GIREP Conference Proceedings

Ljubljana 2022

Proceedings of the GIREP Conference 2022

EFFECTIVE LEARNING IN PHYSICS FROM CONTEMPORARY PHYSICS TO REMOTE SETTINGS

Preface

The Proceedings present selected contributions from the international GIREP Conference 2022, which took place from 4th to 8th July 2022 at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education. The conference was organized in cooperation between the International Research Group on Physics Teaching (GIREP) and the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education and Faculty of Mathematics and Physics.

The conference was held live after two years of webinars due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The main theme of the conference was therefore Effective Learning in Physics from Contemporary Physics to Remote Settings which highlights the possibilities of contemporary topics for enhancing the motivation, context, and general literacy in modern technology, combined with the challenges and opportunities of distance learning. During the conference, a variety of topics on contemporary physics, remote settings and other important aspects of physics education research and practice were discussed.

The GIREP Conference 2022 was attended by 204 international researchers and practitioners representing 37 countries. The scientific programme offered a total of 161 contributions (81 oral and 80 poster presentations) and 7 invited keynote speeches. It consisted of plenary talks, parallel oral sessions, symposia, workshops and poster sessions.

The entire programme was held in a hybrid format. Most of the programme took place live, but participants also had an opportunity to participate in the conference and present their work online. The rooms were equipped with multidirectional microphones and the chair repeated any questions from the audience for the online presenters. The hybrid contributions were integrated into the regular sessions to allow for live feedback, questions and answers.

After the conference, 86 papers were received on all conference topics. The papers went through a rigorous process of double-blind peer review to ensure the quality of the content of this contribution. As a result, two publications are issued, the book Effective Learning in Physics: From Contemporary Physics to Remote Settings, published by Springer and GIREP Conference 2022 Proceedings book, which is presented here in nine parts:

  •  Invited Talks: Plenary speakers invited to share their lifelong experience on teaching and learning.
  •  Strategies and Methods to Improve Physics Learning and Teaching: From good practices to new tested approaches.
  •  Physics Curriculum Materials: Development, Implementation, and Assessment: From the development of new materials to effective teaching of existing topics.
  •  Lab work and Experiments in Physics Education: From productive use of experiments in learning and teaching to integrating laboratories and lessons.
  •  Contemporary Physics and Modern Physics in School: From non-traditional topics to new approaches in learning and teaching modern physics topics.
  • Teaching and Learning in Remote Settings: From good practices to new findings that emerged during the time of the pandemic.
  •  Informal Learning and Non-Formal Learning of Physics: From science centers and outreach to learning from everyday experience
  •  Physics Teacher Education: From preparing future physics teachers to building physics teacher community.
  • ●  Students’ Identity and Wellbeing as Learners of Physics: From diversity, inclusion, and equity to special needs and gifted students.

We would like to thank all participants of the GIREP Conference 2022 for an interesting and productive conference, and for submitting their work for these proceedings. Our particular thanks goes to the reviewers, who helped ensure that the papers published herein are of good quality and can contribute to the improvement of teaching and learning at all levels. We further thank the Scientific Advisory Board and the GIREP Board for productive discussions and help in preparing the conference and its publications. Last, but not least, we thank all the colleagues involved in the event, without whom the event would not have been the same.

We hope that these Proceedings will be of interest to physics teachers, teacher educators and physics education researchers around the world with a commitment to effective learning in Physics.

Editors Sergej Faletič, Saša Dolenc, Jerneja Pavlin, Katarina Susman, Anja Kranjc Horvat

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Hanoi 2021

Proceedings of the 3rd World Conference on Physics Education

INNOVATING PHYSICS EDUCATION: FROM RESEARCH TO PRACTICE

Preface

Every four years the World Conference on Physics Education is held. In 2020 it was supposed to take place in person in Hanoi, Vietnam but COVID-19/travel restrictions forced the organization first to postpone the conference and next to make it a hybrid conference. In the end, the conference took place from Monday December 13th to Thursday December 16th, 2021. The conference had ‘Innovating physics education: from research to practice’ as its theme.

