THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DEMONSTRATION EXPERIMENTS IN TEACHING PHYSICS AT GENERAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS

This study investigates the pedagogical significance of demonstration experiments in physics instruction at general secondary schools in Uzbekistan. Despite widespread recognition of their didactic value, demonstration experiments remain underutilized due to the absence of systematic methodological frameworks. The study employs a quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test design with 65 seventh-grade students at School No. 131, Chilonzor district, Tashkent (2025–2026 academic year). A control group (n=32) received conventional instruction while an experimental group (n=33) received instruction augmented by systematically structured demonstration experiments integrated with the STEAM framework and the Predict–Observe–Explain (POE) cycle. Results show that the quality indicator − the percentage of students achieving grades 4 or 5 − increased from 60.6% to 69.7% (+9.1 pp) in the experimental group versus 62.5% to 65.6% (+3.1 pp) in the control group, yielding a net differential of 6.0 percentage points in favor of the intervention. Qualitative classroom observation data confirmed enhanced student engagement, causal reasoning, and intrinsic motivation in the experimental group. The findings support the conclusion that methodically staged demonstration experiments, aligned with constructivist and inquiry-based principles, significantly improve physics learning outcomes at the secondary level.