Preliminary Survey on Student Difficulties in Modern Physics Lectures: Basis for the Development of an Interactive Digital E-Book

Abstract

This survey research examines the problems experienced by prospective physics teacher students in modern physics lectures. Modern Physics is one of the mandatory courses for physics education students. Therefore, exploring the problems experienced by students when attending lectures is very important to research. The research subjects were 32 students in a physics education study program at a private university in Indonesia. Data collection was carried out by observing student responses while attending lectures, as well as open and unstructured interviews with course lecturers. The research results obtained were that there were 81.25 % of students tended to memorize physics formulas without understanding the meaning of each formula; 75.00 % of students stated that modern physics teaching materials were not available, so students had to look for lecture materials themselves, and 84.38 % of students who stated that it was not easy to access modern physics material via cellphone, had to use a laptop or go to the library. This preliminary research concluded that the physics education study program at one of the private universities in Indonesia does not yet have a special reference book for modern physics lectures. So, there is a need for further research in the form of developing textbooks that suit student needs and the demands of the physics education study program curriculum. The planned textbook is in the form of an interactive flipbook