The conference was organized by GIREP in close cooperation with IUPAP, ICPE, and MPTL. The main organizing university was Hanoi National University of Education, Vietnam with Trinh-Ba Tran in charge. Most of the organization was done through the Indico-system made available by CERN:https://indico.cern.ch/event/1025696/. Future conferences will also make use of the Indico-system.

Special about the conference was that it was held hybrid in close collaboration with 2 other locations which took over control consecutively during the day to cover most timezones around the world. These were the Uniwersitet Wroclawski in Wroclaw, Poland with Tomasz Greczylo in charge, and the Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral in Guayaquil, Ecuador with Eduardo Montero in charge. In Vietnam there was a small group of participants joining the conference in person.

A ‘golden’ timeslot was used in Central European Time from 14h00-15h30 in which all people from all timeslots in principle could join the session. This timeslot was used for 3 of the 6 plenary talks and the closing ceremony. The other plenary talks were scheduled in accordance with the timezone of the plenary speaker. Those were replayed at a later time for people in timezones that were not able to attend the plenary talk live.

The first plenary talk was by Yaron Lehavi from Israel in the golden timeslot. The second plenary talk was by Alexander Mazzolini from Australia and took place early in the morning (CET) and was replayed later during the day. The third plenary talk was by Pratibha Jolly from India in the morning (also replayed later). The final two plenary talks were both given in the golden timeslot by Tomasz Greczylo from Poland and by Paula Heron from the United States of America.

There were 2 plenary workshops early in the morning from a combination of Australia and the United States of America, and 2 symposia in the morning, both from Italy.

The conference hosted 203 participants from countries all over the world. From east to west there were 13 countries with 5 or more participants:
Japan, Australia, Vietnam, Israel, Poland, Slovakia, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium, Brazil, The United States of America.

Of course, a big plus of organizing the conference in a hybrid manner was that it actually could take place. Also, people from all over the world who might not have been able to go to Vietnam could now attend. Interactivity was of course at a lower level than when the conference would have been held in person but with moderators in each session interactivity was accomplished as good as it could. All future GIREP-conferences have since been hybrid to some extent to allow for people that cannot attend in person to actively take part.

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Malta 2021

Proceedings of the GIREP Webinar 2020

PHYSICS TEACHER EDUCATION – WHAT MATTERS?

Preface

After the success of the GIREP Malta Webinar 2020, both GIREP Board members and the organisers/hosts from the University of Malta decided to plan for another meeting for GIREP members, to be organised in 2021. Restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic had automatically led the organisers of the first meeting to decide in favour of organising a webinar. There was hope, from both organisers and participants, that the 2nd meeting would be held face-to-face in Malta. But even this idea had to be abandoned in 2021. So a second webinar was organised instead. Seeing that participants of the first webinar indicated the need for further discussion related to physics teacher education, this being such an important topic, the GIREP Board decided that Webinar 2021 would still focus on ‘Physics Teacher Education: What matters?’ This was the title of the GIREP Malta Webinar 2021.

During the Webinar, various keynote speeches were presented. Participants were then sub- divided into groups, according to the workgroups of their interest. The workgroups dealt with specific topics for discussion, led by experts in the field. Participants had time at their disposal to present their work and research. They actively interacted with each other and the group leaders, during discussions. A number of papers were submitted, post-webinar. Each paper was independently and anonymously reviewed by two experts.

