“Shut up and calculate”: the available discursive positions in quantum physics courses

Educating new generations of physicists is often seen as a matter of attracting good students, teaching them physics and making sure that they stay at the university. Sometimes, questions are also raised about what could be done to increase diversity in recruitment. Using a discursive perspective, in this study of three introductory quantum physics courses at two Swedish universities, we instead ask what it means to become a physicist, and whether certain ways of becoming a physicist and doing physics is privileged in this process. Asking the question of what discursive positions are made accessible to students, we use observations of lectures and problem solving sessions together with interviews with students to characterize the discourse in the courses. Many students seem to have high expectations for the quantum physics course and generally express that they appreciate the course more than other courses. Nevertheless, our analysis shows that the ways of being a “good quantum physics student” are limited by the dominating focus on calculating quantum physics in the courses. We argue that this could have negative consequences both for the education of future physicists and the discipline of physics itself, in that it may reproduce an instrumental “shut up and calculate”-culture of physics, as well as an elitist physics education. Additionally, many students who take the courses are not future physicists, and the limitation of discursive positions may also affect these students significantly.     

Experienced teachers' knowledge of teaching and learning of models and modelling in science education

This article reports a study of the knowledge of experienced science teachers in the context of a reform in science education in The Netherlands. The study focused on a major goal of the reform, that is, improving students' knowledge and abilities in the field of models and modelling in science. First, seven teachers of biology and chemistry were interviewed about the teaching and learning of models and modelling in science. Next, a questionnaire was designed consisting of 30 items on a Likert-type scale. This questionnaire was completed by a group ( n = 74) of teachers of biology, chemistry and physics. Results indicated that the teachers could be grouped in two subgroups, who differed in terms of their self-reported use of teaching activities focusing on models: one sub-group applied such activities substantially more often than the other sub-group. This distinction appeared not to be related to the teachers' subject, or teaching experience. Moreover, the use of teaching activities seemed only loosely related to the teachers' knowledge of their students, particularly, students' views of models and modelling abilities. Implications for the design of teacher education are discussed.     

Students' conceptions of the second law of thermodynamics—an interpretive study

Thirty-four clinical interviews were conducted with Grade 10 students (15–16 years old) who had received four years of physics instruction. The interview's focus was to understand students' responses from their point of view and not solely from the physicist's angle. The results of the study confirm and deepen, on the one hand, findings from other studies concerning students' severe difficulties in learning the energy concept, the particle model, and the distinction between heat and temperature. On the other hand, students' qualitative conceptions in a new area—the second law of thermodynamics—are revealed. For instance, in the case of irreversibility (i.e., the idea that all processes take place by themselves only in one direction), most students came to conclusions similar to those of modern physicists. But their explanations of irreversibility are based on significantly different conceptual frameworks. The results of the study suggest that a mere enlargement of the traditional physics curriculum by the addition of ideas of the second law is not sufficient to familiarize students with these ideas. A totally new teaching approach to heat, temperature, and energy is necessary. In this approach, basic qualitative ideas of the second law should be a central and integral part from the beginning of instruction.     

Intellectual development beyond formal operations

Post‐formal operations as a stage of cognitive development beyond Piaget's formal operations state are discussed. It is argued that thinking abilities are of major importance for an adequate understanding of quantum‐mechanical and relativistic issues as they occur in modern science, especially physics. Some pedagogical consequences of the ‘fifth stage’ of cognitive development are discussed and proposals made about how post‐operational thinking abilities might be developed in students.     

Design and Reflection Help Students Develop Scientific Abilities: Learning in Introductory Physics Laboratories

Design activities, when embedded in an inquiry cycle and appropriately scaffolded and supplemented with reflection, can promote the development of the habits of mind (scientific abilities) that are an important part of scientific practice. Through the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE), students construct physics knowledge by engaging in inquiry cycles that replicate the approach used by physicists to construct knowledge. A significant portion of student learning occurs in ISLE instructional labs where students design their own experiments. The labs provide an environment for cognitive apprenticeship enhanced by formative assessment. As a result, students develop interpretive knowing that helps them approach new problems as scientists. This article describes a classroom study in which the students in the ISLE design lab performed equally well on traditional exams as ISLE students who did not engage in design activities. However, the design group significantly outperformed the non-design group while working on novel experimental tasks (in physics and biology), demonstrating the application of scientific abilities to an inquiry task in a novel content domain. This research shows that a learning environment that integrates cognitive apprenticeship and formative assessment in a series of conceptual design tasks provides a rich context for helping students build scientific habits of mind.     

