Impact of Interactive Engagement Methods on Students’ Understanding and Application of Concepts of Electricity and Magnetism

The study aimed at investigating the impact of the interactive engagement method on the students' conceptual understanding and application of the concepts of electricity and magnetism (E&M). The study involved 175 pre-service teachers, second-year physics students taking physics modules for E&M at the University of Malawi. We employed a quasi-experimental research design. Two groups (experimental and control) were formulated randomly. Experimental group learnt using interactive engagement techniques that included hands-on activities, pair problem-solving discussions, presentations to the entire class, computer interactive simulations like Physics Education Technology and Real-time Physics, and demonstrations. Traditional lecture method was used to teach students in the control group. Pretest and post-test were designed on electricity and magnetism (E&M) and administered to the groups. The data were analyzed to determine the influence of the treatment on the groups’ understanding and application of E&M concepts. The major finding was that students taught using the interactive engagement method had a higher mean score on understanding and application of E&M concepts than students taught using traditional lecture method. The effect size and Hake’s factor also show that students in the interactive approach group did better than those taught using traditional method. We propose some recommendations to science educators and stakeholders in education for improvement of teaching and learning of electricity and magnetism.