A Systematic Analysis of the Causes of Physics Learning Difficulties among Chinese Secondary School Students

Abstract

Current international research on learning difficulties in science has been more comprehensive, with researchers analysing classroom teaching, subject characteristics and individual student factors. Within China, physics in science is taught as a separate subject in junior and senior secondary schools, which is often found difficult for students to master. Researchers in China have examined the causes of physics learning difficulties in a variety of ways, each from a different perspective, but these studies tend to dig deeper from a single perspective and lack a systematic generalisation of the causes of students' learning difficulties in physics. This paper uses a literature analysis approach based on ecosystem theory and systematically summarises the influential studies on the factors affecting physics learning difficulties in China. The study classifies the factors affecting physics learning difficulties into internal factors and external factors in the hope of helping teachers with diagnosing physics learning difficulties among secondary school students. This paper finds that learning difficulties in physics for secondary school students exist at the individual, school, home, subject and socio-cultural levels and that teachers have limited influence. Teachers need to enhance their ability to diagnose physics learning difficulties and improve their subject-teaching ability. It also proved that home-school cooperation needs to be enhanced.