New trends in physics teaching, v.4; The ... - unesdoc - Unesco

New Trends in Physics Teaching IV
by his students, he must develop in his own practice a model of teaching to present to his
students. They should not take it as a prescription but as a guide-line through which they can
develop their own teaching style. Since the style of a teacher expresses a part of his personality,
prescriptions of style suppress the personality. This may lead to the loss of authenticity and so of
credibility.
It is reasonable to organize the teaching-learning-process in such a way that psychologically
founded stages are taken into consideration. R.M. Gagne [ 231 has listed such stages:
(1) Gaining and controlling attention.
(2) Informing the students of expected outcomes.
(3) Stimulating the recall of relevant background.
(4) Presenting the stimulus situation.
(5) Offering guidance for learning.
(6) Receiving and providing feedback from learning.
(7) Appraising performance.
(8) Providing for the transfer of knowledge.
(9) Ensuring retention.
The scheme is rather general. It can be adopted by authoritarian teachers, who prefer teachercentred
classes, and also by teachers with a more democratic teaching style.
The credibility of a physics teacher educator, however, is much higher if he presents a model
for physics teaching which is consistent with his theory and educational philosophy and through
which he practises what he preaches. The roots for such a model can be found in publications of
J. Piaget, J.W. Renner, R. Karplus and M. Wagenschein. The philosophical, psychological and
pedagogical implications of the model (which is outlined below) are the subjects of seminars in
Dortmund. The students can put it into practice in the framework of our Didakticum which is
described elsewhere [ 17 1 .
OUTLINE OF A MODEL FOR PHYSICS TEACHING
The didactic principles set out below stem from the basic position in educational philosophy
given earlier:
Reciting the stuff to be learned - is not teaching.
Storing something away in your memory - is not learning.
Ability to memorize what is stored away - is not evidence of understanding.
To teach is - to arrange situations in which the learner can discover structures for himself.
To learn is - to behave actively.
Acts of learning manifest themselves as changes in self-directed, individual behaviour dispositions.
Understanding is - insight into the reasons for the possible results of action [241.
A model of physics teaching having regard to these principles [ 161, and one furthering ‘the full
development of human personality’ can be set out under the following ten teacher/pupil activities.
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