Introducing Pre-Service Math and Biology Teachers to Physics PCK

Abstract

ABSTRACT This work reports a classroom experience of a general physics course designed to foster also the initiation of preservice mathematics and biology teachers to physics pedagogical content knowledge. To modify the conceptions that these students have about teaching and learning, the course was taught using different active learning instructional strategies, making at the same time students explicitly aware of their names, objectives, and main characteristics. Degree of knowledge and value of specific active learning activities by these students were measured with three opinion surveys answered by students at the same time they took the three written exams necessary to pass the course. Learning of physics principles was monitored by pre and post instruction application of a general physics multiple-choice test. Results indicate that these students were not only able to identify all teaching strategies but that they value them very highly, with more than 80% of the answers distributed in the two highest rating categories. Opinion and value of the small group work were also very high, increasing with time along the course. When asked to sketch a plan to teach 11th-grade students a physics topic covered in that part of the course, almost all participants proposed to use active learning activities as well as different information and communication technologies. It was also found that conceptual learning of the physics subjects covered in this course was quite satisfactory with high normalized gains, characteristics of active learning instruction. Further work is suggested to confirm these results with appropriate experiments.