with the vast majority of the group. In this way, learners are expected to interact with
their fellow learners, the environment that includes social and cultural: thus learner-environment-
others interaction plays a major role in consensus development in the group. Consequently,
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learners recall better interlocutors of their presentations that lead to the consensus in the group
(National Science Centre, 2018).
2.6. POOR PERFORMANCE IN GRAPHING
Despite the importance of graphical interpretation and construction, teachers rarely concentrates
on putting efforts to impart skills in learners to enable them use such skills in their daily lives.
poor performance of grade 12 learners in an examination are also contributed by teachers who
use wrong teaching approach which coincides with poor planning by the teacher. Learners are
taught graphs theoretically without and any hands on activity which can promote affection and
cognitive domain in the learner through discovering things on his/her own.
SUMMARY OF CHAPTER TWO
Based on review of the related literature, the following summary was made. The location and
status of secondary schools has disadvantaged remote and rural secondary schools. These
schools lack resources which can be used in teaching and learning and coincidentally lack of
well qualified teachers as most teachers wants to work in urban schools. Due to lack of resources
teachers will teach theoretically rather than practical. Apart from that, teachers will teach in order
to produce good grades after final examinations because our curriculum is monitored heavily in
relation to passing of an examination rather acquiring skills. Both teachers and learners are not
motivated academically due to lack of guidance and counseling. All these literatures will start
becoming a reality as we embark on identifying the methods that will be used to gather data for
our study in chapter three.
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CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter contains the research design, study area, population and sampling technique, data
collection tools, data gathering procedure and data analysis which was applied in the study.
3.1. RESEARCH DESIGN
The study used both pre-post quasi experimental and survey designs, meaning qualitative and
quantitative research approach was used. The research questions are the most important
guidelines because they show the type of information needed to be collected. For example, the
first two research questions needed descriptive type of information, hence qualitative and the last
research question needed both descriptive and statistical type of information. This was because
for us to solve the challenges faced by both teachers and pupils we needed to compare the
number of teachers and pupils and also the number of periods each physics teacher has as
compared to other subjects. The experimental group allowed the collaborative learning testing or
intervention as compared to the whole class approach. The whole class approach means learners
sit in a bus arrangement form. Learners are not divided into groups.
3.2. STUDY AREA, POPULATION AND SAMPLE SIZE.
The sample was drawn from a population of 80 pupils from two schools namely Mbanyutu and
Luampa secondary schools of Luampa district of western province of Zambia. The sample
consisted of fifty (32) pupils; sixteen (17) from Mbanyutu secondary, (8 girls and 9 boys) and
sixteen (15) from Luampa secondary school, (8 girls and 7 boys). The sample was chosen using
simple random sampling. The two schools were chosen because they offer same science, 5124
(physics and chemistry) and they have similar social economic environment. Sample was chosen
using simple random sampling because the school incorporates pupils who do not know how to
read.
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3.3 .DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT

3.3.1 TESTS
Tests were used during experimental process, these were pre and post tests conducted to the
experimental group. Pretest-posttest designs are the preferred method to compare participant
groups and measure the degree of change occurring as a result of treatments or interventions.
The pre- test was done to find out the pre-requisite knowledge learners had in order to identify
the best teaching methods to be employed during teaching topics which involve graphs and also
to identify the source of challenges encountered by pupils. This in turn will help to reduce and
eliminate the challenges which pupils can face. Both pre- test and post- test consisted of
questions which demanded constructing and interpreting of graphs and all the questions were
formulated in relation to research questions and objectives. At the end of it all, despite being in
different groups, all the learners were given the test called post-test. The posttest helped the
teacher to choose the best teaching approach by means of comparing the performance of the two
groups. The teacher can adopt the teaching approaches used on the group where more pupils
performed well. This was done to find out the suitable teaching approach on topics which
involve graphs like graphs of motion. The group where learners performed well, the teaching
approach was regarded effective because it produced desired results (shuttle, 2020)
3.3.2. OBSERVATION
Systematic observation is a quantitative method of measuring classroom behaviors from direct
observations that specifies both the events and behaviors, for example, how regular can a learner
choose the correct scale for a particular graph and how they are to be recorded. Generally, the
data that is collected from this procedure focuses on the frequency with which specific behaviors
or types of behavior occurred in the classroom and measures duration, like how long has the
lesson lasted. The observation of the classroom interaction or activity of sampled students in
physics period was used to get extra data on top the data collected by questionnaires and
experimental tests. The classroom observation sheet was very much based on the contents of the
lesson plan; introduction, development, conclusion and evaluations and how they are connected
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to each other and how they were dealt in relation to real life situation. Involvement of learners
was also critical in the observation sheet for the learners to construct their own knowledge.
In short, the observation sheets helped to see the cause of poor performance on the graphs which
involve graphs among learners. Where learners and teachers have challenges can also be easily
identified through observation. Once the source of challenges and cause of poor performance had
been observed and identified, it would have been easy to find a means of reducing and
eliminating the challenges and causes which led to poor performance among learners.
3.3.3. QUESTIONNAIRES
. Questionnaires were used to get experiences from teachers before and during teaching. Other
questionnaires were given to pupils to find out the challenges they face in learning of graphs of
motion. To meet the objective of this study the questionnaires were developed. The questionnaire
is a useful instrument to study the issue in breadth and to give an overview about the issue to be
studied. Furthermore, it is a means to gather data from a number of respondents at one place
which makes wise use of time and economy. Accordingly the questionnaires were prepared in
accordance with the objective of the study for sampled respondents. The closed ended
questionnaires as well as likert scale were developed for it keeps the respondents on the subject,
is relatively objective and is fairly easy to tabulate as well as to analyses and likert scale type
were used in developing the questionnaire because, the likert scale type was chosen because of
its advantage in assessing one’s attitude toward some particular issue. Teachers’ questionnaire
had 19 items and learners’ questionnaire had 16 items. Finally the developed questionnaires
were pilot tested on the science stream of non-sampled students in opposite shift to check its
reliability and validity. The pilot test result was explained under the topic pilot test.
3.3.4 PILOT TEST

The developed data collection instrument (questionnaires and experimental tests) were pre-tested
among non-sampled respondents of grade 12 students in science stream and non-sampled
mathematics teachers on topics which involve graphs. The pre-testing was done to ensure the
reliability and validity of the questionnaire (item) included in the instrument. Accordingly the
pilot-test was conducted on a total of 33 non-sampled students of grade 12 and 2 non-sampled
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mathematics teachers. Mathematics teachers were used because of inadequate number of

teachers of physics. The reliability of this instrument was calculated by using Cronbach’s alpha
and hence its validity.
According to Cronbach’s alpha estimation the reliability of student’s questionnaire was found to
be 0.76 and that of physics teachers was 0.72 and for the total questionnaire it was found to be
0.74. Depending on this Cronbach’s alpha coefficients the reliability was acceptable.
Table 3.1: coefficient of reliability test result for the pilot test of items
S/N PILOT NUMBER OF ITEMS CRONBACH’S
RESPONDENTS ALPHA
1. Physics learners 33 0.76
2. Mathematics teachers 02 0.72
total 35 0.74
Initially, the data collection procedure was pre-test, observation, post-test and questionnaires.
After pilot testing it was rearranged to questionnaires, pre-test, observation, and post-test. It was
discovered that the moment questionnaires were put at the end, the pupils developed interest in
the topic, graphs of motion and when asked the topic they enjoyed most in physics, they
mentioned graphs of motion because it is still fresh in their memories and others developed
interest which was not there all along.
3.4. DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE
The data collection procedure was as follows; questionnaires, pre-test, observation and post-test.
3.4.1 QUESTIONNAIRES
3.4.1.1. LEARNERS’ QUESTIONNAIRES

The questionnaires were distributed to all sampled grade 12 learners and went through each
question and clarify where learners had difficulties to understand the questions, especially on the
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likert scale part of the questionnaire. Then grade 12 sampled learners filled the questionnaires on
their own for 55 minutes. The researcher with the help of physics teachers collected the
questionnaires for further analysis.
3.4.1. 2. TEACHERS’ QUESTIONNAIRES

