Abstract
Physics teachers are often faced with the challenge of having to set up difficult experiments, or they have to consciously manipulate parameters in order to be able to demonstrate a phenomenon convincingly. Comprehensive laboratory courses are standard procedure in any study program for prospective physics teachers. However, many students, even after completing standard laboratory courses, show difficulties in standard experimental situations, such as measuring an electric current. We report on a new seminar concept for students in physics teacher study programs. This concept is based on the current state of research in physics education, on the teachers’ professional competences, and on the modelling of experimental competence, justifying its embedding in teacher training. We present first results of a pilot study carried out to evaluate the seminar.
Highlights
The learning goals that can usefully be pursued with such laboratory courses are indicated by The American Association of Physics Teacher’s proposals [10], and reference [11] shows how these can be operationalised in practice
Core ideas of our seminar are presented in 4 and lastly, we present the results of a pilot study evaluating the seminar, providing first empirical evidence that the new seminar concept contributes to the teaching of basic experimental techniques, which are essential for teachers in physics classrooms
The findings presented —and of the pilot study in general—are not generalisable, due to the small sample
Summary
While empirical research on physics lecture courses has long been established in the physics education research community [13], systematic research on the effectiveness of laboratory courses has only recently been advanced, e.g. [14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21]: These studies’ results reveal a rather sobering picture for laboratory courses, as their learning effectiveness has been doubted by various researchers [22, 23]. The relevant equations and principles are laid out in the preamble; students are told what value they should get for a particular measurement or given the equation to predict that value; they are told what data to collect and how to collect them; and often they are even told which buttons to press on the equipment to produce the desired output’ [12, p 40] This finding is in accordance with those of previous studies in different settings, e.g. on lab work in schools: the constant concern of students in typical laboratory courses is to cope with tasks within the given constraints, which can hinder an effective learning process [24, 25]. That occur in everyday classroom situations, such as measuring an electric current or determining the focal length of a lens, may bewilder students
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