The workgroups dealt specifically with the following topics:

  • Preparing teachers for TPACK (technological, pedagogical and content knowledge) and Lab work;
  • Developing and evaluating teacher PCK (Pedagogical Content Knowledge) in Quantum Mechanics (tools and approaches);
  • In-service Physics teacher education for early childhood and primary levels;
  • Pre-service Physics teacher education at all levels;
  • In-service Physics teacher professional learning for second and higher leveleducation.The topic titles shown above have been used as Section Titles for this Journal of Physics: Conference Series publication. Published papers have been sectioned according to the working group in which they were originally presented.Once again, we must admit that organising the GIREP Malta Webinar 2021 and finalising the editing process for the post webinar publications has been quite a challenge. We have worked with passion and enthusiasm. We firmly believe that discussions, interactions and publications of this kind can help improve teaching and learning at all levels, offering creative ideas that can be used personally by teachers to enhance the class environment, both physically and mentally, as well as creating the important link between theory and practice. We would like to thank all those who contributed to the publication of these papers, including the GIREP board, the authors and reviewers. Thank you for your time and effort.

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Malta 2020

Proceedings of the GIREP Webinar 2021

PHYSICS TEACHER EDUCATION – WHAT MATTERS?

Preface

In November 2020, over 200 physics educators and researchers from all over the world met virtually to participate in the GIREP Malta Webinar. The aim was to discuss research and results based on what matters in physics teacher education and how this can be improved for the satisfaction of both teachers and learners. The webinar was the result of a first collaboration between GIREP (the International Research Group on Physics Teaching) and the University of Malta. Initially, a face-to- face Seminar was being planned, but due to the outbreak of COVID-19, a Webinar was organised instead.

During the webinar, apart from the presentation of keynote speeches, working groups were also held. These dealt with specific topics for discussion, led by experts in the field. Participants presented their work and actively interacted as they discussed the topics presented. A good number of papers were submitted, post-webinar. Each paper was independently and anonymously reviewed by two experts.

The general theme of the webinar was Physics Teacher Education. The working groups dealt specifically with the following topics:

  • ICT and multimedia in teacher education
  •  Experiments and laboratory work in teacher education
  •  Quantum Mechanics in teaching and learning physics
  • Formal, non-formal and informal aspects of physics education at primary level
  •  Strategies for pre-service physics teacher education at all levels
  • In-service teacher professional learning strategies

The topic titles shown above, have been used as Section Titles for the Journal of Physics: Conference Series publication. Published papers have been sectioned according to the working group in which they were originally presented.Organising the GIREP Malta Webinar 2020 and finalising the editing for the post webinar publications has been quite a challenge. My colleagues and I have worked with passion and enthusiasm. We would like to thank all those who contributed to the publication of these proceedings, including the GIREP committee, the authors and reviewers. Thank you for your time and effort

The editors:
Joan BORG MARKS, Pauline GALEA, Suzanne GATT, David SANDS

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Budapest 2019

Proceedings of the GIREP-ICPE-EPEC-MPTL 2019

TEACHING-LEARNING CONTEMPORARY PHYSICS, FROM RESEARCH TO PRACTICE

Preface

This journal contains 94 selected contributions of the GIREP-ICPE-EPEC-MPTL 2019 Conference held 1-5. July 2019 in Budapest Hungary in the premises of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.

This conference coincided with the centenary year of Roland Eötvös to commemorate his achievements in physics. Also the UNESCO was associated with this celebration. Roland Eötvös (1848-1919) was a Hungarian physicist, who was not only an outstanding scientist – measuring the strict proportionality of the inertial and gravitational masses to a precision unprecedented before –, but was also an excellent educator and reformer of the Hungarian science education system.

More than 350 participants gathered from 47 countries all over the world to share their newest results on physics education research with their colleagues. There were 7 invited keynote talks (60 mins each), 10 symposia (90 mins) – containing altogether 39 oral presentations –, 11 workshops (90 mins each), 173 oral presentations (15 mins +5 mins discussion) and 76 posters.

