Task analysis and validation for a qualitative,exploratory curriculum in force and motion

Many researchers have stressed the importance of qualitative understanding of physical phenomena, particularly in the context of exploratory learning environments. Qualitative understanding proves to be a major part of the expert's ability to solve complex problems in physics. Some researchers think that this kind of reasoning, far from being specific to experts' knowledge, also characterizes intuitive understanding and plays a part in the transition from intuitive knowledge to more expert knowledge. It is therefore important to help students develop their qualitative reasoning and extend their existing useful conceptions. This paper presents a task analysis of a computer microworld of force and motion problems that allows students to gain a qualitative understanding of some aspects of vector algebra. The aim of the task analysis being to develop a qualitative curriculum for exploratory learning, we tried to represent the knowledge to be acquired in such a way as to promote the progressive conceptual understanding of some basic aspects of Newton's laws of motion, taking into account students' intuitive knowledge about physics. The task analysis was undertaken prior to the experimental study in order to provide guidance for students in their exploration of the microworld. The experimental work allows us to validate and extend the a priori analysis.     

学生解题分析能力的培养

中学物理学科内容丰富,问题多变．教师在物理教学中应重视学生解题能力的培养,通过典型例题的分析,引导学生从多角度、多方面分析问题,灵活转换思维方法,提高解题技巧及综合处理物理知识的能力．     

Integrator element as a promoter of active learning in engineering teaching

In this paper, we present a teaching proposal used in an Introductory Physics course to civil engineering students from Porto's Engineering Institute/Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP). The proposal was born from the need to change students’ perception and motivation for learning physics. It consists in the use of an integrator element, called the physics elevator project. This integrator element allows us to use, in a single project, all the content taught in the course and uses several active learning strategies. In this paper, we analyse this project as: (i) a clarifying element of the contents covered in the course; (ii) a promoter element of motivation and active participation in class and finally and (iii) a link between the contents covered in the course and the ‘real world’. The data were collected by a questionnaire and interviews to students. From the data collected, it seems that the integrator element improves students’ motivation towards physics and develops several skills that they consider to be important to their professional future. It also acts as a clarifying element and makes the connection between the physics that is taught and the ‘real world’.     

浅议教学的目的与物理教师的主导作用

在全面提倡素质教育的形势下,物理教师在物理教学中要转变传统教育观念,充分发挥教师的主导作用,激发学生的学习动机,帮助学生建立正确的物理知识体系,提高学生的思维能力和学习能力．     

The Importance of Teaching and Learning Nature of Science in the Early Childhood Years

Though research has shown that students do not have adequate understandings of nature of science (NOS) by the time they exit high school, there is also evidence that they have not received NOS instruction that would enable them to develop such understandings. How early is “too early” to teach and learn NOS? Are students, particularly young students, not capable of learning NOS due to developmental unreadiness? Or would young children be capable of learning about NOS through appropriate instruction? Young children (Kindergarten through third grade) were interviewed and taught about NOS in a variety of contexts (informal, suburban, and urban) using similar teaching strategies that have been found effective at teaching about NOS with older students. These teaching strategies included explicit decontextualized and contextualized NOS instruction, through the use of children’s literature, debriefings of science lessons, embedded written NOS assessments, and guided inquiries. In each context the researchers interviewed students prior to and after instruction, videotaped science instruction and maintained researcher logs and field notes, collected lesson plans, and copies of student work. The researchers found that in each setting young children did improve their understandings of NOS. Across contexts there were similar understandings of NOS aspects prior to instruction, as well as after instruction. There were also several differences evident across contexts, and across grade levels. However, it is clear that students as young as kindergarten are developmentally capable of conceptualizing NOS when it is taught to them. The authors make recommendations for teaching NOS to young children, and for future studies that explore learning progressions of NOS aspects as students proceed through school.     

高等专科院校英语教学新思路

文章探讨了高等专科院校英语教学的新思路，提出高等专科院校的英语教学应着眼于对基础英语的巩固。及对专门用途英语的初步培训，以提高学生英语学习的兴趣，增强其英语及专业水平，使英语与其专业进行有机结合，相互促进。     

Generative Role of Experiments in Physics and in Teaching Physics: A Suggestion for Epistemological Reconstruction

In physics teaching experimentality is an integral component in giving the starting point of knowledge formation and conceptualization. However, epistemology of experiments is not often addressed directly in the educational and pedagogical literature. This warrants an attempt to produce an acceptable reconstruction of the epistemological role of experiments in physics by drawing insight from history and philosophy of physics. Towards that end, the experiments’ role in the 19th-century physics is discussed. We propose here a reconstruction, which is based on the idea that in epistemology of experiments the inductive-like generative justification of knowledge is central. A generative view makes it possible to retain those aspects of experiments which make them purposeful for learning and can give a starting point for students’ own construction of knowledge. The reconstruction also helps to conceive the experiments with their correct historical role and helps to bring back the generative use of experiments in teaching, which, after all, has never vanished from the practice of physics.     

