Entry requirements

Successfully completed a Bachelor programme in physics or a physics related area (such as a Swedish civil engineering programme)

Learning outcomes

After completing the course the student should be able to:

• explain the concept of pedagogical content knowledge
• provide written and oral examples of physics pedagogical content knowledge
• in writing and orally, explain, discuss and give an account of Physical Education Research as a way of informing teaching, learning and curriculum design
• explain the concept of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
• collect, compose and present orally a literature review to inform practice
• collect, compose and present in written form a literature review to inform to situate a research study

Content

The course will provide broad overviews of :

• the notion of pedagogical content knowledge
• the early history of Physical Education Research as an integral part of physics: concerns about enrolment, drop out rate, quality of education for both majors and service courses.
• the growth of enormous interest in describing student difficulties, and the move towards addressing them (primarily a-theoretical).
• the adoption and further development of conceptual frameworks primarily drawn from education and psychology.
• the informing of teaching and learning in introductory and intermediate physics
• the growth of theoretical appreciation in the modelling of learning.
• the growth of meta-learning appreciation (epistemology, approach to learning and types of metacognition)
• teachers' perceptions of learning, what physics is, what science is, who their students are,
• new contemporary directions in Physical Education Research
• a broad overview of the ideas of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and its associated disciplinary style
• a focussed exploration of Physics Education Research in the following areas: thermodynamics, waves, optics, electricity and magnetism, modelling approaches to learning, curriculum design, and quantum mechanics

Instruction

The course will have an interactive seminar format that draws on prescribed preparatory readings

Assessment

The examination will consist of two parts: (1) a continual evaluation based on the students' participation during the class seminar discussions and written essays (7 credits); and (2) a final written project due at the end of the course (8 credits).