Research based activities in teacher professional development on optics

The aim of this research is to understand how teachers take ownership of content given them in formative intervention modules and transform it into suggestions and materials for teaching. To this end a module on optics was designed for a group of kindergarten, primary and lower secondary school Teachers which sought to integrate meta-cultural, experiential and situated approaches with various context specific factors. The study investigated how teachers deal with conceptual difficulties in the module and how they adapt it to their school situations with data being gathered through a variety of tools. It emerged that the most difficult concepts teachers encountered at the formative stage were those they most often incorporated into their materials. The steps taken in this process of appropriation were then reviewed via a collaborative discussion among the teachers themselves on the materials they had produced

Una experiencia en el marco de la Introducción de la Física Cuántica en la escuela secundaria

Traducción: Dra. Zulma GangosoFa.M.A.F. - Universidad Nacional de Córdoba El presente artículo ha sido publicado en italiano, en el Cuaderno Nro. 7 de "La Física en la Escuela" ("La Física Nella Scuola" LFNS). Cuaderno dedicado a temas de Física Moderna, que nace de un proyecto trianual, financiado por el Ministerio de la Universidad y de la Investigación Científica y Tecnológica, para el desarrollo de temas de física moderna al nivel del ciclo superior de la escuela secundaria.La presente traducción se hace basada en el consentimiento específico de los editores de autorizar la traducción y publicaciórl'de artículos por parte de asociaciones extranjeras con quienes la Asociación para la Enseñanza de laFísica (AIF) ha establecido acuerdos de intercambio y colaboración</p

La formaci\uf3n docente: un reto para la investigaci\uf3n

En este trabajo se repasa la labor desarrollada por los autores a lo largo de su experiencia profesional como docentes y formadores de docentes en las \ue1reas cient\uedficas. En particular, se discute con detalle la formaci\uf3n del profesorado en el sistema educativo italiano. This paper reviews the work developed by the authors in the course of their professional experience as teachers and teacher trainers in the scientific areas. In particular, it discusses in detail the training of teachers in the Italian educational system

E-learning in teacher professional development in innovation and formative guidance on modern physics: The case of IDIFO master's programs

The professional development of in-service teachers is becoming an increasingly "hot" research topic internationally. Innovations in both methodologies and content are a challenge for schools wishing to respond to the demands of the knowledge society. The second level biannual IDIFO Master's Program, offered as project of the national plane for scientific degree (Piano Nazionale Lauree Scientifiche-PLS) by the Research Group in Physics Education of the University of Udine, in collaboration with 20 other Italian universities, provides teacher formation in modern physics and formative guidance to in-service teachers in Italian high schools and is now being run for the fourth time. Based on research into the teaching and learning of physics, it started in 2006 was activated in e-learning every second year. The course is wide-ranging (it is worth 165 CTS) and allows for customized study paths to suit the needs of individual participants, both regarding content and length of study period: single modules (worth 3 CTS) and an annual Specialization Course (15 CTS) are run alongside the Master's. The organization of the e-learning formation, carried out using uPortal, is as follows: analysis of physics education research materials; web-forum discussions of content and methods; the compiling of teaching materials, both collaboratively and in personal project work; doing experimentations (teaching intervention modules) in high school students, analizing and discussing online with peers and with professors-tutors-experts. The program has undergone continual revisions - based on feed-back and reflection on the overall outcomes of the formation - while retaining its original structure. Analysis of project work and of the dissertations presented in the final exams has demonstrated the contribution of e-learning formation to capacity building through: access to research material and proposals; peer debate; a critical review of traditional approaches. The flexibility of the formative model is a key element for its implementation nationally in a wide variety of situations. The commitment required of the participants, particularly in the first two versions of the program, while resulting in an excellent preparation, also prompted the course designers to create more flexible study paths in order to allow participants to complete their training in a number of stages following coherent pathways. The educational research on the Master's is not just a source of materials and training content, but also a context for what concern teacher formation. The analysis of participants' learning processes in each module - like that on quantum mechanics - revealed both the characteristics of an effective educational innovation formative model, and the part played by peer interaction on web-forums in building participants' integrated expertise both regarding content (CK) and its teaching/learning (PCK). An analysis of the school experiment written reports high-lighted the role of the Master formative path in the didactic design

Conceptual Labs for operative Exploration

In the perspective of the Model of Educational Reconstruction, designing new educational path require to gain new information on how students face the specific subject explored. At the PERG of Udine the main steps of the new educational paths were explored with pupils engaged in Conceptual Laboratory of Operative Exploration (CLOE) in informal learning contexts, where using different monitoring tools student spontaneous ideas as well their learning paths were explored and stimulated. In CLOE pupils discuss everyday life scenarios, recover their everyday and sensorial knowledge, as well as involve them in the challenges of explorations according to an IBL strategies. The CLOE lab are research based proposals of learning where explore how pupils build formal thinking, reflect on phenomena and construct models, reinterpret common everyday knowledge. The research focus is on the reasoning sequence, the ways in which knowledge is structured, the development of interpretative representations. The design characteristic of the CLOE labs are presented exemplifying it in the case of the CLOE on energ

Upper secondary students face optical diffraction using simple experiments and on-line measurements

A research-based educational path on diffraction of light was designed for upper secondary schools. Through the experimental exploration of the diffraction pattern produced by a laser beam incident on a single slit, students first analyse the diffraction pattern qualitatively, recognizing the global properties, then measuring with on-line sensors the light intensity vs position, constructing empirical relations between order and position of minimum, order and position of maximum, position and intensity of maximum. Making a wave hypothesis on the nature of light, a computer model based on Huygens' principle takes into account the intensity pattern of light. Experiments in school were performed with students, using inquiry based learning tutorial worksheets e pre-test, post-test. Positive learning indications of students emerged concerning the role of diffraction in everyday situations, and the general features of the diffraction pattern. The findings suggests that to produce an effective change in the model of light, students need to reflect extensively in the hypothesis at the base of their prevision and to by involved in deep in a modelling activity

Teaching modern physics in secondary school

The physics of the last century is now included in all EU secondary school curricula and textbooks, even if in not organic way. Nevertheless, there are very different positions as concern its introduction and students\u2019 conceptual knots in classical physics are quoted to argue the exclusion of modern physics in secondary school. Aspects discussed in literature are goals, rationale, contents, target students, instruments and methods. Very different goals, i.e. the culture of citizens, popularization, guidance, education, build different perspectives and aspects to treat selection: fundament, technologies and applications. Methods used are story telling of the main results, argumentation of crucial problems, integrated or as a complementary part in the curriculum. Modern physics in secondary school is a challenge, which involves curriculum innovation, teacher education and physics education research to individuate ways that allows the students to face the interpretative problems and manage them in many contexts and in social decisions. In this perspective, modern physics is an integrated content in curricula involving the building of formal thinking. Our research focus on building of formal thinking is on three directions: 1) Learning processes and role of reasoning in operative hands-on and minds-on phenomena interpretation; 2) object - models as tools to bridge common sense to physics ideas and ICT contribution focusing on real time labs and modelling; 3) building theoretical way of thinking: a path inspired of Dirac approach to quantum mechanics. We developed four different kind of proposals: 1) the physics of modern research analysis in material science: resistivity and Hall effect for electrical transport properties, Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy to look to structure characteristics, Time Resolved Resistivity for epitaxial growth; 2) Explorative approach to superconductivity phenomena (a coherent paths), 3) Discussion of some crucial / transversal concepts both in classical physics and modern physics: state, measure, cross section, 4) foundation of theoretical thinking in quantum mechanics