中学物理开放教育初探

本文分析了中学物理教学实行开放教育的必要性 ,并着重从三个方面阐述了中学物理教育开放的思路 :(1)在学习环境上要突出学生学习的个性化和自主性 ,强调以学生为中心、因材施教 ;(2 )在教育时空上提出要不断拓宽教学的视野 ,强调物理思路和能力的培养 ,使学生终身受益 ;(3)在教学模式上要努力探寻高效实用、灵活多变的教学方法。     

教师的教学观对学生学习的影响(下)

三、数据分析结果第一项分析是计算教师的 SPTCT分数 (教学观 )与他们的学生的 L PQ分数变化 (学习方式变化 )以及成绩测验的 z分数变化间的相关 ,如表 4所示。表 4　教师教学观与学生学习方式的改变以及学习成绩的变化间的相关样本数传授观应试观能力观态度观育人观灌输倾向互动倾向表层式学习 885 .13* .0 0 .0 4 .0 2 .0 3.0 7 .0 3深层式学习 889- .0 1.0 4 .0 3.0 3- .0 2 .0 3.0 2成就式学习 888.0 1.0 1.0 7.10 * .0 8.0 1.10 *常规测验成绩 10 34- .2 5 * .0 2 .0 1- .0 2 .0 9* - .13* .11*开放性测验成绩 90 5 - .19* - .0 7.…     

Graduate Teaching Assistants’ Knowledge Development for Teaching a Novel Physics Curriculum

Matter and Interactions (M&I) has recently been adopted as a novel introductory physics course that focuses on the application of a small number of fundamental physical principles to the atomic and molecular nature of matter. This study investigated how five physics teaching assistants (TAs) developed professional knowledge for teaching from their teaching experiences. Specifically, we explored what experiences influenced their knowledge development for teaching the innovative introductory physics course, M&I. Through a qualitative, multiple case study research design, data was collected from multiple sources: non-participant observations, digitally recorded video, semistructured interviews, TAs’ written reflections, and researchers’ field notes. As TA’s progressed through the semester, two experiences emerged as having a significant role in their development of knowledge for teaching M&I: (1) setting teaching, learning, and curriculum goals for their classes; and (2) encountering dilemmas of teaching and learning. The results of this study will contribute to future preparation of the innovative introductory physics course as well as other college level science courses.     

INVESTIGATIONS OF STUDENTS�� MOTIVATION TOWARDS LEARNING SECONDARY SCHOOL PHYSICS THROUGH MASTERY LEARNING APPROACH

Teaching method is a major factor that affects students’ motivation to learn physics. This study investigated the effects of using mastery learning approach (MLA) on secondary school students’ motivation to learn physics. Solomon four non-equivalent control group design under the quasi-experimental research method was used in which a random sample of 4 co-educational secondary schools was obtained in Kieni East Division of Nyeri District in Kenya. The 4 schools were randomly put into 4 groups. Each school provided 1 Form Two class for the study; hence, a total of 161 students were involved. The students were taught the same physics content. In the experimental groups, MLA teaching method was used while the regular teaching method was used in the control groups. The researchers trained the teachers in the experimental groups on the technique of MLA before the treatment. Two groups were pre-tested prior to the implementation of the MLA treatment. At the end of treatment period, all the 4 groups were post-tested using a validated Students’ Motivation Questionnaire, whose reliability coefficient was 0.76. Data were analysed using the t test, analysis of variance and analysis of covariance. The results of the study show that students exposed to MLA have significantly higher motivation than those taught through regular methods. Gender has no significant influence on their motivation to learn physics. The researchers conclude that MLA is an effective teaching method in motivating students; hence, physics teachers should incorporate it in teaching.     

Patterns of Variation in Teaching the Colour of Light to Primary 3 Students

This paper shows how the patterns of variation created in the teaching were critical in helping a class of Primary 3 students in Hong Kong to learn about the colour of light, so that the students attained conceptual rather than procedural knowledge. A ‘Learning Study’ approach was adopted, which is a Lesson Study grounded in a particular learning theory to improve teaching and learning. This study, based on the learning theory of Variation advanced by Marton and Booth, was premised on three types of variation: variation in students’ ways of experiencing what is to be taught/learnt (V1), variation in teachers’ ways of dealing with the ‘object of learning’ (V2), and the use of ‘pattern of variation’ as a guiding principle of pedagogical design to enhance students’ learning (V3). In planning the lesson, a conscious effort was made to create relevant patterns of variation, i.e. varying certain critical aspect(s) while keeping other aspects of the object of learning invariant in order to help students to discern those aspects. Comparison between the results of the pre- and post-test shows that there was significant gain in the students’ learning outcomes with respect to the intended object of learning. The findings contribute knowledge to how the Theory of Variation can be used in practice. It also illustrates how teachers can make use of this theoretical framework to analyze their own teaching and thereby, develop an analytical awareness of teaching and learning.     

