Abstract:
This study investigated the effect of student-centered instruction in improving students'
conceptual understanding of wave motion in Mudula secondary and preparatory school found in
Mudula town of South Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Regional State of Ethiopia. Student
centered methods of teaching are different from teacher -centered methods of teaching because
these methods incorporate several learning styles, cooperative activities and even technology in
order to engage the students and promote creativity of the students' ability. A total of 80(42
female and 38 male) grade nine students were involved in this study. All students were given the
same pre-test and post-test. Students were divided randomly into control and experimental
groups. The experimental group (EG) was taught using student-centered methods and the control
group (CG) was taught using the teacher-centered methods. The instrument used in gathering
data for the study were back ground survey and tests. Chi-square and t-test were used as
statistical analysis. Chi-square test revealed that both the experimental and control groups had
equal knowledge in wave motion before the treatment. Based on the analysis of students' post
test scores and pre-test scores, student-centered teaching resulted in a higher average scores than
the students taught by teacher-centered method. The findings of the study revealed that, the
experimental group has brought s;ettistically significant difference on the mean achievemenrs on
post-test ( 14.05) and-P. 78 in pre-test. The internal reliability coefficient of the test was analyzed
using Kuder Rechafdson Formula-20 (KR-20). The results showed that, student-centered
instruction was found to be more effective in improving students' conceptual understanding of
wave motion. Based on the research findings, it is recommended that teachers should adopt
student-centered method of instruction in teaching the concept of wave motion.
Key words: - wave motion, student-centered method, and teacher-centered method
