Review of PhD dissertation.
EDUCATIONAL RECONSTRUCTION OF THE PHYSICS CONTENT TO BE TAUGHT AND PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE IMPLEMENTATION BY USING INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES
Author: Claudio Fazio, University of Palermo
Reference: Marisa Michelini, full professor in Physics Education, Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Udine
General introduction
The dissertation is composed by two main parts.
In the first one, the author puts in light the need for a new approach to Physics Education. This reflects a need to also reform the Physics Teacher Education, by searching for research results about “things” the new teacher has to know to effectively develop abilities and knowledge in his/her pupils.
The author deeply discusses the various constructivist approaches to building and validating learning pathways and sequences, from a global point of view, typical of a person who demonstrates competency in this field.
Both quantitative as well as qualitative research methods are discussed, with particular emphasis to the role played by Case Study methodology and Phenomenographic approach to data gained in the research. This part represents a really worth general contribution to the dissertation, as it shows elements of original critical review, of great use for physics education researcher education.
In the second part of the thesis, a teaching/learning pathway on Thermal processes is presented and results of its experimentation in the field of a pre-service school for physics teacher education are discussed. The initial description of relevant points and of conceptual and learning nodes is clearly linked to research papers in physics education. The context in which the research is developed is clearly presented: trainee teachers graduates in Mathematics and Engineering.
The proposed teaching/learning pathway is based on experimental laboratory, simulation and modelling activities, making deep use of Information Technology. It starts from an interesting analysis of research results about secondary school pupils misconceptions and learning difficulties, done by trainee teacher.
The enclosed pedagogic material exemplifying learning activities performed by trainee teachers is rich and significant, without being redundant (worksheets, pre and post tests).
The analysis of results, based on a valuation of categories of answers given by trainee teachers (intuitive, descriptive, interpretative) is interesting. Results, showing a generalised tendency to better explicative abilities developed in trainee teachers after education are exemplificative, together with the research hypotheses, of the validity and efficacy of methodological choices in this research.
Very helpful and clear is also the final summary, that resumes clearly the main points of the dissertation.
Details of the various chapters.
In the introduction the author clearly illustrates the main problems introducing the need to renew physics education and science teacher education, by putting accent on the worrisome lack of interest on scientific disciplines by pupils and on the poor dynamism in teaching improvements, in both textbooks and teaching methods. The author explains the following fundamental requests to a new approach to education:
1. a direct link to experiential field, in clear opposition to an approach to science starting from a formalised point of view;
2. the acknowledgement of pupils’ learning difficulties and spontaneous models of interpretation of reality as fundamental part in the process of pedagogical activities building;
3. the IT contribution to learning, with particular reference to Real Time Laboratory;
4. the role played by modelling activities in educative activities;
5. the importance of learning not seen only as a mere accumulation of facts and an acquisition of specific abilities, but as a process taking to an organisation of knowledge in mental models and scientific methodologies: in particular, the fundamental role of modelling in the cultural formation of the student.
The analysis of competencies required to a teachers, in a constructivist point of view, appears to be complete and well described from the research literature aspect; in particular, the part of teacher knowledge known as Pedagogical Content Knowledge: scientific curriculum, conceptions and learning difficulties of pupils in scientific topics, strategies, methods for teaching and assessment. The teacher education model is strictly based on this analysis and it is defined by the following requests:
· to make experience to prospective teachers (TTs), in the same learning environments they are supposed to realize in their future classrooms
· to supply TTs with appropriate pedagogical tools helping them in conceptualizing physics models and in gaining the abilities connected with modeling procedures
· to involve TTs in activities aimed at simulating hands-on learning and metareflections.
· To project Teaching/Learning Pathways (TLPs) or their components, Sequences (TLSs), based on a synthesis between scientific and pedagogic competences, and finalized to the development of a general disciplinary argument
· To investigate the correlations between the teaching/learning environment and the competences developed by TTs.
This part, constituting the theoretical framework on which this PhD dissertation is based, is well documented and described, as it is the following Chapter 2.
Chapter 2 describes the idea of TLPs and presents in detail the research frameworks behind the design of effective TLSs. Among them, the author analyze with competence the use of the model of “educational reconstruction” in the design and the validation of TLSs, taking into account different aspects such as content analysis, epistemology, student’s conceptions and motivations.
The contents of Chapter 3 are well presented and argued, both when the author describes the methods adopted in the research that is at the basis of the dissertation, and when he illustrates the qualitative and quantitative methods, used in the validation of the results, and the use of the Case Study Methodology.
