Investigation of experiences in new physics syllabus first year implementation

The main aim of this research is to expose how teachers, principals, students and parents experience the first implementation process of Physics Syllabus (PS) which was put into practice at 2008-2009 academic years. In this qualitative research, Grounded Theory method was used as a research method. The research was carried out at 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 academic years at one General High School and one Anatolian High School which are located in the province of Trabzon. The participants of the research consisted of two school managers, six teachers, 9th grade and 10th grade students and their parents. Unstructured interviews, unstructured observations, documents and open-ended survey questions were used as data collection tools. Collected data were analyzed by constant comparison method. Findings were gathered under four categories: PS Knowledge, PS Change, Implementation of PS and Concerns Related to PS. It was concluded that teachers find PS change insufficient in terms of knowledge, implementation and infrastructure variables; teachers and school managers accept PS change at different levels; participants have inadequate knowledge about PS change and concerns at information level because of knowledge variables that were ignored during PS change planning process. However, acknowledgement levels, knowledge about PS change and concerns impair implementation of PS. It is suggested that people who take part during curriculum planning should determine variables that can affect change process; precautions should be taken in terms of minimizing resistance sources and participants should be informed about curriculum change. Key Words: Physics Syllabus, curriculum change, implementation