69740 - Physics Education Laboratory

Academic Year 2017/2018

  • Docente: Barbara Pecori
  • Credits: 6
  • SSD: FIS/08
  • Language: Italian
  • Moduli: Barbara Pecori (Modulo 1) Giulia Tasquier (Modulo 2)
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures (Modulo 1) Traditional lectures (Modulo 2)
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Physics (cod. 8025)

Learning outcomes

Aim of the course is to provide the necessary competences for designing, carrying out and discussing physics lab activities and for designing educational sequences for teaching physics at secondary school level.

Course contents

The course is given in the second semester from March to May.

The course is divided into two modules.

In the first module lectures will concern:
- the role of lab activities in teaching physics
- traditional vs. on-line physics laboratory
- design of learning paths including lab experiments
and lab activities will concern:
- design and implementation of lab experiments
- discussion of experimental data
- reflection on the role and meaning of the experiments from an educational point of view

In the second module of the course some specific topics will be addressed both from the theoretical and the experimental point of view, focussing on the process of model building in Physics.

Readings/Bibliography

No textbooks are required. Al teaching materials will be available at http:// campus.unibo.it



Teaching methods

The course is made of 6CFU, 4CFU of lectures and 2CFU of lab sessions.

Lectures will concern the topics of the curriculum referring to national and international research on physics education.

In lab sessions experiments will be set up, carried out and discussed both from the experimental and the educational points of view. Teaching sequences will be designed and discussed.
In the final part of the course students working in small groups will design, perform and present to the other students one experiment among those suggested by the teacher.
Experiments will be carried out both with traditional instruments and on-line acquisition systems.
In all activities large space is devoted to discussion among peers and with the teacher.

Assessment methods

Attendance to no less than 2/3 of the experimental sessions is required.

Assessment will be carried out both during the course and in the final individual oral examination, where the student will be required to discuss teaching proposals developed during the course by working in groups.

In the discussion of the proposal the student's ability to point out and defend his/her choices about the following issues will be assessed:
- teaching strategies to be implemented
- conceptual path of the proposal
- objectives of the learning sequence
- role played by the lab experiments
- assessment and evalution tools

Teaching tools

Teaching materials introduced during the course will be available from http://campus.unibo.it/ . The site is accessible with Unibo student's username and password.

Laboratory apparatuses and software necessary for performing experiments and elaborate experimental data are provided.

Video and audio recorders are used to present multimedia materials (e.g.: educational applets, movies, recorded materials from implementation of teaching sequences in secondary schools, etc.).

Links to further information

https://campus.unibo.it/

Office hours

See the website of Barbara Pecori

See the website of Giulia Tasquier