The main international scientific bodies organizing the conference were the following:

  •  Group International de Recherche sur l’Enseignement de la Physique (GIREP)
  • Physics Education Division (PED) of the European Physical Society (EPS),
  • International Commission on Physics Education (ICPE) of the International Union of Pureand Applied Physics (IUPAP)
  • Multimedia Physics Teaching and Learning (MPTL).The leading organizing body was GIREP, which is an international membership organisation founded in 1966, open to academics, teachers, curriculum developers and all other stakeholders with the concern to improve physics teaching and learning by means of Physics Education Research, Innovative Experimentation in Physics Teaching/Learning, Innovative Materials and Methods, Suggestions for Stakeholders, International Cooperation in Conferences, Seminars, Selected Paper Books.The key topics of the Conference were the following:
    A. Strategies and methods to improve Physics learning and teaching B. Multimedia in Physics Teaching and Learning
    C. Contemporary Physics and Modern Physics in School
    D. Physics Curriculum: Development and Implementation
    E. Experiments in Physics Education
    F. Early Science Learning
    G. Environmental Physics
    H. Teacher Education and postgraduate education
    I. Informal learning and science centres
    J. Outreach of PhysicsThere are several papers in this journal about most of the topics above. The papers were subject of double blinded reviewing process, and only those got accepted, which have met the high standards set by the referees.During the Conference also Symposia were organized where groups of researchers working on the same fields shared their results and discussed the actual problems of the field. Also reports of some of those symposia are published here in the Journal.

In addition to these interesting topics GIREP also launched a new initiative during the Conference: The Community on Teaching/Learning Quantum Physics. This explains why the readers find here especially large number of papers about this very hot topic.

We also draw the attention of the interested reader that some selected papers will be published soon in Springer book series “Challenges in Physics Education” under the title: “Teaching-Learning Contemporary Physics – from Research to Practice”.

We, as main local organizers of the Conference, would like to express our thanks to the many organizations who contributed and helped organizing this Conference. Firstly, the international organizations mentioned above, who not only assured the high scientific standards, but also contributed financially. We are also indebted to the Budapest University of Technology and Economics who provided its nice premises and infrastructure and welcomed all lectures, workshops and meetings. We express our thanks also to the Hungarian Education State Secretary for the financial help and continuous encouragement. Last, but not least our thanks goes to the many institutions – in the country or abroad – who offered some sponsorship which enabled us to keep the finances of the conference under control, and to keep the participation fees at an acceptable height.

The Editors

Beata Jarosievitz and Csaba Sükösd

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San Sebastian 2018

Proceedings of the GIREP-MPTL 2018

RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN PHYSICS EDUCATION: TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN

Preface

The GIREP-MPTL 2018 Conference combines the efforts and interests of two communities, researchers in physics education and physics teachers. It presents a broad field of research and innovation that ranges from basic research to innovations in classroom teaching. The research and proposals include different educational levels from Primary to University.

The proceedings present selected contributions from the Conference, organized by the organization GIREP and Multimedia in Physics Teaching and Learning and Donostia Physics Education Research Group of the University of the Basque Country. This event offered the opportunity to fruitfully exchange on their experience and ideas and share the latest information on Physics Education. The Conference was sponsored by Real Sociedad Española de Física, European Physics Society-Physics Education Division (EPS-PED), City Hall of San Sebastian, Provincial Council of Guipuzcoa and International Conference on Physics Education (ICPE) of the Commission C14 of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP). The Conference organizers gratefully appreciate the patronage received from the Department of Education of the Basque Government for this conference.

The Conference was attended by 282 participants representing 41 countries. Altogether, there were 181 oral presentations, 49 poster presentations, 10 workshops, 6 plenary, 2 plenary dialogues, 5 Girep Thematic Group contributions, across the seven conference topics:

1) Physics teaching and learning at Primary and Secondary Education

2) Physics teaching and learning at University

3) Preservice and in-service physics teachers’ education

4) Physics education in non-formal setting

5) Physics into STEM teaching and learning

6) ICT and multimedia in physics education

7) Nature of Science, gender and socio-cultural issues in physics education

The Conference presents for first time in the GIREP events the idea of “Dialogue”. It involves two experts with a leader who gives a brief feedback on the subject and proposes to the two experts questions for the discussion. The two invited dialogues were about “Primary, Secondary and University pre-service physics teacher Education” and “The actual and potential impact of physics education research in students’ learning”. The second and third day of the Conference were dedicated to celebrating the teachers of physics.