Professors' and students' conceptualizations of the learning task in introductory physics courses

What are students expected to learn in physics courses? Eight expert physics teachers and researchers, two from the University of Western Ontario in Canada, Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, Stanford University in the United States of America, and Monash University in Australia, described their perceptions of learning in their courses. Students from the courses were then interviewed for their perceptions of learning in physics courses. In their courses, professors focused on the development of intellectual skills, assuming that students had a specific physics vocabulary. Students, however, were aware of their own limitations and suggested that professors should take nothing for granted. Students considered that to be a good teacher, a professor should know the perspective of the students and should start at the students' level. The results suggested that the intellectual challenge of learning physics merits early explanation.     

Implementing Peer Assessment in a Post-Secondary (16–18) Physics Classroom

This study explores the implementation of peer assessment with a group of students studying physics at Advanced level in a post-secondary school in Malta. The study that draws on action research methodology looks at how the views of students regarding peer assessment evolve as they engage with peer assessment. The research involved the actual implementation of an apprenticeship model of peer assessment and looked at the issues faced by the students. The results of the study show that students were very much immersed in a traditional assessment culture and needed to be trained to develop peer assessment skills. Student concerns related to fairness, regarding their abilities as assessors and dependence on the teacher as ‘expert’ remained unchanged as the students engaged with peer assessment. Successful implementation of peer assessment therefore requires a re-examination of the role of student and teachers as assessors within a safe learning environment.     

Intellectual Styles and Academic Achievement among Senior Secondary School Students in Rural China

The present study empirically addresses two longstanding controversial issues in the field of intellectual styles. The first concerns the distinction (or similarity) between various style constructs. The second relates to whether or not intellectual styles make a difference to students' academic achievement. Specifically, the study investigated the relationship between Torrance's modes of thinking and Sternberg's thinking styles. It also examined the role of the two style constructs in achievement in Chinese, English, and mathematics. Three self‐report inventories were administered to 452 students from a senior secondary school in rural China. After students' age, gender, and self‐rated abilities were controlled for, thinking styles predicted modes of thinking. In general, conservative intellectual styles predicted better achievement across the three subjects among students in lower grade levels, whereas creative intellectual styles contributed to achievement in Chinese among students in higher grade levels. It is concluded that each of the two style constructs has a unique value in explaining individual differences in human performance. Furthermore, the study makes another call for cultivating creative intellectual styles among school students.     

Social Support and Demographic Correlates of Acculturative Stress in International Students

A sample of 141 international students from different U.S. colleges completed surveys related to social support, demographic variables, and acculturative stress. Findings indicated that social support and English proficiency uniquely contribute to the variance in students' acculturative stress. Results also indicated that students who primarily socialized with non‐Americans and that students from Asian countries experienced more acculturative stress compared with other subgroups. Implications are discussed and suggestions for counseling practice are provided.     

Concept Development in Relation to the Particulate Theory of Matter in the Middle School

The paper explores the concept of cognitive style as a feature of individuality and its importance as a component of problem‐solving. Also considered are the nature of the problem and the interpretation of the situation by the person encountering the problem as vital influences. A review of work in this area is provided before supporting empirical evidence is presented. Findings from a controlled investigation of the problem‐solving abilities of 142 students studying physics at advanced secondary school level in the UK are given. A comparison of their solving activities with Field Articulation, Category Width and Impulsivity Reflectivity scores suggests that while further work must be carried out, caution must be exercised in making any extravagant claims for the importance of cognitive style in overall problem‐solving ability.     

Promoting cognitive and social aspects of inquiry through classroom discourse

We investigated how Chinese physics teachers structured classroom discourse to support the cognitive and social aspects of inquiry-based science learning. Regarding the cognitive aspect, we examined to what extent the cognitive processes underlying the scientific skills and the disciplinary reasoning behind the content knowledge were taught. Regarding the social aspect, we examined how classroom discourse supported student learning in terms of students' opportunities to talk and interaction patterns. Our participants were 17 physics teachers who were actively engaged in teacher education programs in universities and professional development programs in local school districts. We analyzed one lesson video from each participating teacher. The results suggest both promises and challenges. Regarding the cognitive aspect of inquiry, the teachers in general recognized the importance of teaching the cognitive processes and disciplinary reasoning. However, they were less likely to address common intuitive ideas about science concepts and principles. Regarding the social aspect of inquiry, the teachers frequently interacted with students in class. However, it appeared that facilitating conversations among students and prompting students to talk about their own ideas are challenging. We discuss the implications of these findings for teacher education programs and professional development programs in China.     

浅谈钢琴的学习效果

主要从学习效率对钢琴学习的重要性以及在钢琴学习过程中影响钢琴学习效率的诸多因素进行了分析，为钢琴教师和学习钢琴的学生及钢琴爱好者提供了一些见解和方法。     

No space for girliness in physics: understanding and overcoming the masculinity of physics

Allison Gonsalves’ article on “women doctoral students’ positioning around discourses of gender and competence in physics” explores narratives of Canadian women physicists concerning their strategies to gain recognition as physicists. In my response to her rewarding and inspiring analysis I will reflect on her findings and arguments and put them into a broader context of research in gender and physics. In addition to her promising strategies to make physics attractive and welcoming to all genders I want to stress two more aspects of the tricky problem: diversity and contextuality of physics.     