The questionnaires were given to physics teachers for filling in at their own time. The physics
teachers were given a week to finish working on the questionnaires and for sure all the physics
teachers worked within the specified time and submitted within a week.
3.4.2. TESTS
Just after learners’ questionnaires, Pre-test was given to all sampled learners (n=32). Thereafter,
learners were put into two groups using systematic random sampling, by counting 1, 2 up to the
last learner of thirty- two candidates. Then those who counted one, belonged to group one and
those who counted two, belonged to group two. Then the researcher had to write two pieces of
papers, one indicating C and the other one was showing E. C stood for Control group and E was
standing for Experimental group. The researcher then called one learner from each group to pick
a piece of paper. The pupil who picked C and the group automatically belonged to Control group
and those who picked E belonged to Experimental group. The experimental group was strictly
taught using learner centred approach guided by the researcher, and the control group was taught
using any approach desired by the teachers. In short, the group was taught in a normal routine. At
the end of it all, despite being in different groups, all the learners were given the test called post-
test. The post test was also kept for further analysis.
3.4.3. OBSERVATION SHEETS

Observations were conducted after pre-test, during the learners’ parallel groups, by means of
observing the teacher teaching in a classroom and identify the methods and approaches used by
the teacher. Observation was only done in control group classroom only by paying attention to
the participation of learners. The observation focused more on the lesson plan, how the teacher
introduces the lesson and engagement of learners, how the introduction is connected to real life
situation, how development is linked to introduction and how learners are engaged in the lesson.
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Observation also checked how learners are continuously assessed throughout the lesson. Lesson
conclusion was also checked and recorded and how teachers conduct it.
3.5. DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURES AND TECHNIQUES

3.5.1. QUESTIONNAIRES
3.5.1.1. LEARNERS’ QUESTIONNAIRES
QDA Miner Lite was used to analyze the questionnaires that were conducted for both teachers
and pupils. QDA Miner was because almost every question of the first Part demanded a learner
to give reasons for every response. One of the questionnaires was analyzed on its own in a table
form and it involved YES or NO and then then the reasons given for each response. The
researcher was to find the number of learners who responded, YES for each item of the
questionnaire and the number of learners who responded NO for each item of the questionnaire.
Part two was also analyzed on its own in a table form by computing the total number of learners
who answers according to the available variables. The variables present were; Strongly
Disagreed (SD), Disagree (D), Undecided (Ud), Strongly Agree (SA) and Agree (A). Learners’
questionnaires had 16 items which were analyzed in comparison to the variables available.
3.5.1.2. TEACHERS’ QUESTIONNAIRES

Teachers’ questionnaires were formulated in relation to the research objectives. In total it had 19
items. The first section consisted of closed ended questions and the second section was
composed of likert scale which consisted of strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree and
strongly disagree. Thereafter, the researcher analyzed the teachers’ questionnaires using QDA
Miner, where each question or statement was analyzed by finding the total number participants
who gave the same response.
3.5.2. CLASSROOM OBSERVATION

The classroom was analyzed using QDA Miner. Classroom observation analysis was done with
the aid of the observation sheet which had the research objectives as the first part. This was done
to make the researcher not to lose track in terms of the main aim or purpose of the research. The
classroom observation was formulated following the lesson plan format. The observation sheet
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had the following contents; time lesson observation started availability of lesson plans, rationale,
and lesson specific outcomes. These were regarded preliminaries of the observation and were
strictly analyzed in relation to the research objectives
3.5.2.1. LESSON INTRODUCTION
During observation analysis, more attention was paid to the lesson introduction in order to see
whether the lesson was well connected to the previous lesson and its relevance to the research
objectives. The observation analysis had to look at the reaction of learners during lesson
introduction, positive or negative. Due to the fact that learners’ participation is dependent on the
teaching methods used by the teacher, hence to take note of the teaching methods employed
during lesson introduction. The simplicity of the language used in the introduction was analysed
as well. In general, the researcher looked at whether the lesson introduction opened or made the
learners get lost.
3.5.2.2. LESSON DEVELOPMENT

The observation analysis strictly observed how the contents of lesson development were
connected to the lesson introduction. The arrangement and organization of the classroom was
taken into consideration. This involved the inside physical appearance of the sitting arrangement
of learners, whether the teacher taught using whole class approach or learners were organized
into groups and how the rapport was with individual members in the groups. The performance of
learners was also considered during assessment throughout the lesson in relation to the teaching
methods employed. The checking of the performance enabled the researcher to identify the
struggles and challenges faced by both learners and teachers.
3.5.2.3. LESSON CONCLUSION

Lesson conclusion involved some questions like, how was the conclusion done? Did it encourage
learner participation? Did the teacher use other learners to help those with challenges?
Finally, the time observation ended was also recorded in order to see whether the teacher was
time conscious or not by comparing the time the observation started.
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3.5.3 TESTS
Answer sheets for the test had been marked been marked and results had been analyzed using
SPSS. Thereafter, T-test was used to test for any significance difference between pre and
posttests results and also to see the difference in achievements between groups.
SUMMARY OF CHAPTER THREE

The chapter showed that the research designs used to collect data were pre-post quasi
experimental and survey. The locality where the research was conducted was Luampa district of
western province at Mbanyutu and Luampa secondary schools. Luampa secondary school was
discovered that it was a Grant-aided school, under Evangelical Church of Zambia and Mbanyutu
secondary school was purely government. The sample, 32 pupils, 16 boys and 16 girls was
drawn from a population of 80 pupils. Data collection instruments were tests, observation and
questionnaires and pilot study was done to ensure the validity and reliability of the data
collection instruments. Data collection procedures and data analysis will be done physically in
the next chapter, four.
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CHAPTER FOUR
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

This chapter presents the findings and analysis of the study. It begins with presenting and
describing the background of the study sample (participants of the study). This will be followed
by analysis of the data collected through questionnaires for both pupils and teachers and then
observation of the classroom learning in connection with the research questions.
The two schools under study were Mbanyutu and Luampa secondary schools. Mbanyutu is
purely government school and Luampa is a grant aided school for Evangelical church of Zambia
(ECZ).
4.1 TESTS
4.1.1. PRE-TEST
Before teaching any sampled participant an experimental test was given to sampled pupils, called
pre-test. The results for the pre-test were as follows:
Table 4.1: Table showing results of pretest for sampled learners
Number Score out of 20 Mean

Of
students
32 8 6 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 4 8 4 4 0 4 0 6 8 0 3.03
0 0 4 6 4 4 4 2
As shown in the above table 4.1 in the pre-test result of 32 sampled students of grade 12 physics,
mean result was 3.03 and this mean result was used to evaluate the change or improvement of
academic achievement of students of grade 12 in physics on topics involving graphs. The total
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number of pupils who were present during pre-testing was twenty nine (29) out of thirty two
(32). This entails that three pupils were missing or absent.
Thereafter, the pupils were put into two groups which consisted of experimental and control
groups. The control group was taught using the methods desired by the teachers using their
normal routine. The experimental group was taught using learner centred methods which
encouraged learners to construct their own knowledge through collaborative learning, for
example, group discussions. The two groups were taught using different approaches because the
researcher wanted to single out the most effective teaching method that can be used when
teaching topics involving graphs of motion. The approach produced or yielded better results was
considered to be the most effective one.
4.1.2 POST-TEST
Thereafter, the two groups were given another experimental test called post-test and the results
were as follows:
Table 4.2: Table showing post test results for both control group and experimental group.
of
students
32 1 2 1 3 0 4 2 9 9 9 10 16 12 10 9 3 7 0 2 3 13 7.6
11 15 9 19 10 16
As shown in table 4.2 of post-test, it is easier to tell that there was an improvement, 7.6-3.8=3.8,
the performance improved by 3.8, which is one hundred percent improvement. Even though, we
are not yet sure where the main contribution of improvement came from, either from control
group or experimental group, because table 4.2 combines both control group and experimental
group results. The total number of pupils who sat for post-test was twenty- seven (27) out of the
total initial of 32 pupils, hence the increase in absenteeism.
The results for experimental group which was extracted from the above table were as follows:
Table 4.3: Table showing the results for experimental group.
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of
students
16 0 2 3 3 3 7 9 10 11 13 15 16 19 8.5
The mean result of the experimental result for the score is 8.5.
The following were the results for control group which was taught in a usual way, employing
methods desired by teachers.
Table 4.4: Table showing results for the control group.

