Primary Physical Science for Student Teachers at Kindergarten and Primary School Levels: Part II—Implementation and Evaluation of a Course

AbstractThis is the second of two papers on a novel physical science course for student teachers that develops and uses an imaginative approach to Primary Physical Science Education. General philosophical, cognitive, developmental, and scientific issues have been presented in the first paper; here, we briefly recapitulate the most important aspects. In the main part of the current paper, we present in some detail concrete elements of the implementation of the course at three Italian universities where Primary Physical Science Education has been taught for more than 6 years. After a brief description of the course structure, we discuss which parts of macroscopic physics are taught, and how this is done in lectures and labs. Most importantly, we show how the science is entwined with methods related to pedagogy and didactics that (1) help our students approach the science and (2) can be transferred quite readily to teaching children in kindergarten and primary school. These methods include the design of direct physical experience of forces of nature, embodied simulations, writing and telling of stories of forces of nature, and design and performance of Forces-of-Nature Theater plays. The paper continues with a brief description of feedback from former students who have been teaching for some time, and an in-depth analysis of the research and teaching done by one of the students for her master thesis. We conclude the paper by summarizing aspects of both the philosophy and the design of the course that we believe to be of particular value

A Direct Entropic Approach to Uniform and Spatially Continuous Dynamical Models of Thermoelectric Devices

If we accept temperature and entropy as primitive quantities, we can construct a direct approach to a dynamical thermal theory of spatially continuous and uniform processes. The theory of uniform models serves as a simple entry point for learners of modern thermodynamics. Such models can be applied fruitfully to an understanding of (the dynamics of) thermoelectric processes and devices. Entropy, temperature, charge, and voltage allow us to describe the role of energy concisely, and constitutive quantities can be given their natural entropic interpretation. In this paper, aggregate dynamical models of a Peltier device will be created and simulations will be compared to non-steady-state experimental data. Such overall models give us a simple image of the transport of charge and transport, production, and storage of entropy and can be easily extended to the spatially continuous case. Process diagrams for a uniform model can be used to visualize these processes and the role of energy. Device efficiency can be easily read from the model. Apart from external parameters such as load resistances or temperature differences, it depends upon three parameters of the device: internal electric resistance, entropy conductance, and Seebeck coefficient. The Second Law efficiency of a generator suggests how to define the figure of merit (zT) of the thermoelectric material. Distinction between ideal and dissipative processes and the rates at which energy is made available or used allows us to construct a simple argument for the equality of the Seebeck and Peltier coefficient

Primary Physical Science for Student Teachers at Kindergarten and Primary School Levels: Part I—Foundations of an Imaginative Approach to Physical Science

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An industrial educational laboratory at Ducati Foundation: narrative approaches to mechanics based upon continuum physics

ABSTRACTThis is a description of the conceptual foundations used for designing a novel learning environment for mechanics implemented as an Industrial Educational Laboratory – called Fisica in Moto (FiM) – at the Ducati Foundation in Bologna. In this paper, we will describe the motivation for and design of the conceptual approach to mechanics used in the lab – as such, the paper is theoretical in nature. The goal of FiM is to provide an approach to the teaching of mechanics based upon imaginative structures found in continuum physics suitable to engineering and science. We show how continuum physics creates models of mechanical phenomena by using momentum and angular momentum as primitive quantities. We analyse this approach in terms of cognitive linguistic concepts such as conceptual metaphor and narrative framing of macroscopic physical phenomena. The model discussed here has been used in the didactical design of the actual lab and raises questions for an investigation of student learning of mechanics i..

From naive to scientific understanding of motion and its causes

The difference in the descriptions of motion phenomena made by pupils in the first grades of secondary school and physicists is quite evident. Conceptual metaphors hidden in language suggest that there is continuity between the conceptual structure involved in the description and the interpretation of motion of experts and laypersons. In this paper the presence of such a continuity is shown through a metaphor analysis of linguistic expressions from both kind of people

From naive to scientific understanding of motion and its causes

The difference in the descriptions of motion phenomena made by pupils in the first grades of secondary school and physicists is quite evident. Conceptual metaphors hidden in language suggest that there is continuity between the conceptual structure involved in the description and the interpretation of motion of experts and laypersons. In this paper the presence of such a continuity is shown through a metaphor analysis of linguistic expressions from both groups

Metafore visive per l’energia. Ergolandia, la valigia didattica per introdurre l’energia come tema verticale dalla Scuola dell’Infanzia alla Scuola Secondaria di primo grado.

