Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to determine students’ perceptions and experiences
following the design of Real Life Instructional Materials (RLM) in teaching concepts of elasticity
and the law of floatation in physics. The study involved four ordinary level community secondary
schools from Rural Moshi district and the urban Moshi. A total of seventy one students from the
four schools were involved in the study. Also, four teachers were selected from the sampled
schools where by each school provided one physics teacher. The researchers planned and
prepared the materials in advance before coaching the teachers on how to implement them.
Teachers’ ability to execute student centered teaching approaches was assessed before and after
coaching. It was found out that the materials could enhance students’ involvement in the
learning process and also students developed positive attitude towards the use of real life
materials in learning the selected concepts. It was recommended that improvisation of
instructional materials for teaching the same or different concepts in physics should be
encouraged in order to alleviate the problem of material scarcity in the community secondary
schools. But selection of such materials should vary according to the nature of the students
immediate environments.