of
students
16 0 1 1 2 2 4 9 9 9 9 10 10 12 16 6.7
The mean score of the results of the control group is 6.7. We can see improvement from the
results of the control group as compared to pre-test. The tremendous improvement was observed
from the mean results of experimental group. Therefore, it was seen that the experimental group
can bring better results as compared to control group by 8.5-6.7=1.8. Therefore, we can tell that
the most effective teaching method on graphs of motion at Mbanyutu and Luampa secondary
schools is group discussion or learner centred approach which in turn encourages collaborative
learning among learners.
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4.2. QUESTIONNAIRES
4.2.1. PUPILS’ QUESTIONNAIRE
The first part the pupils’ questionnaires results were as follows:
Table 4.5: Table showing results for pupils’ questionnaires for part one
QUESTION SAMPLE/% YES NO
1. Did you cover any topic in physics n=32 31 1
Which involve graphs? % 97 3
2. Do you enjoy topics which involve n=32 8 24
graphs? % 25 75
3. Did you do graphs of motion in grade n=32 25 7
10 or 11? % 78 22
4. Did you enjoy the topic, graphs of n=32 6 26
motion? % 19 81
5. Do you have challenges in learning topics n=32 23 9
involving graphs? % 71 29
6. Do you enjoy the way teachers teach physics on n=32 11 21
topics which involve graphs? % 34 66
7. Do you think teachers have challenges 22 10

which they face when teaching topics n=32
involving graphs? % 69 31
Referring from table 4.5, pupils’ questionnaires had two (2) variables and seven items. The
variables were YES and NO. The items were questions from number one (1) up to number seven
(7). The analysis was done in relation to the research questions.
CHALLENGES FACED BY LEARNERS ON GRAPHS OF MOTION.

ITEM 1: did you cover any topic in physics which involve graphs? Out of thirty-two pupils who
participated in the questionnaire, thirty-one (31) pupils showed that previously they covered
topic(s) which involve graphs. This means that ninety-seven percent (97%) of the pupils who
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participated had a background of the topics which involve graphs. Only one pupil, who
represents three percent (3%), did not have any background of graphs.
ITEM 2: Do you enjoy topics which involve graphs? According to table 3 above, it was clearly
seen that pupils did not enjoy learning topics which involve graphs. Most of the reasons gotten
from pupils showed that teachers do not concentrate on explaining how the graphs can be
constructed and interpreted, instead they just cruise to finish the syllabus. This was seen through
the number of pupils who refuted to the question as compared to those who accepted to the
question. The number of pupils who did not enjoy in learning topics which involve graphs was
twenty-four (24) out of thirty-two (32) participants, which represents seventy-five percent (75%)
of the participants as compared to those who enjoyed. Eight (8) learners, out of thirty-two (32)
participants, represent twenty-five percent (25%), of the pupils who participated in the research,
did not enjoy learning on topics which involve graphs. Meaning learners had challenges in terms
of guidance from teachers. They lacked proper guidance from learners on how to construct and
interpret graphs.
ITEM 3: did you do graphs of motion in previous grades, like grade 10 or 11? Twenty-five (25)
out of thirty-two (32) participants admitted that they have previous knowledge on graphs of
motion. This represented the total percentage of seventy-eight percent (78%) of the pupils who
participated. Only twenty-two percent refuted that they did not have graphs of motion
background. These are pupils who reports to school in the second year of the academic
education, they report in grade eleven (11) instead of reporting in grade ten (10), term one (1) of
the academic year. This represents twenty- two percent (22%) of the learners who participated in
the research. This clearly indicated that most of the learners at one point did a topic involving
graphs.
ITEM 4: did you enjoy the topic, graphs of motion? According to table 3, it showed that most of
the learners did not enjoy learning the topic, graphs of motion. The reasons pupils gave indicated
that teachers were fast and quick when dealing graphs of motion, and this further showed that
teachers used lecture method which disadvantaged learners from getting the concepts on graphs.
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Lecture method of teaching involves teachers standing in front of learners teaching learners what
to do, meaning a teacher is the source of knowledge and consider learners to be empty vessels.
Teachers were teaching in order to finish the syllabus not for pupils to acquire skills. Table 3
really showed that eighty-one percent (81%) of the pupils who participated did not enjoy the
topic, graphs of motion. Only nineteen percent (19%) came out in open that they enjoyed
learning on topics which involve graphs of motion. This means that most of the learners did not
acquire any skill on graph interpretation and construction.
ITEM 5: Do you have challenges in learning topics involving graphs? The results of the
questionnaires showed most of the learners who participated have challenges on graphs of
motion. This was so, because twenty-three (23) out of thirty-two (32) participants came openly
that they had challenges on topics involving graphs of motion. This represents seventy-two
percent (72%) of the participant. The most eminent reason learners gave was that teachers do not
answer their questions which troubles them during lessons involving graphs. Only nine (9) out of
thirty-two (32) pupils showed that they did not have challenges learning on topics which involve
graphs of motion. This represents twenty- eight percent of the participants.
ITEM 6: Do you enjoy the way teachers teach physics on topics which involve graphs? Most of
the learners’ responses showed that teachers do not employ teaching methods which motivates
learners to acquire skills on graphs. Twenty-one (21) learners out of thirty-two (32) participants
indicated that they do not enjoy the way teachers teach physics on topics which involve graphs.
Meaning sixty-six percent (66%) of the pupils who participated did not enjoy the way teachers
teach physics on topics involving graphs at Mbanyutu and Luampa secondary schools. Eleven
(11) out of thirty-two (32) pupils who participated indicated that they enjoy the way teachers
teach physics on topics which involve graphs. These pupils represent thirty- four percent of the
pupils who participated. When employing wrong methods of teaching, it is automatic that
learners did not acquire any knowledge and skill, hence the poor performance on graphs of
motion.
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CHALLENGES FACED BY TEACHERS ON GRAPHS OF MOTION.

ITEM 7: Do you think teachers have challenges which they face when teaching topics involving
graphs? Most of the responses pupils gave indicated that teachers have challenges which teachers
do encounter as they teach physics on topics which involve graphs. The main reason which came
out strongly was that teachers teach and demonstrate using a plain chalkboard and during tests
they are given graph papers. This clearly confuses learners because they do not practice on graph
papers but during tests and mostly on final examination they are told to use graph papers. This
can be proved by looking at the number of respondents who agreed as compared to those who
refuted to the question. Twenty-two (22) out of thirty- two (32) agreed that teachers have
challenges which they face when teaching topics which involve graphs. The pupils who agreed
represented sixty- nine percent (69%) of the participants. Then ten (10) out of thirty-two (32)
participants showed that teachers do not have challenges when teaching on topics which involve
graphs, which represent thirty-one percent (31%) of the participants.
Generally, from the questionnaires carried out, the responses showed that grade twelve learners
of Mbanyutu and Luampa secondary schools have challenges on topics involving graphs of
motion. These challenges if not handled properly can lead to poor performance on graphs of
motion.
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The following are the results for part two of the pupils’ questionnaire conducted at Mbanyutu
and Luampa secondary schools.
Table 4.6: Showing results for pupil’s questionnaire part two

