Report Thematic Group 5

1
Report Thematic Group 5

• PHYSICS TEACHER TRAINING
• HIGH SCHOOL - UNIVERSITY TRAINING GAP IN PHYSICS

2
PHYSICS TEACHER TRAINING HIGH SCHOOL - UNIVERSITY
TRAINING GAP IN PHYSICS
GARETH JONES (COACH) DEPARTMENT OF
PHYSICS IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON LONDON
(UK) w.g.jones_at_imperial.ac.uk
M. C. CARMO PHYSICS DEPARTMENT UNIVERSITY OF
AVEIRO AVEIRO (PT) mccarmo_at_ua.pt
HAY GEURTS FACULTY OF SCIENCE RADBOUD UNIVERSITY
NIJMEGEN (NL) hay.geurts_at_science.ru.nl
MARIA EBEL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY WIEN PHYSICS
DEPARTMENT WIEN (AT) maria.ebel_at_tuwien.ac.at
OVIDIU CALTUN DEPARTMENT OF SOLID STATE AND
THEORETICAL PHYSICS ALEXANDRU IOAN CUZA
UNIVERSITY IASI (RO) caltun_at_uaic.ro
3
OUTLINE

• INTRODUCTION/ METHODOLOGY
• OVERVIEW OF LAST YEARS QUESTIONAIRES
• HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER TRAINING QUESTIONAIRE
• HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER INTERVIEWS
• CONCLUSIONS

4
INTRODUCTION
Changes in school education have been occurring
in recent decades in curricula, in students
attitude, in school organization, in
assessment Students entering the university do
not have enough preparation in physics and
mathematics and the gap is growing between the
two educational systems Teacher quality
influences students choice on what they wish to
study.. In many countries there is or will
be - a shortage of qualified physics teachers in
high schools If at University level, we do not
understand what is happening at schools we will
not be able to overcome the gap..
5
METHODOLOGY
MAIN OBJECTIVE OF WG 5
The main theme of this WG is the interface
between high schools and university physics
departments. All partners (students, high
school teachers, university departments) are
involved in this interface.

• Surveying the views of University Physics
  Departments (STEPS Questionnaire 2006)
• Surveying the views of university physics
  students (STEPS Questionnaire 2006)
• Surveying the differences in high school teacher
  training in different countries (STEPS
  Questionnaire 2007)
• Personal contact with physics teachers in high
  schools

6
OVERVIEW OF LAST YEARS QUESTIONAIRES

1. HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2006 STEPS SURVEY AMONG
UNIVERSITY PHYSICS DEPARTMENTS

• There is a general opinion among university staff
  that the scientific level of incoming students is
  becoming lower (84 of replies)
• This has been a continuous process over the last
  few decades
• The main point of concern is the very uneven
  level of incoming students
• The general scientific level of the incoming
  students is considered poor
• The evolution is particularly negative for
  mathematics and physics
• Improvements have been observed only for computer
  skills

7
2. HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2006 STEPS SURVEY ON STUDENTS
VIEWS

• The majority of our students feel a gap between
  high school and University.
• When asked about their main difficulties in the
  first year they mention several reasons
• Low level in mathematics. No previous development
  of skills in problem solving
• Difficulties with basic concepts
• Steeper learning curve in University then in high
  school
• Much more lectures compared to high school
• Much more effort needed due to the large amount
  of information to be processed
• .

8
HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS TRAINING SURVEY (STEPS
2007)
STRUCTURE OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE

• Three groups of questions
• CHANGES IN NATIONAL REGULATIONS?
• THE GENERAL PATTERN OF DEGREES IN TEACHING
• WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR TEACHER TRAINING?

