School Science Lessons
Suggestions for physics teaching
2009-10-10
Please send comments to: J.Elfick@uq.edu.au
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Table of contents
5.0 Suggestions for physics teaching
5.1.0 Teaching organization
5.1.1 Main points, intention of teachers' thinking
5.1.2 Pay attention to students' existing ideas
5.1.3 Scientific discussions
5.1.4 Distribution of physical methods and skills
in textbooks
5.2.0 Teaching experimentation
5.2.1 Demonstrations in the classroom
5.2.2 Promote students' interests and provoke
them to think
5.3.0 How to arrange the classroom
5.3.1 Scientific corner
5.3.2 Scientific notice board or newspaper
5.3.3 Exhibition shelf
5.1.1
Main points, intention of teachers' thinking
5.1.1.1 Arouse and maintain interests of
students
5.1.1.2 Promote students' development in
knowledge
and capability
5.1.1.3 A loose and active environment is an
important condition to develop students' independent thinking
capabilities
5.1.1.4 Implement science education combining
with history and philosophy teaching and social developments
5.1.1.5 Encourage students to put forward
questions
5.1.1 Main points, intention of teachers'
thinking
Teaching methods depend on many factors such
as the roles of physics,
the psychological characteristics of students, the needs of
social
development as applied to physics teaching in which the enthusiasm and
creativity of teachers are the important. Any teaching must consider
the
following:
5.1.1.1 Arouse and
maintain interests of
students
Associating teaching processes to the knowledge, methods and tools
of students; letting them experience successes often; encouraging them
to exchange their findings and new ideas are all effective teaching
ways
to arouse students' interests and maintain the positive attitude.
5.1.1.2 Promote
students' development in
knowledge
and capability
Pure knowledge teaching has been criticized but there are still some
misunderstandings, such as education of skills is equal to development
of capabilities, remembering some methods is equal to possessing some
abilities,
especially physical thinking being replaced by solving an amount of
problems
from books. Understanding and remembering are necessary methods but
they
are not enough to develop capabilities. Capabilities form only by means
of various practices. Physics teaching must pay great attention to not
only knowledge but also abilities.
5.1.1.3 A loose and
active environment is an
important condition to develop students' independent thinking
capabilities
Listening to teachers is often not real participating. At many schools,
physics teaching even experiments are still dominated by the need to
get
correct answers and find out what ought to happen and ensure conformity
with the answer in the textbook. In such conditions it is difficult to
see how you can generate the desirable attitudes. In reality,
scientists
display different characteristics anyway: they are often illogical in
the
way they work, highly selective in reporting data, and that they will
stick
tenaciously to their views even in the face of contradictory evidence.
Thus loose and active air is very important to encourage students think
independently so that students may get physics ideas and principles
through activities and experiments.
5.1.1.4 Implement
science education combining
with history and philosophy teaching and social developments
Teachers must be aware there are common misunderstandings,
misconceptions
and mistakes from everyday culture. Some are well established, but
errant,
beliefs such as the "weightlessness" of astronauts or "centrifugal
force".
Yet it is more important to effectively combine physical teaching with
physicists' thinking and practical processes, with historical and
present
philosophy based discussions on physics, with developed science and
technology
and its future, especially with the problems affecting whole
environment.
In this way students may understand the scientific implied meanings.
5.1.1.5 Encourage
students to put forward
questions
See diagram: 4.153.1: Three holes can
If students cannot put forward questions, it often shows they do not
understand really or they are not interested in learning. Teachers must
establish the environment at which students dare to put forward
questions
and they do not feel embarrassment if they make a mistake. Of course do
not encourage students to put forward the questions they have not
thought
fully about. Here the guidance of a teacher is important and necessary.
For example, a teacher may guide students to consider that the pressure
at the bottom hole is the largest at the experiment shown as diagram
5.1.1a
but the water spurting from the hole is as in diagram 5.1.1b.
5.1.2 Pay attention to students' existing ideas
If a student has established some mistaken ideas, such as "an object
does not move until a force acts on it", it is not useful to let him
remember,
"Force is not the reason of movement" many times. Some researches show
students often look for the sense of "understanding" by means of the
ideas
they have existed at their minds, just like understanding the context
of
an article. That is, for the same content, every student understands by
different way. The ideas and thoughts of students come from their
experience
at everyday life and mostly possess the characters of Aristotle
thinking
model because they all get experiences at simple and direct
observations.
There is no simple way to solve this question completely but following
are some effective methods at some parts. Let students discuss and
study
their own ideas. Encourage students to challenge their own some
subjective
ideas and selection models then to prove those are wrong. Provide
change
chances for students to reconstruct their own scientific views, for
example,
discussing their developed thoughts with other classmates.
5.1.3 Scientific discussions
1. Many researches show that students' ideas in their minds often do
not
keep up with teachers' explanation on some experiment but students have
no chance to express their understanding thus the difference between
the
teacher and students is suppressed. However it will show completely
when
students deal with some jobs independently because it has not been
sorted
out. Scientific discussions may solve this problem, but any discussing
needs teacher's guidance. One way of providing guidance for students in
the first thinking phase is to use a sequence of displayed questions
such
as planning sheets or boards. They can be used like a traditional
worksheet,
almost like a recipe, to take the students through the investigation
stage
by stage. Used in such a prescriptive way, there is little opportunity
for students to learn to make decisions. Alternatively, and more
efficiently,
they can be used to display and discuss the main features of students'
thinking and can be used to expose this thinking for discussion either
within a group or with the teacher. The teacher is then able to meet
the group, read the table and engage the students in discussion about
their
thinking. Generally a discussion with real sense should possess four
conditions:
Prepare a discussing subject with certain difficulty and within the
scope
of the students.
