EDUCATIONAL RECONSTRUCTION OF THE PHYSICS CONTENT TO BE TAUGHT AND PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE IMPLEMENTATION BY USING INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES
Dissertation – reference
Author: Claudio Fazio
Reference: doc. RNDr. Viera Lapitkova, PhD. Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and
Informatics, Comenius University, Bratislava
In his dissertation, C. Fazio analyzes those problems, which Iwould call the key problems in the current science didactics. Many researches in this area deal with the problems. His work on the application of constructivist theory in the teachers training and in the new physics concepts introduction is unique, at least in the Slovak physics didactics.
He focuses on the development of teachers’ competencies during their training. Particularly it is the ability to develop students’ cognitive strategies and informal knowledge and to reformulate their “spontaneous model” into an objective scientific knowledge he works with.
Fazio’s dissertation consists of two main parts. In the first part, he summarizes the theoretical background for the problems he further deals with and also the methods he uses. The second part is the research itself, descriptions of the research approach, examples of the research tools and the achieved results.
The part on theoretical background consists of:
1. Introduction, where the author reasons the necessity to develop new methods in teaching physics and also in teachers training. He comes with a detailed overview of future teacher knowledge and competencies, the university training should comprise.
2. Teaching/learning pathways and sequences (TLPs, TLSs) chapter deals with the cognitive constructivist approaches that should help to recognize students’ misconceptions and to construct students’ correct understanding of physics concepts. Fazio introduces here his elaborated general frameworks in designing TLPs and TLSs. He also includes the methods to research the efficiency of the teaching process directed to change a student thinking.
3. Research methods, the author compares here qualitative and quantitative research methods. Fazio stresses that while the quantitative analysis tends to generalization covering big populations, the qualitative analysis does not have this effect. But he still sees the importance to use both methods in a research. Further he analyzes three types of case studies – exploring, explaining and descriptive case. The chapter on research methods is complex offering also the categories to process the research data. It has a character of overview based on literature.
My comments and objections to the first part:
p. 4-5 The figure 1.2 shows the generalization of the cyclic process of building a model and empirical evaluating.
While the previous text mentions the phenomenon / situation description as a part of a model construction, in the particular model this activity is missing. Is this intentional?
I suggest describing the model application on a particular model during the dissertation defense.
p. 10-14 The pages deal with pedagogical content knowledge for science teaching. But the author does not mention using information and communication technologies. What is the relation between using information and communication technologies and pedagogical content knowledge for science teaching, according to Fazio?
The second part, the research itself:
4. Relevant points in previous research about Thermal Processes
Research analyzes student concepts such as heat, cooling, thermal contact, energy etc. All these are concepts used also in everyday life. The research of Stavy and Berkovitz showed (1980) that experience concepts in thermodynamics are very deep in students’ minds. They resemble very closely the theory „Calorica “. It reminds me of the Kuhn’sidea that „cognitive ontogenesis repeats the science development“. It seems that as long as we do not consider also the experience concepts of students we will not be able to develop procedures leading to student’s phenomena and concepts understanding.
The mentioned researches lack the analyses of ateaching process by particular age. My question would be: What thermal processes concepts an Italian student normally deals with? Is there asufficient number of impulses for astudent to change his experience concepts?
The author analyzes the current state of matters into a detail in the areas that are related to his dissertation. But the work lacks analysis of the current state of thermal processes teaching at the basic or secondary school in Italy; or at least in aparticular program of physics education.
As for didactics, the work brings interesting results of students’ answers on qualitative and quantitative questions in Thermal Processes (p. 66-67). Here again it confirms the fact that if aparticular situation is described to students in numbers the students concentrate only on anoperation with numbers but not on aphysical process. Ipersonally consider this part to be written very interesting way.
5. Educational reconstruction of chosen Physics contents
There are two goals levels in the research part. One is TTs preparation and realization and other T/L environment. Goals and their realization are well described so areader gets aclear idea about the realization.
It is common though by dissertations of this kind to formulate hypothesis and test them. The hypothesis formulating, setting dependent and independent variables in amutual relation visualizes acontribution of aresearcher in afield, in this case physics didactics. Formulated hypothesis helps also to analyze results and to search for logic of relations. The dissertation by Fazio lacks its research hypothesis.
The research follows several dimensions and so it naturally requires teamwork.
It seems that an Italian school just as aSlovak school needs achange following the catchword „education through areal work“. This is most likely the way to fulfill the goals of education aiming for competences of students and requiring specific competences of teachers as well.
The analyzing of concepts in thermal processes by high school students and also by future teachers represents an important section of this part to me. It seems that the teachers training and teaching results would not be so successful without the analysis, as the conclusion suggests. It is avery clear contribution of the pedagogical constructivist theory application in the physics didactics. Chapters 5.2.3 Adescription of the TLP, 5.2.4 Adescriptive model for the „rate of variation“ of avariable with STELLA and 5.2.5 Building an interpretative model of the heat transfer process are very well written, bringing new approaches in conception constructions and concepts application in thermodynamics.
6. Teaching-Learning Pathway experimental data analysis and research findings
In the final chapter of his dissertation, Fazio analyzes his experience from the research and evaluates the results of the applied methods, qualitative as well as quantitative. To be particularly valuable, I consider the introduced and statistically reviewed categories describing the nature of the students’ explanations in the pre- and post- tests.
Conclusion
The subject of Fazio’s dissertation is a very currents issue and brings new views on the teacher training didactics and on procedures and strategies in the high school physics education.
Fazio proved his abilities:
- to analyze a current state of problem,
- to relate several aspects of teachers training to each other – Subject Matter
Knowledge, Pedagogical Knowledge and Pedagogical Content Knowledge,
- to create a research strategy and a strategy of research tools,
- to draw logical conclusion from results.
From my point of view, the dissertation means contribution on the field of physics teachers training didactics and high school physics education didactics as well.
I recommend C. Fazio to be given the title PhD in Physics Education Theory, conditioned by a successful dissertation defense.
Bratislava, February 9, 2006 ______
Doc. RNDr. Viera Lapitkova, PhD.