The organization of the Conference would not have been possible without the help of many people. In particular, we would like to thank Prof. Marisa Michelini, President of GIREP, for her constant support. We thank the members of the Local Organizing Committee and the reviewers for their dedication and commitment to this event, without them the proven quality of the contributions would not have been possible. We hope that these proceedings provide the reader with a contemporary vision of the teaching and learning process of physics

San Sebastian, Spain

Jenaro Guisasola

Kristina Zuza

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Dublin 2017

Proceedings of the GIREP-ICPE-EPEC 2017

BRIDGING RESEARCH AND PRACTICE IN PHYSICS TEACHING AND LEARNING

Preface

The Proceedings present selected contributions from the international conference GIREP-ICPE-EPEC 2017 conference, which was hosted in Dublin from 3rd to 7th July 2017 by the Centre for the Advancement of STEM Teaching and Learning (CASTel) at Dublin City University Ireland. This conference was organized by a collaboration between the International Research Group on Physics Teaching (GIREP); European Physical Society – Physics Education Division, and the Physics Education Commission of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP).

The theme of this international conference was Bridging Research and Practice in Physics Teaching and Learning and it brought together international researchers and practitioners to share their knowledge and experiences over a week-long programme. A wide variety of topics and approaches, conducted in various contexts and settings, all adding a strong contribution to the field of physics education research were discussed. The GIREP-ICPE-EPEC 2017 conference was attended by 270 international researchers and practitioners representing 48 countries. The scientific programme offer a total of 271 contributions – including 6 invited keynote and 154 oral presentations, 40 symposia (each with four papers), 12 ICT demonstration/workshop sessions and 59 poster presentations. After the conference 95 papers were received on all seminar topics. The articles went through a rigorous process of in a double-blinded peer-review, involving members of the Editorial Board and additional referees in order to guarantee the quality of the content of this contribution. As the result two publications are issued, the book Concepts, Strategies and Models to Enhance Physics Teaching and Learning, published by Springer and GIREP-ICPE-EPEC 2017 Conference Proceedings book, presented here in ten parts.

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Krakow 2016

Proceedings of the GIREP Seminar 2016 on the occasion of GIREP 50th Anniversary 

RESEARCH BASE PROPOSALS FOR IMPROVING PHYSICS AND LEARNING

Preface

The Proceedings present selected contributions from the international conference GIREP Seminar 2016, organized by GIREP vzw organization and the Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science at the Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland. It was our great privilege to host GIREP members and friends in the year of the 50th Anniversary of GIREP organization. The first day of this event offered an opportunity to recall special memories and to thank everyone that has contributed to the growth of GIREP during the last half-century.

The general seminar topic Research-based proposals for improving physics teaching and learn-ing – focus on laboratory work emphasized the importance of laboratory activities in physics education. The overall aim of this seminar was to highlight the various aspects of laboratory work involved in establishing an environment where physics teaching and learning can take place, and in particular the development of physics literacy. Several topics have been discussed in order to line out a wider view of laboratory work at all levels of physics and science education, from primary school to physics courses at the university.

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Wroclaw 2015

Proceedings of GIREP-EPEC 2015 International Conference

KEY COMPETENCES IN PHYSICS TEACHING AND LEARNING

Preface

The volume presents the Proceedings of the GIREP EPEC 2015 Wrocław International Conference consisting of the papers submitted by the participants of the event.

We have tried to do our best to group authors’ proposals thematically following both, domains:

  • Researching formation of Key Competences in physics teaching and learning – new research approaches, new methods, innovative learning strategies, new models;
  • Key Competences changing pedagogy – formative assessment, teacher role, student role, KC oriented assessment, shared pedagogy, KC oriented pedagogy;
  • Developing of Key Competences – examples of good practices;

and groups:

  • Research (physics education research, empirical as well as theoretical levels);
  • Research and development (including classroom ideas, practical issues, development etc. being more substantial than research);
  • Classroom ideas, teaching and learning practice (no or minimal research part).

