Teachers’ Classroom Management Practices: Predictors of Students’ Interest in Physics

The literature has consistently lamented a decline in students’ interest in studying physics. However, key among the factors linked to students’ interest in a particular subject is the teacher’s classroom management practices. The purpose of this study was to explore predictors of students’ interest in physics among 10 teacher classroom management practices. The overarching design employed in this study was the cross-sectional survey design. Even though, survey was the main design for this study, elements of correlation were also employed. Questionnaires were used to collect data. The population of this study was made up of Form Three and Two students who offer physics as elective in public senior high schools (SHS) in the Eastern region of Ghana. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 377 students to participate in this study. It was found that, generally, there was a moderate correlation between students’ perceived teacher classroom management practices and their interest in physics (TSIP). Task orientation in physics (TO), cooperation, involvement, and investigation were found to be significant predictors of students’ interest in physics. It is therefore recommended that physics teachers should pay more attention to task orientation, students’ involvement and investigation so as to help develop students’ interest in physics.