The Phenomenographic approach to the data analysis is well described and applied in physics education to define the different ways in which people experience, interpret and conceptualize certain aspects of the reality.
Chapter 4 introduces the relevant points of previous researches about a specific disciplinary argument (the thermal processes), on which the author decided to experiment an educational reconstruction of the physical content. The typical problems evinced by pupils on this matter are illustrated and described, focalizing his attention on three principal aspects: the ideas of heat and temperature, the role of the constant temperature in the changes of state, and the confusion between intensive and extensive variables. All the three points are discussed quoting specific situations from relevant literature, underlining the role of the pupils spontaneous models in the explanations given to the specific phenomena involved.
This chapter appears to be a thorough review of research results, with accent on the pupils’ conceptual nodes and spontaneous models, with an analysis of results about learning process
Chapter 5 presents the approach to the educational reconstruction realized by the research group of the author. In it, empirical qualitative and quantitative experiences are strictly integrated with explanations through modeling procedures. The declared aims of the study were:
· “To construct a teaching/learning environment for Trainee Teachers, enabling conditions for collaborative inquire in model-building procedures”
· “to investigate the correlations between the characteristics of the supplied teaching/learning environment and the competencies developed by TTs”
The operative phases of the designed teacher training course, a part pre and post tests, involve the analysis by TTs of the results of questionnaires administered to high school pupils and the synthesis in report of the pupils’ ideas about the analyzed physics field, the discussion on the background experiences that formed the pupils’ conceptions individuated in such a way. Following this, two phases of laboratory experiments / data analysis and modeling activities are foreseen for the introduction of more powerful conceptual models. As last phase, TTs prepared a report defining in details teaching/learning sequences for high school classroom activities, picking up some of the experiments and modeling activities performed in the previous phases.
The chapter describes the experimental activities in the course (heating/cooling processes, measurement of the heat of fusion of ice) and the related modeling activities (microscopic models for solids and gasses, and from their thermal interactions). The last type of activities involve the use of innovative ICT tools, like STELLA and NetLogo, which use is illustrated in a section of the chapter.
Some worksheets produced for the course are reported in an Appendix to the chapter.
Chapter 6 contains the analysis of the results coming out of the experimentation. According to phenomenographic approach, the author objective was to identify how TTs experience, understand and make sense of the teaching/learning environmental proposed in the course.
The data analyzed consisted of different types of empirical materials: tests, worksheets, observation of discussion, TLS prepared by TTs and open interviews and the chapter contains a detailed description of the analyses performed.
The conclusions of the analysis can be summarized as follows:
· TTs initial physics knowledge to develop the disciplinary competences required was not adequate, in particular they were not enough equipped with a deep knowledge of some significant factors which are considered relevant in influencing modeling learning.
· Effectiveness of the proposed learning environment to stimulate modifications in disciplinary and pedagogical competences
· Relevance of the use of the pedagogical tools proposed for the conceptualization of the physic model role.
The result discussion appears to be complete and well done.
Some comments and questions
The description of the produced TLP rationale, of research methodology and of used materials is thorough. There is also a good description of how some IT tools (STELLA and NetLogo) have been used during the simulation/modelling activities. What appears to be lacking is a deeper discussion of the role of the IT tools and the reason of their use. In chapter 1 the importance of modelling in both the pedagogic methods and in the knowledge base the teacher has to posses to effectively teach have been discussed, but the role of IT in this context is not sufficiently stressed. It would have been useful to describe the reasons why an approach based on IT tools has been chosen for the learning pathway formalisation / conceptualisation.
The decision to explore the application of a specific topic (pedagogical Content Knowledge) in a case study appears to direct from the beginning the research and keeps at a too synthetic level the analysis of motivational problems to scientific studies.
The part of thesis devoted to the theoretical frameworks in projecting TLPs is large and interesting. It is not clear in the following chapters (expecially in Chapter 4, describing the main points of previous research on the specific topic chosen and in Chapter 5, describing the research approach), if what described in this part has been used, or even considered, as methodology (for example, the p-prims model or the more general knowledge resources model ) to project/develop/analyse the performed research.
Conclusion
The dissertation develops a well defined proposal for pedagogical innovation in pre-service teacher education, that is well experimented and analysed.
Contents and methods are well argued and discussed in the framework of an ample and up-to-date international research literature.
The chosen argument is significant and well dealt with.
The work articulation in well done and the arguments are clearly presented.
The scientific and educative aspects are thoroughly treated and well discussed.
In my opinion this work constitutes a high level contribution to research in physics education and so I recommend to award author with scientific-academic degree.
Udine, 15/05/2006 Prof. M. Michelini