Development of ideas in Physics *

Enrolment in regular study

Selected historical themes from the following topics:
Science ideas in antiquity
Mechanics and solar system
Thermodynamics
Electromagnetism
Optics
Quantum physics
Atomic and nuclear physics
Recent discoveries in physics

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.

Main objectives of the course:
To learn how the scientists devised the most important ideas and relations/laws that constitute the content of a introductory physics course and to learn how the similar processes can be used in a classroom to help students construct physics concepts and relations.

Major competences that students will develop in this course are:
• Ability to connect historical processes to the process of learning physics in school.
• Ability to develop hypotheses and mathematical models to explain experimental data.
• Ability to use hypothetico-deductive reasoning to test the models including rejecting the model.

Acquired knowledge
After completing the course the students will be able to:

1. Explain how scientists devised the most important ideas and relations that constitute the content of introductory physics course.
2. Provide examples of how student learning of physics reflects scientists’ learning through history.
3. Devise and tell a story of one of the physicists, who contributed to the development of fundamental physics ideas, with emphasis on females and underrepresented groups in physics.
4. Design and implement a coherent unit of instruction during which high school students construct one of the fundamental ideas following the historical progression.

Application
The course helps students develop understanding of the nature of physics, its non-linear development and human nature. This understanding will help them connect the development of ideas in physics to the development of ideas by individual students.

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 most of other courses during the first cycle.

Transferable competencies – not limited on one subject only
The course will help students see the holistic picture of physics as a scientific discipline and consolidate their understanding of the role of experiment and theory as well as the role of human factor in this development.

Work in groups, collaborative learning, active engagement of students through the activities that promote discussions, projects that involve designing curriculum materials.

Student projects, class participation, homework
Written test
Grades: 1-5 (fail), 6-10 (passed)

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. BROOKES, David, ETKINA, Eugenia, PLANINŠIČ, Gorazd. Implementing an epistemologically authentic approach to student-centered inquiry learning. Physical review. Physics education research. 2020, vol. 16, iss. 2, p 020148-1-020148-22, ilustr. ISSN 2469-9896. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.16.020148. [COBISS-SI-ID 41266691]
3. PLANINŠIČ, Gorazd, ETKINA, Eugenia. Framework for using modern devices in introductory physics courses. European journal of physics. Oct. 2019, vol. 40, art. no. 065702, 13 str., ilustr. ISSN 0143-0807. DOI: 10.1088/1361-6404/ab3e26. [COBISS-SI-ID 3343716]
4. ETKINA, Eugenia, PLANINŠIČ, Gorazd. Thinking like a scientist. Physics world, ISSN 0953-8585, 2014, vol. 27, no. 3, str. 48-51.