72 valid replies from 161 partners in STEPS
network
9
WHAT HAS CHANGED IN TEACHER EDUCATION?
Fig 1 National/regional regulations for the
Curricula for Physics Teacher Training
Fig 2 Changes due to the Bologna Process
10
Fig 3 Requirement for training in more than one
subject.
11
Fig 4Teaching in more than one subject

• Most physics teachers teach more then one subject
  and physics is also taught by other subject
  teachers.
• There are many subject combinations possible
  (different even at country level), due to physics
  teacher shortage

12
Q.6 Do physics teachers usually teach a second
subject? If so, what are the most common
subjects?
Fig 4 b Most common combinations of teaching
subjects Code Colour CHEMISTRY MATHEMATICS MATHS/
IT/CHEM COMBINED SCIENCES NO INFORMATION
13

• TEACHER TRAINING
• It is necessary to ensure that future teachers
  have the appropriate subject knowledge
• In many countries teachers normally teach two or
  more subjects (and physics is taught by teachers
  of other subject areas)
• Appropriate knowledge of pedagogical issues
  associated with the sciences taught .
• HOW IS THIS ACHIEVED IN PRACTICE?
• (Q 4 What is the content of the teacher training
  curricula in terms of credits?)

14
IS THERE A GENERAL PATTERN OF DEGREES IN TEACHING?

• Q 4 Most common situations encountered
• A 300 ECTS degree
• A one year master on top of relevant bachelor
  (normally followed by a year of probation in high
  school)
• A two year (120 ECTS) master
• Many variations in structure even in the same
  country!

15
Fig 5 Example taken from 2007 STEPS
questionnaire a teaching degree structured in
300 ECTS
16
Fig 6 Example taken from 2007 STEPS
questionnaire a teaching degree structured in
300 ECTS
17
Fig 7 Example taken from 2007 STEPS
questionnaire one year master in education on
top of appropriate bachelor
18
Fig 8 Example taken from 2007 STEPS
questionnaire a 120 ECTS master in education
19
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR TEACHER TRAINING?
Fig 9 The University is mostly responsible for
Teacher Training
20
TEACHER APOINTMENT Q10. How are teachers
appointed?
Fig 10 Responsibility in teacher appointment
(STEPS Questionnaire)
Colour code NATIONAL/REGIONAL LISTS HEADMASTER
DECISION
A few countries have also an entrance examination
21
HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER INTERVIEWS
SCHOOLS VISITED AUSTRIA (2) NETHERLANDS (2)
PORTUGAL (2) ROMANIA (3) U.K (1)

• STRUCTURE OF INTERVIEW
• Characterization of school
• Pattern of teaching - hours per week, exercise
  classes, experimental, demonstrations (Physics
  and Mathematics)
• Evolution of student numbers over years
• Staff
• Open questions (Main problems, opinion on
  curricula, gap between university and high school)

22
IT IS HARD TO BE A PHYSICS TEACHER !
Highlights from interviews

• Frequent changes in curricula, drawbacks with
  textbooks, not enough practical work, lack of
  didactical tools, lack of comunication between
  schools and university
• Too much time spent to turn working horses into
  racing horses and too less time spent to make
  racing horses race better
• Physics is a hard subject for students and for
  teachers. It needs a continued effort, motivation
  and enthusiasm.
• The lack of specialized teachers in the area
  determines the limited number of students in
  secondary physics. The students do not choose
  physics or have little motivation for it.
• Not enough time (in the timetable) devoted to
  Physics. Syllabus does not give the right
  coverage of physics topics and physics syllabus
  is too little mathematically based
• Too little laboratory classes/ lab spaces where
  pupils can work independently on their practical
  assignments

23
CONCLUSIONS
The teachers are better prepared to deal with
many pedagogical problems than they used to be
but the challenges they face in the classrooms
are bigger than ever. Several examples of good
practices and suggestions to improve the present
situation have been identified

• AT THE UNIVERSITY LEVEL TO BRIDGE THE KNOWLEDGE
  GAP
• We quote the most common measures cited
• Pre-entrance refresher courses in physics and
  mathematics to level up students restructure of
  university curricula extra courses
• Spend more time with basic concepts and allow for
  a more gradual learning or lower the 1st year
  work load small group teaching more student
  guidance (extra tutorials, extra homework, extra
  question time, more discussion time more
  evaluation, more planning of experiments)
  e-learning in maths Extra time for problem
  solving

24
AT THE INTERFACE UNIVERSITY-HIGH SCHOOLTEACHERS
Many high school physics teachers claim that
there is not enough communication between the two
educational systems The continuous training of
physics teachers needs to be addressed in the
context of new Bologna legislation and LLL.
These should take into account that many
teachers teaching physics do not have a physics
background and the main difficulties faced by
first year students Special attention should be
given to training modules in experimental
physics lecture demonstrations problem solving
and modelling project guided oriented curricula.