QUESTIONS SAMPLE 1 2 3 4 5
SD D Ud A SA
1 There are no challenges experienced during 7 15 0 5 5
Lessons involving graphs of motion. n=32
2 Teachers teach well on graphs of motion. n=32 12 15 1 4 0
3 The number of physics teachers is 2 0 3 17 10
not enough in the school. n=32
4 I enjoy learning on topics which 18 10 0 2 2
Involve graphs of motion. n=32
5 I can construct graphs without challenges. n=32 14 17 0 1 0
6 Graphs are difficult to interpret. n=32 3 8 1 12 8
In this section of the pupils’ questionnaires, there are five (5) variables, these are SD, D, Ud, A
and SA and the questionnaire has six (6) items. The meanings of the abbreviated variables are as
follows;
SD=Strongly Disagree, D=Disagree, Ud=Undecided, A=Agree and SA=Strongly Agree.
ITEM 1: Item 1 states that there are no challenges experienced during lessons involving graphs
of motion: The number of learners that disagreed strongly was seven (7), disagreed fifteen (15),
undecided zero (0), agreed five (5) and agreed strongly was five (5). Fifteen learners disagreed to
the statement and seven learners strongly disagreed. The total number of learners who refuted to
the statement was twenty- two (22) out of thirty-two (32) learners, this represents 68.75%. Those
who agreed to the statement were just ten (10) out of thirty-two (32) learners and this represents
31.25%. From item one, it was clearly seen that most of the learners have challenges which they
do experience on topics involving graphs.
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ITEM 2: This item stated, that teachers teach well on graphs of motion. From table 4, it was seen
that the number of learners who strongly disagreed to the statement was twelve (12), disagreed
fifteen (15), undecided one (1), agreed four (4) and no one agreed strongly. The total number of
learners who disagreed that teachers teach well on graphs of motion was twenty-seven (27) out
of thirty-two (32), representing eighty four percent (84%) of the pupils who participated. This
entails that pupils felt that teachers do not teach according to their expectations. On this item, it
was clearly noted that pupils blame teachers for their poor performance on topics involving
graphs of motion.
ITEM 3: The number of physics teachers is not enough in the school; referring from table 4, it
was seen that the number of learners who disagreed strongly to the statement was two (2),
disagreed was zero, undecided was three (3), agreed was seventeen (17) and strongly agreed was
ten (10). Therefore, the total number of learners who agreed inclusive of those who strongly
agreed was twenty-seven (27). This meant that twenty-seven (27) learners agreed that the
number of teachers of physics is not enough at both Mbanyutu secondary and Luampa secondary
schools. The number of learners who conquered that the number of teachers of physics is not
enough represents eight-four percent (84%) of the participants. Therefore, pupils believe that
they cannot perform well due to insufficient number of teachers.
ITEM 4: states that, learners enjoy learning on topics which involve graphs; using table 4 of the
pupils’ questionnaires, it was clearly observed that the number of learners who did not enjoy
learning on topics which involve graphs are more than those who enjoyed. According to table 4,
the number of learners who strongly disagreed that they did not enjoy learning topics which
involve graphs was eighteen (18), disagreed was ten (10), no one was undecided, two (2) agreed
and two (2) again strongly agreed. This represents eighty-eight percent (88%) of those who
participated, which implies that eighty-eight percent (88%) of learners who participated did not
enjoy learning on topics involving graphs.
ITEM 5: pupils can construct graphs without challenges: The number of pupils who participated
was thirty-two (32). The number of pupils who disagreed strongly to the statement was fourteen
(14), disagreed was seventeen (17), only one (1) agreed and no one agreed strongly. The total
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number of pupils who disagreed to the statement was thirty-one inclusive those who strongly
disagreed. The total number of learners who disagreed represents ninety-seven percent (97%).
This indicates that pupils still have challenges in constructing of graphs.
ITEM 6: graphs are difficult to interpret; the total number of learners who disagreed strongly to
the statement was three (3), eighty (8) disagreed, one was undecided, twelve (12) learners agreed
and eight agreed strongly. The total number of learners who agreed, strongly agreed inclusive
was twenty (20) out of thirty-two (32). This represents sixty-five percent of the participants. This
means that sixty-five percent of those who participated have challenges on how to construct
graphs.
From the questionnaires conducted we can clearly tell that learners have challenges on topics
involving graphs, like graphs of motion.
4.2.2 TEACHERS’ QUESTIONNAIRES

From the two secondary schools where questionnaires were conducted, Mbanyutu secondary
school had only one physics teacher and his major is mathematics education and minored in
physics education. The teacher is a degree holder and has been at Mbanyutu for eight years.
Luampa secondary school has two teachers who teach physics, the head of department who
specialized in biology and chemistry and one diploma holder who specialized in biology,
chemistry and physics. The head of department is a degree holder and the other teacher is a
diploma holder. During the time questionnaires were being conducted, the head of department
was on leave and no questionnaire was given to him because he was away. The teacher at
Luampa has served for six years and has been in service for thirteen years. Therefore,
questionnaires were conducted only to two teachers, one from Mbanyutu secondary and the other
one from Luampa secondary school. All the teachers who were given questionnaires were above
twenty-six years of age and all were males.
The following were the results obtained through questionnaires conducted from two teachers:
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Table 4.7: Table showing results for teachers’ questionnaire Part I

QUESTION/ STATEMENT/ITEM YES NO POOR GOOD
i. Do you enjoy teaching topics involving graphs? 2 0 0 0
ii. Do you have challenges in teaching a topic, 1 1 0 0
graphs of motion or any topic which involve
graphs?
iii. How is the performance of pupils on topics 0 0 2 0
involving graphs, e.g. graphs of motion?
According to table 5 part I, the two teachers who received questionnaires indicated that they did
enjoy teaching topics involving graphs of motion. On the part of challenges, the teacher from
Luampa indicated that there were no challenges experienced when teaching graphs of motion but
the teacher from Mbanyutu secondary indicated that there were challenges experienced during
teaching of topics involving graphs of motion. The teacher showed that the challenges were as a
result of lack of teaching materials such as graph boards and graph papers. The performance of
pupils from the two secondary schools showed that it was poor despite lack of challenges from
Luampa secondary school. The reason which was given for poor performance of pupils was as a
result of poor reading skills because most of the pupils migrate from grade seven to grade eight
without having enough reading skills hence facing challenges to understand grade eight and nine
concepts, which is the foundation of the senior level. The other teacher stated that the
performance is poor because most of the pupils do not come to school consistently.
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The following results were obtain from a questionnaire using a likert scale;
Table 4.8: table showing teachers’ questionnaire results, part two

