Title: Development of students' physics knowledge in high school  


Speaker: 
Professor Knut Neumann
University of Kiel
Leibniz Institute of Science Teaching
Germany


Abstract: 
German National Standards for High School Physics Education suggest 
that the physics knowledge, which students are supposed to possess 
at the end of High School, is characterized by a set of four unified 
concepts: system, energy, matter and interaction. Now, the question 
is how students' understanding of these concepts develops within 
high school or may be developed within high school respectively. 
Within the conceptual change paradigm extensive research has been 
undertaken to investigate students' understanding of major physics 
concepts. It may be considered well established, that different students 
may hold different conceptions according to their age and grade. Moreover, 
recent research on the development of students understanding of the energy 
and matter concept suggests that students' understanding of these concepts 
develops along a sequence of different particular conceptions of the 
respective concepts. It may in consequence be concluded that the development 
of students' physics knowledge in high school may be operationalized by the 
development of students' understanding of the four unified concepts. The 
presentation will provide a thorough summary of the theoretical background. 
Based upon that it will detail the model of the development of students p
hysics knowledge and present results of a series of studies to confirm the 
model hypothesized and potential consequences for curriculum design.