The roles of parents in their children’s physics problem-solving ability

• Main Authors: Kaus, M. A., Ali, M .B., Halim, N. D. A., Phang, F. A., Samah, N. A., Ismail, A. K.
• Format: Article
• Published: American Scientific Publishers 2017
• Subjects: LB2300 Higher Education
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/75223/; https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85032192959&doi=10.1166%2fasl.2017.9512&partnerID=40&md5=78be01a204d57d301a09f132a5c5357e

Problem solving is an important aspect in learning Physics. Looking at the internal and external assessments, it shows that our students are still facing difficulty regarding this aspect. Therefore, several studies focusing on cognitive factors such as improving teaching methods have been done. However, it is found that motivation is a vital factor and one of the methods to motivate students is by parents providing social support to their children. Thus, this study will explore on this variable in regards to the learning of problem-solving skills in Physics. The samples involved are parents who have children studying in boarding schools. This study used semi-structured interviews and the interview was transcribed and analyzed by using thematic analysis method. After the analysis, the results showed that there are a number of social support aspects which are emotional support, educational support, relationship support and learning material support. Therefore, it can be said that, in order to positively influence children’s motivation to solve Physics problems, parent’s support plays an important role.