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

Physics in society
TABLE 5. What did you learn most of all in the Pins-lessons?
a.
b.
C.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
specific knowledge* (e.g. ‘windenergy’)
the connection between physics and society
(e.g. ‘I never noticed before that physics
has anything to do with society’)
the application of physics
(e.g. ‘it is good to see what they do in
practice with all these theories’)
the change of image of physics
(e.g. ‘physics is not just making theories
in isolated laboratories’)
negative answers (e.g. ‘nothing at all’)
a specific awareness
(e.g. ‘energy saving is necessary’)
skills (e.g. ‘to make your own investigation’)
uncategorized (e.g. ‘probably a lot’)
22
18
7
8
8
7
5
25
100
*More than half of the answers are energy-related.
Boys have a better knowledge of each topic beforehand than girls. This might have to do with
the number of them who read newspapers: 85 per cent of the boys indicated that they read a
newspaper daily or more often, whilst only 58 per cent of the girls did.
Of course not all students are in favour of having physics and society as part of their education.
Usually opponents feel insecure because of the different character of the topic. In most cases,
teachers tried to resolve this problem by clarifying such issues as the basic requirements and
methods of assessment. They explained, for instance, that it was not the opinion itself but the
facts and the consistency of the arguments which were presented which would be judged. After
the examinations, hardly any dissatisfaction with the assessment was apparent.
The students were asked: what did you learn most of all in the Pins lessons? Table 5 shows
their answers. Many students appear to be impressed by the relation between physics and society.
The answers show clearly that students are quite impressed by the influence of physics upon
society and less by their mutual interaction. This may be due to the limited number of periods
(fifteen); perhaps there is not enough time to communicate a profound insight into the spiral
of science, technology and society.
Pins may change the students’ image of physics; they mention for instance the importance of
the relationship between faith, political views and science.
IMPACT OF THE COURSE
Although the course is a small part of their education, fifteen periods compared to the hundreds
of other physics periods, the impact of the course is greater than this allocation would indicate.
In the trial schools, teachers reported the use of parts of the text in other classes. Having experi-
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