Expounding on physics: a phenomenographic study of physicists talking of their physics

Physicists and physics students have been studied with respect to the variation in the ways they expound on their topic of research and a physics problem, respectively. A phenomenographic approach has been employed; six fourth‐year physics students and 10 teacher‐researcher physicists at various stages of their careers have been interviewed. Four qualitatively distinct ways of expounding on physics have been identified, constituting an outcome space where there is a successive shift towards coherent structure and multiple referent domains. The interviewed person is characterized as expressing an ‘object of knowledge’, and the interviewer is characterized as a willing and active listener who is trying to make sense of it, constituting a ‘knowledge object’ out of the ideas expressed and personal experience. Pedagogical situations of analogous character to the interviewer–interviewee discussions are considered in the light of the analysis, focusing on the affordances for learning offered by the different forms of exposition.     

The Impact of Explicit Teaching of Methodological Aspects of Physics on Scientistic Beliefs and Interest

We assessed the impact of teaching methodological aspects of physics on students’ scientistic beliefs and subject interest in physics in a repeated-measurement design with a total of 142 students of upper secondary physics classes. Students gained knowledge of methodological aspects from the pre-test to the post-test and reported reduced scientistic beliefs, both from their own views and from their presumed prototypical physicists’ views. We found no direct impact of teaching on students’ subject interest in physics. As path analysis indicates, this result can be traced back to opposing paths: Lower scientistic beliefs of students attenuate subject interest while lower presumed scientistic beliefs that they hold of physicists foster subject interest. This finding is in accordance with the self-to-prototype matching theory that predicts an impact of the overlap between students’ self-image and their prototypical image on subject interest in physics.     

实验对理论物理学家的重要性

理论物理学家是个特殊群体,表面上他们可以像数学家那样,不必从事实验研究。事实上有些理论物理大师虽然素以不擅长实验而著称,甚至有些人的某些言论更令人费解。但析其言观其行,结果表明:实验对理论物理学家至关重要,理论物理离不开实验。     

物理学术竞赛牵引下的大-中学生实验能力协同培养探索

近年来,物理学术竞赛作为物理理论教学与实验实践的创新形式,已在各大、中学校广泛开展,形成了一定的社会影响力.针对当前大学与高中物理实验教学中尚存的衔接性不强、协同培养不足的问题,南开大学基础物理实验教学示范中心以物理学术竞赛作为牵引,以实验能力培养的各项要求作为标准,结合物理学科自身特点,形成基于物理学术竞赛平台的大-...     

谈物理学史对学生进行科学方法的熏陶

通过物理学史的学习,可以让初学物理的学生染濡前辈科学家之灵气,对他们进行科学方法的熏陶,从而激发他们学习物理的兴趣,提高他们的发现力、设疑力、分析力、迁移力等综合能力.     

Physics knowledge of first semester physics students in Germany: a comparison of 1978 and 2013 cohorts

ABSTRACT

Over the last decades, the percentage of the age group choosing to pursue university studies has increased significantly across the world. At the same time, there are university teachers who believe that the standards have fallen. There is little research on whether students nowadays demonstrate knowledge or abilities similar to that of the preceding cohorts. However, in times of educational expansion, empirical evidence on student test performance is extremely helpful in evaluating how well educational systems cope with the increasing numbers of students. In this study, we compared a sample of 2322 physics freshmen from 2013 with another sample of 2718 physics freshmen from 1978 at universities in Germany with regard to their physics knowledge based on their results in the same entrance test. Previous results on mathematics knowledge and abilities in the same sample of students indicated that there was no severe decline in their average achievement. This paper compares the physics knowledge of the same two samples of students. Contrary to their mathematics results, their physics results showed a substantial decrease in physics knowledge as measured by the test.     

Studying technology: An investigation of approaches to studying and perceptions of teaching in a Finnish university of technology

The purpose of the study is to examine relations between university students' approaches to studying and their evaluative perceptions of the instructional context. The subjects (n=181) were sampled randomly from engineering and architecture students representing different departments and age groups. The data were collected with a questionnaire. Thirty students out of the total sample were also interviewed. The analysis concentrated on comparing correlations between approaches to studying and perceptions of teaching between different subgroups of the sample. The subgroups were (a) experienced-inexperienced, (b) efficient-inefficient, and (c) full-time-part-time students. The study showed that approaches to studying and perceptions of teaching are related to each other in a complex way when seen through the pairwise group comparisons. It seems obvious that students' experiences of teaching and their perceptions of it are closely related to their approaches to studying and their overall orientation in their studies. Educational implications are discussed.