An analysis of the influence of the international masterclasses hands on particle physics on the self-efficacy beliefs of physics teachers

Abstract

The official curriculum of the state of São Paulo, in Brazil, includes the study of elementary particles and other modern and contemporary physics (MCP) topics among the subjects to be taught in the topics say they do not feel confident to teach them. In this study, we consider that one of the variables that may influence teachers’ decision to accept or not the challenge of promoting innovations in teaching is their self-efficacy beliefs: the subjects’ beliefs about their ability to perform a given action in a satisfactory way, regardless of the outcome of that action. We aimed to analyze the influence of the participation of physics teachers in a scientific outreach event – the International Masterclasses Hands on Particle Physics, or simply Masterclass – and in a workshop on particle physics – a related event – on their self-efficacy beliefs, regarding the teaching of elementary particle physics in high school. To accomplish this objective, we applied questionnaires to all teachers and conducted semistructured interviews with two selected teachers who had already attended the Masterclass and the workshop, both organized by the São Paulo Research and Analysis Center (SPRACE). Based on these questionnaires and interviews, we conducted an analysis to characterize the meanings attributed by them to the participation in both events. The analysis revealed that both teachers had high levels of self-efficacy beliefs and attributed educational, instrumental and motivational meanings to the participation in these events. Given that several aspects of teacher education (such as content learning and the theoretical assumptions in which this education relies) and the availability of pedagogical resources (like learning activities, experiments and examples to contextualize the content) can influence teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, this analysis has led us to conclude that attending such events has the potential to affect teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, influencing their decisions about whether accept or not the challenge of promoting curricular innovations.