Development of ideas in Physics *

Enrolment in regular study

Science ideas in antiquity
Mechanics and solar system
Thermodynamics
Electromagnetism
Optics
Relativity
Quantum physics
Review of Nobel prizes in physics in current period

Janez Strnad, Razvoj fizike, DZS 2003
Gerald Holton & Stephen Brush, Physics, The Human Adventure, Rutgers University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8135-2908;
Priporočeno/suggested: Morris Shamos, Great Experiments in Physics, Dover Publications, New York, 1987.

The course introduces the development of ideas and theories in physics, the way understand it today. Wrong ideas and misinterpretations in critical moments are discussed. The course focuses on crucial ideas in classical and modern physics and on the process of building knowledge in science.

Acquired knowledge
Students will learn that ideas in physics were developing in connection with the observations and outcomes of experiments and that the latter are determined with the technological and cultural state of the society. These ideas are helpful for future teacher in the classroom as well as in communicating with general public.

Application
The ability to put the physics topics into historical context is an important element in teaching physics. Interesting historical stories may attract wider range of students. Examples from history of physics show that the path to the current state of knowledge was not straight and that the answers are never definite.

Reflection
The course encourages students to build a holistic picture of physics and to look at the physics from a perspective that is different than the one met at other courses during the first cycle.

Transferable competencies – not limited on one subject only
The connection between the experiments/ observations and universal ways of describing the laws of nature is crucial virtue of this course. The course is interested also for students on other master programs because of its concise overview of the physics.

Work in groups, lessons, cooperative learning and peer instruction, student seminars and project tasks.

Written exam
grading: 5 (fail), 6-10 (pass) (according to the Statute of UL)

1.ETKINA, Eugenia, PLANINŠIČ, Gorazd. Defining and developing critical thinking through devising and testing multiple explanations of the same phenomenon. The Physics teacher, ISSN 0031-921X, 2015, vol. 53, no. 7, str. 432-437, ilustr.
2.PLANINŠIČ, Gorazd, MARSHALL, Rick. Is there life on exoplanet Maja? : a demonstration for schools. Physics Education, ISSN 0031-9120, 2012, vol. 47, no. 5, str. 584-588.
3.PLANINŠIČ, Gorazd, SLIŠKO, Josip. The pulley analogy does not work for every siphon. Physics Education, ISSN 0031-9120, 2010, vol. 45, no. 4, str. 356-361.
4.ETKINA, Eugenia, PLANINŠIČ, Gorazd. Thinking like a scientist. Physics world, ISSN 0953-8585, 2014, vol. 27, no. 3, str. 48-51.