STATEMENT/ ITEM VARIABLES
SD D Ud A SA
i) There are no challenges I experience 0 1 0 1 0
when teaching lessons involving n=2
graphs of motion
ii) Teachers teach well on graphs 0 2 0 0 0
of motion n=2
iii) The number of physics teachers is 0 0 0 1 1
not enough in the school n=2
iv) Learners enjoy learning on topics 0 2 0 0 0
which involve graphs n=2
v) Pupils can construct graphs 0 2 0 0 0
without challenges n=2
vi) Graphs are difficult to interpret n=2 0 0 1 1 0
vii) Teaching of graphs is simple n=2 0 0 0 2 0
CHALLENGES FACED BY TEACHERS ON TEACHING GRAPHS OF MOTION.
According to the likert scale above, one teacher from Mbanyutu secondary showed that
challenges were experienced during teaching of topics which involve graphs because of lack of
teaching and learning of resources. Whereas the teacher from Luampa secondary showed that
there were no challenges experienced during teaching of topics which involve graphs.
From their personal experiences, the two teachers showed that teachers do not teach well on
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topics which involve graphs, like graphs of motion. This could be due to the fact that the number
of teachers of physics is not enough at the two secondary schools under study.
The two teachers of physics from the two secondary schools who took part in the study through
questionnaires indicated that the pupils from the two secondary schools do not enjoy learning
physics on topics which involve graphs. In short, learners developed negativity on graphs of
motion. Teachers found it difficult to remove this negativity in learners. Due to the fact that
learners do not enjoy learning on topics which involve graphs, hence experiencing challenges in
constructing and interpreting of graphs.Despite challenges experienced by pupils in construction
and interpretation of graphs, teachers showed that teaching of graphs was simple and enjoyable.
4.3 OBSERVATION
As stated earlier in the study, at each secondary school, the participants were put into two groups,
the control and experimental groups. The control group pupils were taught normally, as teachers
used their desired styles of teaching. Whereas the experimental group pupils were taught using
learner centered approach where the researcher also participated. The observation was done in
the control group of pupils. The observation results obtained were as follows;
4.3.1 TEACHER 1: the teacher was observed throughout the topic. The minimum observation
started at 15:40 hours and ended at 17:34 hours. The lesson lasted for one hour fifty-four
minutes, close to two hours. The maximum observation lasted for two hours twenty minutes. The
three lessons observed were supposed to last for forty minutes and the four were eighty minutes
lessons. Teacher one taught without a lesson plan. The rationales for the lessons were not known
because the teacher had no lesson plans throughout the topic during teaching. The rationales were
known by the teacher only, hence the lessons were also teacher centred as most of the talking was
done by the teacher. The lesson outcomes were not known but the outline was given during
introduction of the first lesson. Due to the fact that the lessons were teacher centred, the learners’
participation was very low and poor. After giving an outline of the topic during first lesson, the
pupils seemed to have a vision on what they will cover under the topic linear motion.
During the lesson delivery, the teacher used whole class approach where pupils were made to sit
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on a bus arrangement- like. No defined group was seen in the classroom. The teacher gave
activities to the pupils at the end of the lesson throughout the topic. The teacher used to mark few
pupils’ books and then ended the lesson. Conclusions were not done, instead the teacher used to
give the same activities to be done at home as home work.
As a result of the absence of the lesson plans, there were no evaluations or reflections of any
kind. The teacher never used any teaching and learning material that benefited the pupil to
acquire skills on graph construction. The only materials used were chalks, chalk board and a
physics text book called learners’ achievers pupils’ book.
4.3.2 TEACHER TWO: The teacher taught five lessons and completed the topic. The teacher
had two lesson plans throughout the topic, one lesson plan was supposed to last for forty minutes
and the other one was eighty minutes lesson plan. For all the lessons taught, the maximum took
one hour five minutes and the minimum took ninety minutes. The teacher contextualized the
lesson in real life situation, the questions the teacher asked encouraged learners to bring out the
terms used in mechanics. Introduction part for most lessons was very interactive because pupils
were actively involved.
During development of the lessons, most of the talking was done by the teacher, hence, teacher
centred. Few learners asked questions, but the teachers kept on telling the pupils that what they
were asking were yet to be covered and did not take note of the questions. Surely, other questions
were covered on other lessons but pupils who asked the questions did not realized that their
questions were answered.
In all the lessons, the teacher used to give the activity to pupils at the end of the lessons and
mostly the activity was not marked, instead the teachers encouraged learners to continue doing
the activity and bring the books the following day. According to the observation, the pupils’
books were not seen being marked even the following day. As a result, no conclusion and
evaluation were seen in all the observations made.
The teacher was seen using the graph board and graph papers were given to learners for practice.
All the findings and analysis done in chapter four were discussed in detail in the next chapter,
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chapter five. Chapter four looked at how literature review collated with the findings and the
analyzed data.
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CHAPTER 5
DISCUSSIONS OF THE STUDY
THE CAUSES OF POOR PERFORMANCE IN LEARNERS.
After analysis of the pre-test results of the experimental and control groups of the sampled
learners, it was found out that most of the learners performed poorly on graphs which involve
graphs of motion. Only a handful, were on overage and above. After teaching learners who were
put into two different groups, experiment group and control group, using different teaching
approaches. The experimental group was taught using learner centred approaches and control
group was taught using approaches desired by physics teachers. Some learners improved in terms
of performance after giving the post test. Few improved under control group as compared to
experiment group which recorded a good number of learners who improved in terms of
performance. Most of the learners under control group performed poorly as compared to those
under experimental group because mostly, teachers used teacher centred approach to deliver the
lessons, where learners were considered to be empty vessels. Therefore, learners were forced to
be listening throughout the lesson. Hence forcing learners to memorize certain concepts. The
only time learners interacted on their own was during homework at home. During lessons for
learners under control group, teachers were teaching to finish the syllabus because their aim was
to ensure learners cover a lot in order for them to pass the examination at the end of the year. As
a result, most of the learners did not participate during the lessons because they were not given
chance to ask where they were behind so that teachers can cruise and finish the syllabus within
the specified period of time. Hence disadvantaging learners from acquiring skills. Because
learners memorized a lot of content, other information was lost after sometime, hence poor
performance. One of the scripts showing poor performance of the learners who were taught using
teacher centred approach was as follows;
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Figure 5.1. Showing one of the scripts for pupils taught using teacher centred.
CHALLENGES FACED BY BOTH TEACHERS AND LEARNERS ON GRAPHS OF