初中数学有效探究活动的策略研究

数学教学活动必须建立在学生的认识发展水平和已有的知识经验基础之上,教师应激发学生的学习积极性,向学生提供充分从事数学活动的机会,帮助他们在自主探索和合作交流的过程中真正理解掌握基本的知识技能、数学思想方法。有效的数学学习活动不能单纯依赖模仿与记忆,动手实践、自主探索与合作交流是学生学习数学的重要方式,转变数学学习方式、倡导有意义的学习方式是课程改革的核心任务。初中数学课程应致力于转变学生学习方式,倡导学生主动参与、乐于探究、勤于动手,培养学生搜集和处理信息的能力、获取新知识的能力、分析和解决问题的能力,以及交流与合作的能力。     

高、初中物理教学衔接问题初探

本文从高中物理教学过程中关于高初中物理之间新旧知识结构的衔接,教学方法和学习方法上的更新,考试内容深浅度的掌握等方面对高初中物理教学衔接问题作了初步探讨,从而说明正确进行高初中物理教学的衔接工作,是高中学生能否尽快适应高中物理内容的学习和能否学好高中物理的关键。     

物理教育在提高国民科学素养中的作用

在大力提倡“科教兴国”的今天 ,普及科学知识 ,培养和提高学生的科学素养 ,应该是中学物理教学责无旁贷的重要任务 要完成这一任务 ,可采取五个方面的措施     

Motivation and learning physics

Being involved in science education we cannot avoid confronting the problem of students' waning interest in physics. Therefore, we want to focus on arguments developed by new theoretical work in the field of motivation. Especially, we are attracted by the theory of motivation featured by Deci and Ryan, because it is related to an assumptions of human development similar to our own approach. Beneath elements of cognitive development, motivation is seen as a basic concept to describe students' learning in a physics classroom. German students at lower and upper secondary level regard physics as very difficult to learn, very abstract and dominated by male students. As a result physics at school continuously loses importance and acceptance although a lot of work has been done to modernise and develop the related physics courses. We assume that knowing about the influence of motivation on learning physics may lead to new insights in the design of classroom settings. Referring to Deci and Ryan, we use a model of motivation to describe the influence of two different teaching strategies (teacher and discourse oriented) on learning. Electrostatics was taught in year 8. The outcomes of a questionnaire which is able to evaluate defined, motivational states are compared with the interpretation of the same student's interaction in the related situation of the physics classroom. The scales of the questionnaire and the categories of analysis of the video-recording are derived from the same model of motivation.     

The nature of scientific knowledge and student learning: Two longitudinal case studies

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between students' views of the nature of scientific knowledge and their own learning of physics, and the evolution of this relationship over time. Twenty-three students enrolled in a physics course that emphasised laboratory work and discussions about the nature of science. Over a 15-month period, an extensive data base was established including student essays and interviews regarding their views of the nature of science and teaching and learning of physics. As part of an extensive data generation, students read a book on the epistemology of physics, wrote reflective essays, and subsequently discussed the epistemology of physics in class. Two intensive case studies are used to illustrate our understanding of students' views over time. Changes in students' views concerning the nature of scientific knowledge and of the science teaching and learning process, which were not always complementary, are described with the aid of a model. The findings of this research have direct relevance to the planning and implementation of science courses in which the development of understandings of the nature of science is an objective.     

创新教育方法转变教学理念

教学是教师和学生的共同活动,不同的教学内容、不同的学生必然要采用不同的教学方法。在教学实践中,教师要推进教育方法的创新,转变教学理念,即:以书为本向以人为本的转变;传授知识向培养能力转变;教师讲授向学生主体参与转变;"近视教育"向"远视教育"转变;帮助学生解决问题向培养学生的问题意识转化。     

Na?ve Students’ Conceptual Development and Beliefs: The Need for Multiple Analyses to Determine what Contributes to Student Success in a University Introductory Physics Course

This research involved na?ve physics learners who were interested in majoring in science or engineering. In a semester-long quasi-experimental study, open-ended pretests and weekly interviews were used to analyse the progressive development of students’ conceptions relating to sound and wave motion. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted to elucidate: (1) how their conceptions developed from everyday conceptions to unclear scientific conceptions to scientific conceptions, and (2) their beliefs of physics knowledge. Despite efforts to enable these students to learn physics, the findings showed that only two out of ten students developed acceptable physics conceptions during the course that would enable them to pursue the subject to a higher level. Also, students’ conceptual development was found to be related to their cognitive understanding and to epistemological beliefs of physics. Therefore, to facilitate na?ve physics learners’ success in a general physics course, in addition to the acquisition of content knowledge, explicit emphasis needs to be placed on the nature of physics knowledge.