Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted The Effectiveness of Virtual Laboratories for Teaching Physics Experiments in a Saudi Secondary School(University of Exeter, 2024-10) Algorashi, Mohammed; Kleine Staarman, JudithCritical issues identified as barriers to teaching physics experiments in Saudi Arabia include the lack of laboratory equipment, insufficient funds to buy items for every student, and the dangers associated with performing particular experiments. Consequently, Saudi students typically learn by theoretical means, rather than by applying their knowledge practically. Recently, Virtual Laboratory (VL) has become a popular educational tool used widely in schools, as it can be delivered via a variety of software, such as the Physics Education Technology (PhET) program. However, at present, the specialised utilities of VLs are rarely utilised to teach physics experiments at the secondary school level in Saudi Arabia. To address this, the current study examines how PhET is being used to allow students to participate in experiments via a computer and a projector that displays physics experiments on an Interactive Whiteboard (IWB). The aim being to investigate the effectiveness and potential of VL for teaching physics experiments in Saudi secondary schools. This research studied the use of PhET simulations to teach physics experiments as a strategy to develop students’ knowledge and practical skills. To achieve this, it employed a convergent parallel mixed method design to interpret findings collected from interviews and pre-, post-, and delayed post-tests. The data was collected at a boys’ secondary school over a period of two months. The participants were a physics teacher and 40 students. The datasets were collected simultaneously, but analysed independently, and a mixed methods approach employed. Data relating to the students’ academic achievements and knowledge was collected via pre-, post-, and delayed post-tests. The qualitative strand of the study demonstrated the participants’ perspectives regarding the benefits and drawbacks of the software used, based on data collected in interviews with students after the physics teacher had introduced PhET in the classroom. Statistical and thematic analyses were carried out to further assess the data. The qualitative results indicated thatPhET offers opportunities for students to accrue educational benefits by conducting physics experiments via VL. The students were also observed to become more participatory and interactive when the teacher used the PhET program. The quantitative findings also revealed a significant enhancement in the knowledge of those students taught using the PhET program relative to the control group. The results obtained from the different components of the study were combined to answer the main research question, which suggests PhET has a positive impact on students’ knowledge. Although the study’s findings suggest the students may have failed to develop certain practical skills, PhET provided them with adequate information regarding how experiments work, including key safety aspects of experimentation. However, for maximum benefit, the study recommends integrating both VL and real world labs to teach physics experiments.15 0Item Restricted Saudi EFL learners’ preferences of oral corrective feedback: The case of female secondary-level students(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-12-01) Al Towailib, Farah; Argyri, EffrosyniIdentifying the most effective methods and techniques to correct EFL learners’ oral errors is crucial as it helps the learners notice the gaps between their interlanguage and the L2 forms without feeling discouraged from participating in interactional activities. The present study investigated Saudi EFL learners’ preferences for oral corrective feedback (OCF) in secondary school with a focus on educational track –namely, science and humanities tracks. A 30-item was completed by 15 Saudi female English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in the third year of secondary school from four different state schools in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia. The results reveal that the learners generally have a positive attitude towards the provision of OCF. While the learners highly prefer teacher feedback, they in general support peer feedback and self-correction. Moreover, they prefer the use of elicitation over recasts as it can prompt them to self-repair. With regard to OCF timing, the learners in both tracks favour delayed feedback. Notably, the learners prefer to get OCF when the error is likely to affect the comprehensibility of the utterance. As far as track is concerned, the results show that science-track learners have a more positive attitude towards peer feedback and self-correction than humanities-track learners. Interestingly, humanities-track learners have more tolerance towards recasts than their counterparts in the science-track. Similarly, the humanities-track learners were more lenient about leaving all spoken errors uncorrected compared with science-track learners. The implication highlights the importance of meshing teachers’ OCF practices with learners’ preferences.29 0