Connecting Research in Physics Education with Teacher Education

Abstract

As one can see from the title, this `book' is different: it is a free electronic book and it is about teaching and teachers. This publication provides an excellent overview of physics education as a recent knowledge domain, through the eyes of selected distinguished researchers from different parts of the world. It consists of a collection of original and reprinted articles, reviews and comments, organized in four sections: Perspectives on physics and physics teaching. This section presents different ways of looking at physics and relates these approaches to the teaching of physics: Physics as a structured body of knowledge aiming to relate the phenomena to a minimal number of general principles; Practising physics according to the point of view of a professional researcher in physics; The difference between the presentation of the history of physics as it is usually taught and the process by which this knowledge was actually created. Students' knowledge and learning. This section presents a summary and review of the classical studies on students' conceptual difficulties in mechanics, electricity and thermodynamics. It also includes a chapter addressing aspects of student understanding of the methods of scientific inquiry, and a review of strategies of `teaching for conceptual change'. Teachers' attitudes and practices. This section deals with the relations between teachers' beliefs about physics and about teaching and learning and the effectiveness of their teaching activities. One article deals with teacher training programmes. The last section, Planning and analysis of teaching situations, includes: A very interesting description of the efforts devoted to curricular development during the last 40 years and their analysis in the light of the problems, perspectives and expectations as defined in 1960; An enlightening review and discussion about assessment, its goals and related problems; Two detailed examples demonstrating the design of research-based teaching-learning situations. According to the editors, this book is specifically targeted at teacher educators. The single article dealing with teacher training describes the ineffectiveness of the formal training programmes. It presents the inevitable conclusion that, in order to foster conceptual change, teachers, like students, should be involved in the process and take an active part in physics education research and innovations. Since every teacher is also a `teacher educator' (having at least one dear tutee) I believe that any physics teacher, however experienced, could benefit from this publication. One may adopt specific practical ideas and implement them in class or find issues one would like to explore in greater depth, look at one's own daily practice from a larger perspective and learn about the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour of other teachers, or just feel part of a large community, facing the same problems and dilemmas. In the spirit of this `book' I would say: if you are a physics teacher, research in physics education is about you and your daily practice. One very easy way to find out what has already been done is to visit the Web site and read this book, in English, French or Spanish. (The French and Spanish parts were `under construction' as this issue went to press.)