Didactical Reconstruction of Processes in Knowledge Construction: Pre-service Physics Teachers Learning the Law of Electromagnetic Induction

Abstract

In physics teacher education, two central goals are first to learn the structures of physics knowledge, and second the processes of its construction. To know the structure is to know the framework of concepts and laws; to know the processes is to know where the knowledge comes from, how the framework is constructed, and how it can be justified. This article introduces a way to approach these goals in the form of a graphical tool called the didactical reconstruction of processes (DRP), where knowledge is constructed to the extent that experiments and models have an equally important role in the construction process. In practice, the DRP is a graphical network representation or a ‘flow chart’ with a specific structure, which aims to give an image of the processes of physical concept formation, while at the same time bearing in mind the educational goals. The DRP was tested in an instruction unit for pre-service physics teachers, where students drew flow charts for representing how the law of electromagnetic induction is formed. In addition to flow charts, students also wrote essays clarifying the content of the flow charts. The flow charts and essays were analysed through a qualitative categorisation of structural and knowledge claim patterns. The results show that the DRP helps students in arguing how to form the electromagnetic induction law and that the experiments and models have a distinct role in supporting students’ knowledge claims.