MOTION AND SOLUTIONS TO REDUCE THE CHALLENGES FACED.
Teachers used to give a lot of content under one lesson in order to finish the syllabus within a
short period of time; this made the teachers not to observe time. Lessons which were supposed to
finish within 40 minutes used to be taught in one hour thirty minutes. This in turn affected the
attention span of learners. According to Chirwa (2015:66), if learners are aware that they are
supposed to learn a certain lesson within 40 minutes, whatever you say after 40 minutes have
elapsed, it will never be accommodated in the brains of a learner. Therefore, to address this
challenge teachers should be time conscious to avoid disturbing the attention span of learners.
Once the attention span is disturbed it means the participation will be poor, hence poor
performance.
From figure 5.1. The learner failed to label the axis of the graph, making it difficult to identify
the name of the graph. On the Y-axis the scale is not consistence, hence making a learner to
experience challenges to produce a suitable graph. The challenge can be solved by a teacher
through proper guidance on the steps involved to produce a graph. Some of the steps involved in
graph construction which teachers consider less are as follows:
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Axes labelling, scale identification, points plotting and points joining.
After analyzing why physics teachers, plans a lot of content under one lesson, they justified that
physics teachers were very few in the two schools under study and this was confirmed by the
researcher to be true considering the number of physics teachers who were involved in
questionnaires. This implies that each school had only one physics teacher against grades 8-12.
This makes teachers not to concentrate in their planning, hence employing wrong teaching
approaches on graphs of motion, hence poor performance. The teachers should be encouraged to
plan effectively despite the number of challenges faced, like overloads in terms of the number of
periods. Physics teachers should be supported to capacity build themselves by attending
provincial and national conferences like Zambia Association of Science Education (ZASE) so
that they grow professionally.
Teaching and learning materials such as graph boards are supposed to be provided regularly to
make teaching and learning more enjoyable and interactive, hence reducing challenges faced by
both teachers and learners.
Poor performance was also due to truancy, a lot of absenteeism. This means that learners do not
come for lessons regularly and consistently. The learners who participated in questionnaires were
32 in total but those who participated in pretest- posttest were twenty-seven (27). Meaning, five
(5) students were absent, two from control group and three from experimental group. Also,
during learning, it was observed that a number of learners used to vary. Sometimes the turnout
used to be poor. These were the pupils who performed poorly especially in posttest. One of the
scripts of the learner who used to attend lessons poorly was as shown in figure 5.2. The
performance was poor because their practice on graph interpretation and construction was
inconsistence and the connections of the lessons did not make any meaning to them. Mostly
learners who were not attending lessons were due to a lot of initiation ceremonies happening in
the area. The common initiation ceremonies are Mukanda (initiation ceremony for Mbundas and
Luvales) for the boys, which encourage young boys to take part in Makishi (a person dressed in a
mask of any form of an animal) dance to raise money for the ceremony. Mostly, they allow
recently graduands of the ceremony to perform and dress in makishi clothes. During such
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periods, learners, both boys and girls tend to abandon the school lessons just to take part in
dancing and watching. Such activities become very active the moment rain season ends, from
April to October. Thus, the only term pupils seem to concentrate academically is just term one,
January to April of every year. Beyond April very few learners attend lessons. Girls are secluded
in an initiation ceremony called Sikenge for three months and not allowed to leave the home,
hence poor performance academically. Poor performance of learners in some schools is
contributed by culture of the society where the school is situated (UNESCO, 2017).
Poor performance in learners caused by culture can be reduced by sensitizing the community
surrounding the school the importance of education through annual general meetings and use of
non-government organizations like Social Welfare, Save The Children and World Vision. These
are some of the organization which seems to be more active in terms of educational promotion in
Luampa district of Western province.
Figure 5.2. showing one of the scripts for the pupils who do not attend lessons regularly
From figure 5.2. It was easily seen where learners had challenges even after learning. It was
deduced that the learner just used the graph during the test. From the few lessons the learner
attended, the learner never practiced to construct a graph on a graph paper instead the learner
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used to see a teacher demonstrating on how to construct a graph using a chalk board, and this
made a learner to face challenges putting the graph on the graph paper. Such a learner cannot
benefit and acquire any skill using teacher centred approach. The solution to such a challenge is
through promoting school administrators to be providing teaching and learning materials and
teachers in turn to show to administrators how these materials can influence the performance of
learners. This should be so, because some school administrators do not have knowledge on how
some teaching and learning materials can benefit a child.
Teachers should also show interest in their teaching to enable learners develop confidence in
physics teachers.
The other challenge which learners face, according to the figure above was that, learners did not
understand the representation of the boxes on the graph paper, hence failing to come up with a
scale suitable for the figures given in the question. The moment a learner fails to come up with a
suitable scale, the desired graph cannot be produced. Hence poor performance. All these
challenges were encountered because of the lack of practice on graph construction and
interpretation. In this situation, practice on graph construction is paramount in the teaching of
graphs construction and interpretation.
The pupil also did not have the idea on how plotting is supposed to be done. It is clearly seen that
the learner was just putting points the way he or she feels like or even guessing. Therefore
teacher guidance and practice should be encouraged to enable production of good results and
performance.
ACADEMIC MOTIVATION
According to questionnaires, most teachers showed concerns over academic motivation. Teachers
indicated that school administrators do not buy what is required by the teachers of physics to
teach effectively. In short, schools fail to provide what is needed by physics teachers. This in turn
made physics teachers not to teach according to the expected standards, hence poor performance
of learners. Apart from that, due to inadequate number of teachers of physics, the present
teachers were not even given chances to attend provincial and national conferences, Zambia
Association of Science Education (ZASE). This is an association where teachers share
experiences on the best way of how to teach science in the province or national level. During
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such conferences teachers grow professionally. Therefore, also these teachers from the two
schools under study need to grow professionally in order for them to be confident and competent
of what they were doing. The moment teachers of physics feels incompetent of what they are
doing, they lose confidence. This in turn demoralizes the teacher to be creative and eclectic.
Hence, demoralize the learners to concentrate to such teachers, hence poor performance by
learners.
POOR PLANNING
Experience gotten from observation showed that teachers who do not plan before teaching cannot
produce good results. It is a well known fact that every lesson to be effective and produce good
results in life, planning should be taken seriously. One physics teacher who was observed in the
study showed clearly that planning was not a priority because the teacher taught the whole topic
without any lesson plan whereas the other teacher who planned the lessons before teaching
produced good results. This entails that planning before teaching can produce good performance
in learners as compared to the one who came to school without any glimpse of the methodology
to be used to the learners. Such teachers decide what to do during lesson presentation. Due to the
fact that the teacher used to come to class without a plan, it was discovered that his classroom
was disorganized and classroom management was poor. The teacher just did things haphazardly
and impulse without considering the end result. As a result of poor planning, it was discovered
that learners were not organized into groups, instead learners just sat in a bus arrangement form.
Hence poor classroom management. Poor classroom management tempted most of the learners to
make noise without the consent of the teachers, hence poor performance in physics lessons
involving graphs of motion.
On the other hand, learners who were under experimental group performed well because pupils
were allowed and given chance to interact among themselves. Pupils constructed their own
knowledge through interaction amid themselves in their respective groups. In experimental
group, teachers of physics acted as facilitators, meaning more activities were done by learners.
The learners constructed graphs with the help from their fellow learners. Through practice
learners were able to acquire skills on how to interpret and construct graphs. This means that,
memorization was not there, hence understanding all the concepts involving graphs. Therefore,
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learner centred approach which involve group discussions produced good performance among
experimental group learners. One of the scripts obtained by one of the learners for using learner
centred was as in figure 5.3. Learners who were taught using learner centred approach, especially
those who attended lessons regularly performed well as compared to those who were taught using
teacher centred. This was so because learners were engaged from the very beginning of the topic
and they constructed knowledge on their own through interaction with friends and materials
involved in learning graphs of motion and being guided by the teacher.
Figure 5.3: Showing one of the scripts for the pupils who were taught using learner centred
approach.
All the experienced challenges on graphs of motion can be reduced or eliminated by motivating
and encouraging teachers of physics for the two schools under study to plan before teaching in
order to enhance order in lesson delivery and identify the best methods of teaching for the topic,
graphs of motion or kinematics. Upon identifying the best delivery approach for the lesson,
learners were supposed to be actively engaged from the very beginning of the lesson up to the
end. Whatever approach physics teachers would have used, learner involvement would have
produced better performance in order to produce better results.
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From experiences and findings gotten from the research conducted from two schools of Luampa
district, Mbanyutu and Luampa secondary schools, conclusion and recommendation was done in
the next chapter.
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CHAPTER SIX
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.
CONCLUSION.
The main aim or purpose of the research was to conduct the investigation on the causes of poor
performance among grade 12 pupils in topics related to graphs of motion. According to the
findings and analysis, the causes of poor performance among grade 12 pupils on topics related to
graphs of motion were due to lack of consistent planning among teachers of physics and the lack
of the use of appropriate or required learning approach which encourage learners to discover their
own learning from the given contents. Most of the teachers use teaching approaches which does
not encourage learners to practice graph construction and interpretation during learning.
The mind is everything. What you think you become, and therefore in accordance to that
statement our mind is responsible for the actions we take. In this case, poor teaching methods
have highly affected our mind and our thinking, making us feel that we are not good at certain
subjects, even making us go as far as hating the subject, whereas all that is required is a different
approach. This has in turn affected student’s action thereby making them shy away from such
subjects when it comes to subject choices (Buddha, 2014)
Poor lesson planning leads to the use of poor teaching methods which in turn has the following
hindrances to the learning and teaching of a given lesson;
LACK OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY

During our teaching and learning, especially at planning stage, teachers should ensure that
technology is embraced throughout in order to ensure the teaching and learning information at
stake should be updated in order to keep up with the rest of the world as we know that
information improves on every day. For example, the issue of writing notes on the board for the
pupils instead of printing the handouts to pupils to reduce time wastage of copying notes on the
chalk board. This will just allow teachers to just explain the notes to pupils, hence lessens
teachers’ and pupils’ work.
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Also, internet can be used by both teachers and learners to do the research for their learning and
teaching.
The use of the internet should also be brought into consideration as a source of help to teachers
and students thereby ensuring them not to be limited to knowing just what has been known for a
very long period of time and leaving both the students and teachers outdated. Modifications are
made to various subjects and the internet can be a source of information for educators and
students therefore the internet would allow everyone to improve and gain more knowledge on
various topics (Thornburg, 2013)
LACK OF EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF CLASSROOMS

To encourage teaching and learning, the classrooms should be well arranged to create a
conducive environment. This will also encourage learner participation during learning. When
learners are put into groups they also learn leadership as each group will require a leader.
THE NEGATIVE ATTITUDE OF STUDENTS TOWARDS PHYSICS.

