Diagnosis of learning difficulties of plate tectonics concepts among secondary school students using: Focus group, nominal group, and questionnaire

Research Team in Pedagogical Engineering and Didactics of Sciences (RTPEDS), Higher Normal School, Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Tetouan, Morocco

Abstract

The teaching of geology or earth sciences occupies an important place in the life and earth sciences programs of the secondary cycle in Morocco. The theory of plate tectonics is the conceptual model that allows an understanding of most of the dynamic processes of the Earth. Our work aims to diagnose the difficulties related to the learning of the concepts related to plate tectonics by following a hybrid methodology of three techniques, namely: focus group, nominal group, and questionnaire. The results obtained allowed us to identify difficulties in the educational act in its different facets, whether epistemological, pedagogical, didactic, curricular, and logistical. These difficulties should be taken into consideration by the different actors in the educational process, in order to guarantee the successful learning of this discipline.