Increasing the Confidence of Junior High School Teachers in Teaching Physics by Acquiring

Qualitative Understanding

Roni Mualem and Bat-Sheva EylonDepartment of Science Teaching

The Weizmann Institute of ScienceRehovot, ISRAEL

Central Goal of Physics Teaching at Central Goal of Physics Teaching at the Junior High School Levelthe Junior High School Level

Qualitative Understanding of Basic Concepts and Principles

and Their Application in Everyday Phenomena

Everyday Phenomena

What do We Mean ByWhat do We Mean By Qualitative Understanding?

Operational Definition:Understanding Performances*

*According to Perkins

The ability to: Explain, Give Examples, Predict and Apply.

Science Teachers in Israel

• Have a background mainly in biology

• Their knowledge of physics is limited

• Have low confidence

• Don’t see the relevance of physics to everyday experience

A Part from an Interview with a Junior A Part from an Interview with a Junior High School Science TeacherHigh School Science Teacher

“When I teach topics that are in the domain of biology, I can easily bring my students a large arsenal of examples that are extended far beyond the specific topic that is being discussed in class…This is not the case when I teach physics…I spend many hours in preparing myself for every single lesson throughout all the teaching of physics…

All these reasons make me feel very uncertain… my self confidence is low and I feel stressed and even nervous. When I'm forced to solve problems that are raised during instruction, that I have not solved in advance, I project uncertainty in my answer… that it may be incorrect…what makes me feel embarrassed and uncomfortable… I don't like to teach this domain!"

A New ApproachA New Approach

• Very successful with junior high school students

• Has a long-lasting effect

Results of content knowledge questionnaire

(FCI + Additional Problems) GradenapproachPretest

(Sd)Posttest

(Sd)

<g*>

9th Graders106Yes36(18.6)

67( 21.4)0.48

P<0.001

Science Teachers

32No50( 14.9)

High School Advanced

98No62( 17.3)

<g>* = (posttest score – pretest score)/(100 – pretest score)

Typical FCI QuestionsTypical FCI Questions

Results of Two FCI Items Results of Two FCI Items (n=32)(n=32)

FCI item 4 FCI item 15

CorrectAR1CorrectAF1

40.6 (%)59.3 (%)15.6 (%)69 (%)

AR1- action reaction 1: greater mass implies greater forceAF1- active force 1: only active agents exert forces

ProblemsProblemsContent knowledge

Confidence

Motivation to Teach

Implementation

Views of relevance

How Can We Change Teachers’ Ability to Teach?

Making a ChangeMaking a Change

• Enhancement in teachers' confidence in their knowledge of physics

• Change in teachers’ views about relevance and interest in physics

• Provide a useful pedagogy to enable teachers to instruct for qualitative understanding (pedagogical content knowledge)

Prior (Naive) KnowledgePrior (Naive) Knowledge

Conceptual Framework

Problem Solving Strategy

Explain and Predict Real-Explain and Predict Real-Life SituationsLife Situations

Constraint: Quantitative Knowledge is Not an Option

Conceptual FrameworkConceptual Framework

System approach Interaction

ForceMotion

Problem-Solving StrategyProblem-Solving StrategySystem Characterization•Represent the situation by a block diagram• Construct of a table of interactions

From system to selected objects• Add force arrows to the rectangle representation

•Isolate a chosen object and show all the forces acting on it

Forces and Motion

Construct a force diagram (adjust the arrow sizes) based on motion information

System CharacterizationSystem Characterization

Dog Rope Boy

Ground

Earth

DogRopeBoyGroundEarth

Dog0+-++Rope+0+-+Boy-+0++Ground+-+0+Earth++++0

Dog

By the Earth

By Ground (Friction)

By Ground

By Rope

Dog Rope Boy

Ground

Earth

From System to Selected Objects

Since the dog does not change its velocity, the net force must be zero .

Forces and Motion

Dog

By the Earth

By Ground

(Friction)

By Ground

By Rope

If the dog is accelerating toward the boy..

Forces and Motion

Dog

By the Earth

By Ground

(Friction)

By Ground

By Rope

“Who is Afraid of Physics?” • Three days special training intensive course of

20 hours – teachers as learners

• Implementation options: 5 (minimum), 10 or 15 (advanced) hours of instruction- feasibility

• Action research by the teachers, monthly meetings, a telephone “hot line” and e-mail- follow up

Changes in the Teachers’ Views Before Changes in the Teachers’ Views Before and After the Workshopand After the Workshop

(Likert scale(Likert scale: : 1- 4 , n=15, αCh=0.95))

Concepts/LawsChange in knowledge

Change in ability to teach students

Change in ability to instruct other teachers

Focal concepts and principles

0.52 )p<0.01 (

0.39 )p<0.03(

0.25 (n.s.)

Other concepts and principles

0.38 (p<0.03)

0.08 (n.s.) 0.26 (n.s.)

Spearman Correlation Coefficients Spearman Correlation Coefficients in Teachers' Post Viewsin Teachers' Post Views

(n=30, α=0.95)(n=30, α=0.95)

Viewsability to teach Students

ability to instruct other teachers

Knowledge of focal content

Knowledge of other content

0.87(p<0.0001)

0.93(p<0.0001)

0.62(p<0.0063)

0.46(p<0.05)

Few Teachers’ RemarksFew Teachers’ Remarks

• “The teaching skills that were presented in the workshop were very important to me…”

• “The best thing in this workshop was its’ simplicity”

• “Simplifying complex concepts was the essences of this workshop…”

• “The simplicity of the use of the concept “interaction” allows me to provide the lower level students with the feeling of success…”

SummarySummary

Students and teachers claim that they are empowered by the approach and it enables them to understand better the world around them.

Biology teachers who usually do not teach physics are more willing to, and are less afraid to teach physics with this method.

Students and teachers improve their views concerning the difficulty and interest of physics learning.