Determining the topics that students have difficulty in high school physics teaching and suggestions for solutions

In the research, it is aimed to determine the problems that students have difficulty in high school physics teaching with their reasons and to offer solutions. In the study, which was carried out using the sequential explanatory mixed method, firstly quantitative data and then qualitative data were collected. Quantitative data were collected from teachers with a questionnaire consisting of closed-ended questions, and qualitative data were collected from students with a questionnaire consisting of open-ended questions. 35 high school physics teachers and 96 high school 12th grade students who teach in a medium-sized city in Eastern Anatolia participated in the research. Descriptive statistics were used in the analysis of quantitative data, and thematic analysis was used in qualitative data. The reasons for these difficulties and solution suggestions were determined by the opinions of high school physics teachers and the opinions of students about physics, the most difficult subjects in high school physics subjects, and the opinions received from students. The analyzes showed that "Electricity and Magnetism" was the most difficult subject for high school students, according to both high school physics teachers and 12th graders. With the answers given by the students about why they have difficulties in electricity and magnetism "it is difficult to understand, more than one difficult subject at the same time, there are too many formulas, it is memorization, it requires complex thinking, it is student-based, the question style is too much, it is abstract, it is distance education and it is a long subject" themes were created. With the solution suggestions offered by the students "by solving more questions, it can be processed in detail, it should be fun, the logic should be understood, the curriculum should be lightened, it should not be only exam-oriented, the class size should be reduced, by concretizing and repeating" themes were created.