2. Equivalently discussing especially note teachers'
role at the discussion.
3. A small group for discussion.
4. All
students
think they will get a valuable result thus take part in this discussion
that has strong interest. It is necessary to set up a way to know the
true
ideas of students on what they are learning. For example, ask students
to hand in experiment reports in more free way or set up "notebook for
ideas" to advocate students to write down their ideas and suggestions
no
matter how strange even illogical they are.
5.1.4 Distribution of physical methods and
skills
in textbooks
It is very important for physics education, particularly where real
world activities are involved, to find a range of physics ideas and
approaches
and skills in textbooks. Teachers may prefer to adopt the teaching
methods
and ideas in these different books. Possibly teachers are not aware of
this possibility. Following is a range of real world activities that
might
be in a hypothetical textbook. Students should be able to understand
every
item through real world teaching. Of course it may be change according
to practical conditions.
Distribution of physical methods and skills
Chapter / Methods, Skills Appendix
Observation, Imagination, Supposition, Demonstration, Conclusion,
Estimation,
Classification, Measurement, Calculation, Plot,
Data analysis, Error analysis, Model, Definition, Variables,
Microscope,
Burner, Timer, Lab skills
5.2.1 Demonstrations in the classroom
When a teacher demonstrates an experiment at the classroom, whether
students can observe the experiment clearly is the first thing the
teacher
must consider. Yet it is not enough. In addition the following is what
the teacher should do: Give students some introduction on this
experiment
with diagrams or language before starting to display the
experiment.
Introduce the steps of operation and put forward needs to
students.
Discussing how to do this experiment with students to attract their
attention
and interest is better. Conclude the experiment's result by students'
discussing.
The teacher's responsibility is to ensure the conclusion and result is
scientific.
5.2.2 Promote students' interests and provoke
them
to think
Compared with teachers' speech, students are full of interest in
experiments
and they are spontaneous to think "why". Yet it is not enough. To
promote
students' interests and provoke them to think, the teacher must
organize
every experiment in detail. Putting forward some questions as guidance
is useful.
1. See
experiment 4.242: Air streams
How to pick up a ping-pong ball without touching it.
2. Before demonstrating the atmosphere
pressure, with paper
and wood, set the wood piece vertically on the table and partially out
of the table, then ask students: "what could happen if a hand hit the
wood
part sticking out from the edge of the table? " The students would
reply
without hesitation "The wood could pop up!" Of course, you should test
such
answers and the right answer could promote the interests of students.
Further,
cover the wood and the table with a newspaper and ask students again
the
same question. The answer would probably be "paper broken or wood pop
up, the
test
would be very unexpected, wood broken without breaking the paper".
This
could promote their interest greatly. At this moment, no hurry to pick
up the newspaper and the broken wood, but take this opportunity to put
forward a question to develop their thinking, such as "What is the
difference
in testing condition between first and second experiments". This could
customize the students thinking in a correct way. Students' interest
could
also be promoted by how to experience the experiment. It does not only
mean to replace the demonstration with the experiments done by students
but to get the students involved in discussing, debating, designing the
experiment to understand the test deeply. For example, when measuring
the
focus of a lens, prepare several lenses with the same appearance but
different
focal lengths for several groups of students, ask them to measure the
focal
length in their own way without letting them know the difference in
focal
length. So, students will question each other for the different
results,
teacher, now, ask each group to explain the way of the test to all and
give the comments on the ways by all groups of students, then ask each
group to do the test on the lens used by another group in the agreed
way
or their original way, they will find the test results of all groups
correct
since the lenses are different. It is very necessary to set further
related
questions to students when the experiment is finished to accustom
students
to building up a good way of thinking and studying.
3. See 8.2.1
| See 2.2.1
For example, after testing the centre of gravity of an irregular mass,
ask how to test, if the irregular mass is hollow. Another example,
after
testing the volume of an irregular shape and density in a test cup, ask
"what to do if the mass is clay?"
5.3.1 Scientific corner
Set a corner in the classroom as a scientific corner. Put one or two
tables for an exhibition or doing the experiments. Install a bracket
under
the table to stock some simple instruments. Students should be
encouraged
to display their own information and update them. Keep the corner as an
active and moving place to promote students' interest and expose them
to
fresh incoming knowledge in science and technology.
5.3.2 Scientific notice board or newspaper
Encourage students to collect and track down the interesting
information
from newspapers and magazines. Put suitable information and pictures on
the fibre made black board on the wall above the display table.
5.3.3 Exhibition shelf
Students could become very fancy about the collection. They like to
bring lot information to school to exchange each other. It must be
encouraged
and an exhibition shelf should be provided to display students'
collections
and their works with a brief description of the displayed works. The
exhibition
shelf could be set beside the exhibition table or at another corner of
the classroom. It could build up scientific atmosphere to display
different
information, research works, even opposite opinion on a problem on the
exhibition table, blackboard and shelf.