Opinions of School Principals and Physics Teachers on Laboratory Practices and Use of Laboratory Practices Within The New Physics Curriculum

In this study, it is aimed to identify the opinions of the high school principals and physics teachers working at the same schools regarding laboratory practices and the use of these practices within new physics curriculum. The study was carried out in the fall semester of 2013- 2014 with 20 high school principals and 30 physics teachers working in Anatolian High Schools in Ankara via qualitative research techniques. The data obtained from the semi-structured interviews carried out face to face and individually with the school principals and Physics teachers were analyzed by using descriptive statistics method and the study findings were obtained. As a result of the study, high school principals and teachers have been identified to think that laboratories should certainly be used within the education process and the education in laboratories has a positive effect on the students’ achievement, better understanding of the subjects as well as their attention and approaching to the lessons. In accordance with the opinions received with respect to the use of laboratory applications in the new Physics curriculum, six (30%) of the principals and 22 (73,33%) of the teachers have been found to believe that the curriculum is not suitable for laboratory applications. It was found out that the laboratory practices in the new Physics curriculum were impractical due to the inadequate number of course hours for the applications and the nonconformity of the curriculum with the university placement exam.