La percezione dei processi naturali porta alla formazione della gestalt della forza. Questa gestalt è resa cosciente e accessibile alla mente umana con l’aiuto di metafore e storie. Le forze della natura (vento, acqua, fuoco, ghiaccio, cibo, suolo, moto…) ci appaiono – e sono concettualizzate – come agenti potenti. Questi agenti hanno dimensione e intensi-tà, e il loro potere può essere misurato in termini di energia. Sadi Carnot ha dimostrato che si può creare una scienza del calore usando le metafore di quantità di fluido, tensione, e potenza. Mostreremo come questo archetipo può essere generalizzato e come si possono costruire diagrammi di processo in termini di metafore visive. Descriveremo poi come questo paradigma è sviluppato didatticamente, per l’educazione scientifica degli alunni dalla scuola dell’infanzia alla secondaria di primo grado, nella Valigia Ergoladia del progetto Max’s Worlds di MultiLab

Narrativity in complex systems

Humans use narrative for making sense of their environment. In this chapter we ask if, and if so how and to what extent, our narrative mind can help us deal scientifically with complexity. In order to answer this question, and to show what this means for education, we discuss fundamental aspects of narrative understanding of dynamical systems by working on a concrete story. These aspects involve perception of complex systems, experientiality of narrative, decomposition of systems into mechanisms, perception of forces of nature in mechanisms, and the relation of story-worlds to modelling-worlds, particularly in so-called ephemeral mechanisms. In parallel to describing fundamental issues, we develop a practical heuristic strategy for dealing with complex systems in five steps. (1) Systems thinking: Identify phenomena and foreground a system associated with these phenomena. (2) Mechanisms: Find and describe mechanisms responsible for these phenomena. (3) Forces of nature: Learn to perceive forces of nature as agents acting in these mechanisms. (4) Story-worlds and models: Learn how to use stories of forces (of nature) to construct story-worlds; translate the story-worlds into dynamical-model-worlds. (5) Ephemeral mechanisms for one-time, shortlived, unpredictable, and historical (natural) events: Learn how to create and accept ephemeral story-worlds and models. Ephemeral mechanisms and ephemeral story-worlds are a means for dealing with unpredictability inherent in complex dynamical systems. We argue that unpredictability does not fundamentally deny storytelling, modelling, explanation, and understanding of natural complex systems

Using state variables to model the response of tumour cells to radiation and heat: a novel multi-hit-repair approach

In order to overcome the limitations of the linear-quadratic model and include synergistic effects of heat and radiation, a novel radiobiological model is proposed. The model is based on a chain of cell populations which are characterized by the number of radiation induced damages (hits). Cells can shift downward along the chain by collecting hits and upward by a repair process. The repair process is governed by a repair probability which depends upon state variables used for a simplistic description of the impact of heat and radiation upon repair proteins. Based on the parameters used, populations up to 4-5 hits are relevant for the calculation of the survival. The model describes intuitively the mathematical behaviour of apoptotic and nonapoptotic cell death. Linear-quadratic-linear behaviour of the logarithmic cell survival, fractionation, and (with one exception) the dose rate dependencies are described correctly. The model covers the time gap dependence of the synergistic cell killing due to combined application of heat and radiation, but further validation of the proposed approach based on experimental data is needed. However, the model offers a work bench for testing different biological concepts of damage induction, repair, and statistical approaches for calculating the variables of state

Testing Mode-Coupling Theory for a Supercooled Binary Lennard-Jones Mixture II: Intermediate Scattering Function and Dynamic Susceptibility

We have performed a molecular dynamics computer simulation of a supercooled binary Lennard-Jones system in order to compare the dynamical behavior of this system with the predictions of the idealized version of mode-coupling theory (MCT). By scaling the time $t$ by the temperature dependent $\alpha$-relaxation time $\tau(T)$, we find that in the $\alpha$-relaxation regime $F(q,t)$ and $F_s(q,t)$, the coherent and incoherent intermediate scattering functions, for different temperatures each follows a $q$-dependent master curve as a function of scaled time. We show that during the early part of the $\alpha$-relaxation, which is equivalent to the late part of the $\beta$-relaxation, these master curves are well approximated by the master curve predicted by MCT for the $\beta$-relaxation. This part is also fitted well by a power-law, the so-called von Schweidler law. We show that the effective exponent $b'$ of this power-law depends on the wave vector $q$ if $q$ is varied over a large range. The early part of the $\beta$-relaxation regime does not show the critical decay predicted by MCT. The $q$-dependence of the nonergodicity parameter for $F_{s}(q,t)$ and $F(q,t)$ are in qualitative agreement with MCT. On the time scale of the late $\alpha$-relaxation the correlation functions show a Kohlrausch-Williams-Watt behavior (KWW). The KWW exponent $\beta$ is significantly different from the effective von Schweidler exponent $b'$. At low temperatures the $\alpha$-relaxation time $\tau(T)$ shows a power-law behavior with a critical temperature that is the same as the one found previously for the diffusion constant [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 73}, 1376 (1994)]. The critical exponent of this power-law and the von Schweidler exponent $b'$ fulfill the connection proposed by MCT between these two quantities. We also show that theComment: 28 Pages of REVTEX, Figures available from W. Ko