Thinking Physics for Teaching

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

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2. Generalizations to be Drawn from Results of Research on Teaching and Learning

   • Arnold B. Arons

   Pages 1-7

3. Wrong Experiments as a Teaching Tool

   • Giulio Cortini

   Pages 9-17

4. Do We Need an Agreement with Mathematicians?

   • Carlo Bernardini

   Pages 19-23

5. Modeling Software for Learning and Doing Physics

   • David Hestenes

   Pages 25-65

6. The Contents of Physics

   • Laurence Viennot

   Pages 67-76

7. Should Physicists Preach What They Practice?

   • Nancy J. Nersessian

   Pages 77-96

8. From Language to Concept Appropriation in Physics

   • Jean Gréa, Jérôme Viard

   Pages 97-106

9. Epistemology in Science Education

   • Marcello Cini

   Pages 107-115

10. Physics, Philosophy, and Education

    • Alan Cromer

    Pages 117-126

11. What Do Epistemology and Ontology Have to Offer in Considering Progression in Physics Education?

    • Martin Monk

    Pages 127-137

12. The Physics Laboratory — Yesterday, Today and …

    • G. Bonera, L. Borghi, A. De Ambrosis, P. Mascheretti

    Pages 139-143

13. The Grand Laws of Scale

    • David Hawkins

    Pages 145-156

14. Conceptual Dynamics

    • Ronald K. Thornton

    Pages 157-183

15. Force-Motion Conceptions

    • Paolo Guidoni, Anna Porro, Elena Sassi

    Pages 185-206

16. The Language of Physics

    • Panos Kokkotas, Vasilios Koulaidis, Yannos Karanikas, Anna Tsatsaroni, Yiannis Vlachos

    Pages 207-219

17. A Modern Understanding the Origins of Students’ Difficulties to Operate with the Weight Concept

    • Igal Galili

    Pages 221-235

18. Modeling in Physics Education

    • G. Andaloro, L. Bellomonte, R. M. Sperandeo-Mineo

    Pages 237-248

19. Words and Their Meaning in Teaching Thermodynamics

    • Janez Ferbar

    Pages 249-260

20. The Need of Changes in Elementary School Teachers’ Training

    • Ricardo Trumper

    Pages 261-267

The research in Physics Education has to do with the search of solutions to the complex problem of how to improve the learning and teaching of physics. The complexity of the problem lies in the different fields of knowledge that need to be considered in the research. In fact, besides the disciplinary knowledge in physics (which must be considered from the conceptual, the historical, and the epistemological framework), one has to take into account some basic knowledge in the context of psychology and the cognitive sciences (for the general and contextual aspects of learning) and some basic knowledge in education and comunication (for what concerns teaching skills and strategies). Looking back at the historical development of the research one may recognize that the complexity of the endeavour was not clear at first but became clear in its development, which shifted the focus of the research in the course of time from physics to learning to teaching. We may say that the research started, more than 30 years ago, with a focus on disciplinary knowledge. Physicists in different parts of the western world, after research work in some field of physics, decided to concentrate on the didactical comunication of physical knowledge.

• Experiment
• Theoretical physics
• cognitive science
• complex problem
• learning
• mechanics
• psychology
• thermodynamics

• University “La Sapienza” of Rome, Rome, Italy

  Carlo Bernardini, Carlo Tarsitani, Matilde Vicentini

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