The relative effectiveness of calculus-based college physics instruction on student achievement

This experimental study evaluates the effectiveness of the Calculus-Based College Physics Instruction in enhancing the Physics conceptual achievement in electromagnetism among Engineering and Computer Science students. The respondents of the study were from the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila enrolled in SY 1993-94. The study utilized the four-by-four factorial quasi-experimental research design. Since no randomization was done, four academic student variables were considered to ensure that the mental aptitude of the participants did not intervene with the results. These academic variables were the (1) College English grade point average (GPA), (2) College Mathematics GPA, (3) high school GPA, and (4) NCEE percentiles. The data showed that the participants were parallel in terms of all the student variables, except the College Mathematics GPA. This implied that the participants had unequal mathematical ability. Thus, it was necessary that this variable be partialled out to determine the true effect of the treatment considered. In the absence of the inequality in mathematical ability, the participants in the Calculus-Based physics groups performed significantly better than those in the Algebra-Based groups. It was concluded that the Calculus-Based College Physics Instruction enhances the Physics conceptual achievement of Engineering and Computer Science students with above average NCEE ratings. The study recommended that the aforementioned physics instruction be adopted in teaching electromagnetism in the tertiary level. This research made the following recommendations:1. Teachers should be trained in the laboratory aspect of Physics because they were found to be only satisfactory in that aspect. This could be done through an in-service training among teachers and through activities of the Physics Teachers Association and,2. The Science process skills tests should be administered to teachers of other disciplines like Chemistry and Biology in order to compare their performance to that of the Physics teachers