Due to poor teaching methods employed by teachers, most learners have developed negative
attitude towards physics learning and other pupils reached an extent of hating the subject. This
leads to poor performance among learners because others end up shunning the physics periods.
When learners are taught using the appropriate teaching and learning approaches, learners will
improve:
PARTICIPATION: participation is very important towards learning of science which in turn
improves the performance of learners because it encourages discovery learning.
RETENTION OF KNOWLEDGE: Given that a learner centered approach places high

emphasis on relevance and engagement, it greatly influences learners’ interest levels. The learner
centered approach shifts the focus from traditional Learning, which emphasized only on graphs
and PowerPoint slides, to Learning with more engaging and simulating content. For example, if
you are developing a course for engineers, the course should have real life scenarios that are
relevant to their day-to-day problems. Also, the course will have certain elements, which will
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make them use the knowledge they may have acquired previously. This way, learners will retain
the knowledge better as opposed to a plain Learning course with a lot of theoretical knowledge.
BOOSTS PERFORMANCE AT WORK: A typical learner centered Learning topic will have a
lot of scenarios, case studies, role plays and others. For example, if an organization is training its
employees on quality guidelines or industry best practices, a learner centered course with a lot of
engaging and interactive content will help learners grasp the content more effectively. This way,
learners are more likely to apply their learning at work, leading to improved on-the-job
performance.
PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS: A learner centered Learning course has a lot of real-life

examples, including games, quizzes, and challenges. For example, the course may have
challenges and games involving real life problems, which will force learners to think of solutions.
This kind of training develops problem-solving skills, which is useful when learners encounter
similar problems at work.
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING: Learner centered courses provide the opportunity to foster

collaborative learning. You should design Learning lessons in such a way that learners have to
involve their peers/superiors in completing the activities given. Alternatively, the topic should
have certain group exercises, which makes learners come together to solve problems, and thereby
share learning. This approach not only encourages collaboration but also fosters teamwork.
MAKES LEARNING MORE ENJOYABLE AND FUN: Use of games and stories in
Learning makes learning more fun. A learner centered approach provides a lot of choices to
learners. For example, if a particular lesson or topic involves research, learners should be given
chances to do research. Likewise, learner centered Learning lessons use lots of different
mediums, such as practical assignments and others. With these elements, learning is no longer
perceived as boring and monotonous.
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FACILITATES PERSONALIZED TYPE OF LEARNING: All learners do not have the same
learning needs. Some may just like to understand the basics of a concept, while some may like to
understand a course in detail. Also, some learners may already have some knowledge about a
topic, whereas some of them will be entirely new to the concept. A traditional Learning styles
(where teacher always stands in front to teach because the teacher is perceived as the fountain of
knowledge) will treat all learners the same way, and may not respond to the needs of different
types of learners. Things are different with learner centered Learning approach. In topics like
graphs of motion, teachers may include supplementary material like stop watch, tape measure,
for measuring time and distance respectively. Learners will be doing measurements on their own
time and interact with the materials without being taught by the teacher, hence personalizing
learning. The additional material makes learning more effective.
RECOMMENDATIONS.
The following recommendations were arrived at after carrying a research for the two schools,
Luampa and Mbanyutu secondary schools of Luampa district of Western province of Zambia.
The topic under study was, Investigating the causes of poor performance among grade 12 pupils
on a topic involving graphs of motion.
 Planning should be taken seriously and effectively among teachers of physics which
involve catch up strategy (more revisions on the previous topics).
 Increase the number of contact periods using non-contact hours.
 Encourage teachers to be self-motivated.
 Involve other people who are doing well in life as a result of science, like doctors to talk
to learners to motivate them.
 Teachers should be eclectic in their teaching. This means that they should use a variety of
teaching methods.
 Topics like graphs of motion be taught in grade 11 when pupils are settled in their science
courses, rather than in grade ten, when others are still reporting while others are still
settling in the school
 Teachers to ensure that learners are engaged from the beginning of the lesson in order to
encourage participation and interaction among learners.
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 Teachers to ensure that learner centred approach should be used regularly so that learners
can construct their own knowledge and interact with the available materials. This also
promotes team work as it encourages learners to solve certain problems in physics lessons
together.
 Teachers should find a means to motivate learners and involve them in different activities
to reduce absenteeism. They should involve learners in extracurricular activities like ball
games, cultural dance and others to keep learners in school.
 Administrators should motivate teachers of physics by sponsoring them to attend
provincial and national conferences in order to develop themselves professionally.
 The schools should ensure that teaching and learning materials, like graph pads, are
procured in time so that teachers and pupils can use them during teaching and learning.
Not just meeting graph papers in a test and examinations.
 During the use of learner centred approaches, teachers should be with learners and guide
them in their respective groups. Rather than leaving learners in and attend to other issues.
This will make the learners hate the learner centred approach.
 Teachers of physics should show love and care for their learners and answer questions
asked to them and find better ways of answering the questions without offending the one
who asked the question.
 Classroom organization should be taken into consideration during planning, to create a

friendly learning environment.
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Harsh and Smith.T. (2016). Intuitive rules – a suggestion for an additional explanation
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McDermott, etal. (2011). Student difficulties in connecting graphs and physics: Examples
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interactive teaching and learning in Jimma University, Ethiopia. African research reviews.
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APPENDICES
APPENDIX A
THE COPPERBELT UNIVERSITY
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE PUPILS
SEX………………………………….
SCHOOL…………………………… GRADE……………………
ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS
1. What is your age group in years?

A) 15 years or less. B)16-20 Years C)21-25 years D)26 years and above
2. When did you come to your school...?
3. What is the code of the science (physics and chemistry) you are taking at your school...
5124 / 5054?
4. Which topic in physics did you enjoy from the time you started taking physics...
5. Did you do any topic in physics which involve GRAPHS?..........................yes/no
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6. Do you enjoy topics which involve GRAPHS...YES / NO .if NO, WHY...?

……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………
7. Did you do GRAPHS OF MOTION in grade 10 or in grade 11? …YES / NO
8. Did you enjoy the topic, GRAPHS OF MOTION?...YES / NO. IF NO, Give reasons:
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………….
9. Do you have challenges in learning topics involving GRAPHS? YES / NO .if YES,
WRITE the challenges,
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
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………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………
10. How many teachers of physics do you have at your school?
11. Do you enjoy the way teachers teach physics on topics which involve graphs? YES / NO.
If NO, how do you want the teachers to teach?
12. Do you think teachers have challenges which they face when teaching topics involving
GRAPHS? YES / NO. if YES, LIST the challenges;
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………….
13. In this part, you will put an (X) across the box to express your agreement or disagreement
to each action on the scale from 1-5:
(1) Strongly disagree (SD). (2) Disagree (D). (3) Undecided (Ud). (4) Agree (A). (5) Strongly
agree (SA)
1 2 3 4 5
SD D Ud A SA
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1. There are no challenges I experience during lessons

involving graphs of motion.
2. Teachers teach well on graphs of motion
3. The number of physics teachers is not enough in the school
4. I enjoy learning on topics which involve graphs
5. I can construct graphs without challenges
6. Graphs are difficult to interpret
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION, GOD BLESSES!!!!
APPENDIX B.
TEACHERS’ QUESTIONNAIRE
INVESTIGATING CAUSES OF POOR PERFORMANCE OF GRADE 12 PUPILS IN

PHYSICS LESSONS INVOLVING GRAPHS OF MOTION.
This questionnaire will gather information concerning the causes of poor
Performance of grade 12 pupils in topics involving graphs of motion in physics. You have
been selected as a teacher physics subject at secondary education level. We invite you to
take 15-20 minutes of your valuable time to respond to all the items honestly and in
confidence. The responses for all the teachers will be taken together to help us investigating
the causes of poor performance in topics involving graphs of motion. Individuals
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completing the questionnaire will not be named or identified.
A. DEMOGRAPHICS
1. What is your age group in years?
B) 15 years or less. B)16-20 Years C)21-25 years D)26 years and above
2. How long have you been teaching physics?
3. What is your specialization? A. Chemistry Education B. Biology Education
C. Mathematics Education D. Physics Education
4. What is your highest qualification if any? A. Certificate. B. Diploma. C. Degree.