As a result of the grouping process three chapters were created:

  • Towards Key Competences,
  • Educational Development and Research,
  • Teaching-Learning Practices and Classroom Ideas.

The Organizing Committee received a large number of proposals and selection involved very careful decisions. Due to diversity of proposals and richness of the subjects suggested by the authors it appeared to be not an easy task and resulted in preparation of two publications. The one entitled “Key Competences in Physics Teaching and Learning” and containing selected contributions was published by Springer, and the second one, Proceedings of the Conference, you are reading now. We hope that the authors, the participants of the event and the readers will be satisfied by the organization and content of each volume.

The conference language – English – is rich, complex and dynamic. Considering that for most people English is not their mother tongue, it is little wonder that the structures and nuances vary significantly across nations. The Proceedings are the output of the international conference; one of their strengths is the ability to be truly representative and inclusive. That is why we prefer the essence of the matter on its style and content and the way it is presented. As a result one can find in the volume phrases or sentences that might not fit with some rules of English grammar, for what we do apologize, but we are proud that during the review process no work was rejected because of deficiencies in its use of language.

Each paper was reviewed by at least two reviewers. The organizers are grateful to the authors for their enthusiasm and to all the reviewers for their painstaking work and the time they devoted to the evaluation process.

Ewa Dębowska and Tomasz Greczyło

Editors

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Palermo 2014

Proceedings of the GIREP-MPTL 2014 International Conference

TEACHING7LEARNING PHYSICS: INTEGRATING RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE

Preface

The GIREP-MPTL International conference on Teaching/Learning Physics: Integrating Research into Practice [GIREP-MPTL 2014] was held . from 7 to 12 July 2014, at the University of Palermo, Italy.

The conference has been organised by the Groupe International de Recherche sur l’Enseignement de la Physique [GIREP] and the Multimedia in Physics Teaching and Learning [MPTL] group and it has been sponsored by the International Commission on Physics Education [ICPE] – Commission 14 of the International Union for Pure and Applied Physics [IUPAP], the European Physical Society – Physics Education Division [EPS-PED], the Latin American Physics Education Network [LAPEN] and the Società Italiana di Fisica [SIF].

The theme of the conference, Teaching/Learning Physics: Integrating Research into Practice, underlines aspects of great relevance in contemporary science education. In fact, during the last few years, evidence based Physics Education Research provided results concerning the ways and strategies to improve student conceptual understanding, interest in Physics, epistemological awareness and insights for the construction of a scientific citizenship. However, Physics teaching practice seems resistant to adopting adapting these findings to their own situation and new research based curricula find difficulty in affirming and spread, both at school and university levels. The conference offered an opportunity for in-depth discussions of this apparently wide-spread tension in order to find ways to do better.

The purpose of the GIREP-MPTL 2014 was to bring together people working in physics education research and in physics education at schools from all over the world to allow them to share research results and exchange their experience.

About 300 teachers, educators, and researchers, from all continents and 45 countries have attended the Conference contributing with 177 oral presentations, 15 workshops, 11 symposia, and around 60 poster presentations, together with 11 keynote addresses (general talks).

After the conference, 147 papers have been submitted for the GIREP-MPTL 2014 International Conference proceedings. Each paper has been reviewed by at least two reviewers, from countries that are different to those of the authors and on the basis of criteria described on the Conference web site. Papers were subsequently revised by authors according to reviewers’ comments and the accepted papers are reported in this book, divided in 8 Sections on the basis of the keywords suggested by authors. The other book section (actually, the first one) contains the papers that six of the keynote talkers sent for publication in this Proceedings Book.

We would like to thank all the authors that contributed with their papers to the realization of this book and all the referees that with their criticism helped authors to improve the quality of the papers.

Palermo, 30th June 2015

Rosa Maria Sperandeo Mineo and Claudio Fazio

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