D. Master’s degree
5. What is your gender? Female / Male
B. PERSONAL EXPERIENCES
6. How many physics teachers does the school have?
7. Do you enjoy teaching topics involving graphs of motion?......YES / NO…If NO, give
reasons;……………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
8. Do you have challenges in teaching topics involving graphs of motion? YES / NO. If YES,
briefly explain on the challenges.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
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………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
9. what teaching methods do you employ when teaching graphs of
motion?...............................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................
10. How is the performance of pupils on topics involving graphs, e.g., graphs of motion?
GOOD / POOR
11. What challenges do pupils face in learning topics involving
graphs?................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................................’
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
12. What do you think are the best practices to reduce the challenges teachers and pupils face in
teaching and learning of topics involving
graphs?................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
(1) Strongly disagree (SD). (2) Disagree (D). (3) Undecided (Ud). (4) Agree (A). (5)
Strongly agree (SA)
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1 2 3 4 5
SD D Ud A SA
i) There are no challenges I experience when teaching

lessons involving graphs of motion.
ii) Teachers teach well on graphs of motion
iii) The number of physics teachers is not enough in the

school
iv) Learners enjoy learning on topics which involve

graphs.
v) pupils can construct graphs without challenges
vi) Graphs are difficult to interpret
vii) Teaching of graphs is simple
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION, GOD BLESSES!!!!
APPENDIX C
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PHYSICS PRE-TEST ON GRAPHS OF MOTION
GRADE………………. AGE…………………… SEX…………………

SCHOOL…………………………………………………….
INSTRUCTIONS.
ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS.
1. Describe the motion of the object using the graph below
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
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………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
1. An object travelled a distance of 40m in 4 seconds.
(a) Sketch the distance- time graph to interpret the information above.
(b) Calculate the velocity of an object.
PHYSICS PRE-TEST ON GRAPHS OF MOTION
NAME………………………………………………………… GRADE……………….
AGE…………………… SEX…………………
SCHOOL…………………………………………………….
INSTRUCTIONS.
ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS.
2. Describe the motion of the object using the graph below
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………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………
2. An object travelled a distance of 40m in 4 seconds.
(c) Sketch the distance- time graph to interpret the information above.
(d) Calculate the velocity of an object.
APPENDIX D
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CLASSROOM LESSON OBSERVATION
DATE: ________________________________
LOCATION: _____________________________ OBSERVER: _____________________________
TOPIC: _______________________________ ROLE: ________________________________
NUMBER OF PUPILS…………………………. BOYS………………… GIRLS…………………………………
RESEARCH QUESTIONS.
1. What causes poor performance in physics lessons involving graphs?
2. What challenges do teachers and students face during the lessons?
3. What can be done to reduce the challenges faced by both teachers and students?
PREPARATION YES NO
TIME OBSERVATION STARTED………………………………….
 Availability of lesson plan
CLARIFICATION:
 Rationale encourage teacher/ learner centered
CLARIFICATION:
 Outcomes encourage learner participation
CLARIFICATION:
INTRODUCTION
 Introduction connected to the previous lesson
CLARIFICATION:
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 Reaction of learners during introduction, positive or negative

CLARIFICATION:
 Methods or approach used encouraged participation of learners
CLARIFICATION:
 Did the introduction opened or lost the pupils
CLARIFICATION:
 Was the language clear enough to enable pupils grasp the concept to be taught
CLARIFICATION:
DEVELOPMENT
 Was the introduction well connected to development
CLARIFICATION:
 Were the groups well defined
CLARIFICATION:
 Did the teacher supervise learners in their respective groups
CLARIFICATION:
 How was the participation of learners in their respective groups
CLARIFICATION:
 Did the teacher encourage participation of pupils through the methodology
used
CLARIFICATION:
 Did you observe any struggle or challenge during learning
CLARIFICATION:
YES NO
 was the performance of pupils in the exercise good or bad

CLARIFICATION:
 Challenge or struggle seen in pupils during lessons
CLARIFICATION:
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CONCLUSION
 Teacher made corrections with pupils where they experienced challenges
CLARIFICATION
 Pupils participated fully during conclusion

CLARIFICATION:
EVALUATION
 Classroom management was good
CLARIFICATION:
 Performance of pupils was good

CLARIFICATION:
 Did you notice any challenge during lesson presentation

CLARIFICATION:
 Did the pupils construct graphs without challenges
CLARIFICATION
TIME OBSERVATION ENDED
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GENERAL OBSERVATION/
COMMENTS:………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
APPENDIX E
PHYSICS POST TEST ON GRAPHS OF MOTION
SEX………………… AGE………………………………….
GRADE…………………………
INSTRUCTION.
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ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS IN THIS PAPER USING THE SPACES PROVIDED AND GRAPH PAPERS PROVIDED.
1. The figure below shows a velocity-time graph for a car travelling along a straight road in
10s.
(a) Describe the motion of the car in 10s.

……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
(b) Find the acceleration of the car in the first 2s.
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
(c) Find the acceleration of the car between 2 and 6 seconds of the journey.
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
(d) Calculate the acceleration of the car in the last 4s of its motion.
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………….
(e) Find the distance travelled by the car in the first 2s.
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……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
(f) Calculate the distance travelled by the car during the constant velocity (between 2 and
6 seconds)
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
(g) Find the total distance travelled by the car.
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
.
ANSWER THIS QUESTION USING A GRAPH PROVIDED.
2. A car moving from rest acquires a velocity of 20m/s with uniform acceleration in 4s. It
then moves with this velocity for 6s and again accelerates uniformly to 30m/s in 5s. It
travels for 3s at this velocity and then comes to rest with uniform deceleration in 12s.
(a) Draw a velocity-time graph
(b) Calculate the total distance covered.
(c) Calculate the average speed.
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MSc thesis Austin Mucholobwe supervised by Danny

Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university

INVESTIGATING THE CAUSES OF POOR PERFORMANCE OF GRADE

A research thesis submitted to The Copperbelt University in partial fulfilment of

Department of Mathematics and Science Education

School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences

The Copperbelt University,

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1.2. Background of the study…………………………………………...............1

1.3. Statement of the problem……………………………………………………2

1.4. Purpose of the study…………………………………………………………3

1.5. Research questions………………………………………………….............3

1.6. Research objectives………………………………………………………… 3

1.7. Justification of the study……………………………………………........... 3

1.8. Significance of the study…………………………………………………....4

1.9. Scope of the study…………………………………………………………. 4

1.10. Study limitations…………………………………………………………….5

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1.11. Definition of the study……………………………………………...........6

1.12. Organisation of the research report………………………………........... 6

2.0. Literature Review……………………………………………………………7

2.1. Theoretical framework of the study…………………………………………8

2.2. Location and status of secondary schools……….......................................9

2.3. Construction and reading of graphs…………………………………………9

2.4. Zambian science curriculum in comparison with other countries………….14

2.5. Academic Motivation……………………………………………………….15

2.6. Guidance and counselling…………………………………………………..16

2.7. Poor performance in graphing……………………………………………19

3.0. Research Methodology……………………………………………………..20

3.1. Research Design……………………………………………………………..20

3.2. Study area, population, and sample size……………………………………..20

3.3. Data collection instrument……………………………………………………21

3.4. Data collection procedure……………………………………………………23

3.5. Data analysis procedures and techniques…………………………………….25

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4.0. Research findings and analysis……………………………………………….28

5.0. Discussions of the study……………………………………………………..43

5.2. Academic motivation…………………………………………………………47

5.3. Poor planning……………………………………………………………48

6.0. Conclusion and recommendations…………………………………………..51

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

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Table 2.1: table helping to explain how graphs can be plotted…………………..12

Table 4.1: table showing results of pretest for sampled learners………………….28

Table 4.3: table showing the results of experimental group………………………29

Table 4.4: table showing results for control group………………………………..30

Figure 2.1: showing the axis of the graph………………………………………..12

Figure 2.2: showing plotted points of distance against time…………………….13

Figure 2.3: showing distance- time graph………………………………………...14

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1.0. CHAPTER ONE

1.1. INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

1.2. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY.

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1.3. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM.

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