Reasoning with mathematical formulas is important in secondary-school physics education. Often students lack this skill and see formulas as calculation tools and not as relationships between physical quantities. When handling formulas, they experience different cultures in math and physics classes. To reason with formulas, students must learn to blend mathematical and physics knowledge. This...
Quantum optics is an emerging field of physics, and an increasing number of applications is expected in the future. Thus, the need for education in this field is essential, while remaining challenging. Especially experimental setups using single-photon experiments are still beyond reach for any school, due to costs and technical difficulties. A promising approach seems to be using cheap,...
It is important to make dialogues productive during lessons but is a difficult skill. Tools that support explication of thinking can support the explication of thinking and are called co-construction tools. During this workshop, participants will firstly experience how such a reasoning scheme works from a student perspective. Participants will then analyse the strengths and weaknesses of two...
Abstract. Active Learning in Optics and Photonics (ALOP) is a program to improve the secondary and university introductory physics learning environment. A full 5-day intensive, hands-on-minds-on ALOP workshop updates participants on introductory optics and photonics and introduces them to strategies that have been demonstrated to be more effective than traditional instruction. These are...
Stargazing Live! aims to capture the imagination of students with a combination of live and interactive planetarium lessons, real astronomical data, and lessons built around interactive knowledge representations . The lessons were created using a co-creation model and tackle concepts in the pre-university (astro)physics curriculum which students find difficult to grasp with traditional...
This workshop facilitates global exchange and discussion on current opportunities and challenges influencing physics teaching and teacher education from early childhood to university level. The rapidly changing landscape of the global economy and society in the 21st century demands new approaches to be adopted to recruit, upskill, and educate physics teachers so they can design and facilitate...
Modeling Instruction is a guided inquiry-based learning approach that fosters student engagement and deep understanding of physics through collaborative model development and deployment. This workshop narrates the experiences gained with this method in Dutch classrooms, which sparked enthusiasm among teachers and students alike. Attendees will engage in a hands-on activity encompassing both...
This workshop aims to integrate Critical Thinking (CT) into physics education, an aspect often overlooked in daily teaching. Using a scaffolded instructional approach aligned with Halpern's CT framework, the workshop will provide educators and teachers with the essential skills and knowledge to enhance CT in the physics classroom. Grounded in behavioral theories, it emphasizes practical...
In this workshop we present three lesson activities to teach core (astro)physics concepts at pre-university level which students find difficult to grasp with traditional interventions: star properties, star states and the fusion-gravity balance. In each activity, students construct and simulate a conceptual cause-effect model. An evaluation study in nine Dutch classrooms showed that the star...
The rapid advancement of quantum technologies in recent years has emphasized the need to incorporate quantum mechanics into education at various levels. However, introducing complex concepts such as entanglement, macroscopicity or quantum cryptography at the high school level remains a challenge, since they rely on advanced notions in algebra. In this workshop, we present hands-on and...
Gamification has a positive impact on student motivation and learning outcomes. The physics cards called Different? The Same! have been specially designed to encourage student thinking and group discussion. The underlying concept is to recognise, compare, and contrast various representations of certain physics concepts. A set consists of three types of cards that can be combined. This leads to...
When we teach students to perform physics experiments, we want them to compare their results to a physical model. We found existing data analysis tools to be lacking and built our own. In courses where we now use Tailor, we found that discussions no longer focus on how to perform the analysis, but rather on the outcome. The act of analysing data becomes a minor task and more time is devoted to...
Engaging students in meaningful thinking about physics concepts can be a challenge. In mathematics education a promising approach has gained momentum recently: Building Thinking Classrooms. This approach has been adapted to physics education in a seven-week course for pre-service physics teachers at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. In this workshop participants will experience the...
Combining the embodied experiences of forces in amusement rides with simple experiments, mathematical descriptions, video recordings and sensor data can give students a deeper understanding of the meaning and consequences of Newton's laws [1]. Air pressure and rotation data can be collected by a smartphone at the same time as accelerometer data, capturing different aspects of the experience...
Physics remains one of the least diverse STEM fields. To meet the growing demand for STEM professionals, it is crucial to adopt inclusive, diversity-friendly teaching practices. This workshop provides practical strategies for physics educators to foster inclusivity in their classrooms. Together with participants we will explore how gender and cultural bias is present in various physics...
An active-learning workshop is offered to provide an example of a collaborative group-learning pedagogical environment for introductory physics at the university level. Participants will engage in various hands-on and minds-on exercises to illustrate how such a dynamic classroom can transform the strategy for teaching physics in university classes. A discussion about the benefits and...
In recent years, the emergence of quantum technologies and the vast scientific activities in the field of quantum science have also boosted the number of dissemination initiatives regarding Quantum Physics (QP). In the last four years, within the Italian Quantum Weeks project [2], we have been proposing an exhibition where the visitors are introduced to the basic concepts of QP through visual...
When walking through the city of Leiden, you cannot escape the more than one hundred beautiful and fascinating wall-poem murals by the artists from the Tegen-Beeld foundation. They tell stories (in the original language) from all over the world, to inspire people. As physicists we joined the project and created murals about our stories, about phenomena in nature discovered in Leiden, written...
In this workshop participants will experience the ease of a special for education developed graphical modelling tool and the added-value of the possibility to design and control an animation by the model. They will, after a short introduction, have hands-on experience with the unique learning environment Coach 7. Unique because Coach 7 integrate also tools for measurement, so model results...
Abstract. Demonstrations are fantastic. They offer wonderful possibilities to showcase the beauty of physics and amaze students. While it may not always be feasible to include one in every class, the objection “which demo then?” no longer applies. In our recent publication of the online, open-access book Show the Physics we present 99 physics demonstrations, including tested approaches to make...
In our active learning workshop, we will provide an example of a collaborative, student-centred approach for physics course using the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) approach. The topic studied will be torques and can be therefore adopted to high school levels and introductory physics courses at the university. Participants will engage in various hands-on activities, with...
Climate change is one of humanity's most pressing challenges. Despite abundant scientific evidence, global warming is frequently and deliberately misrepresented in social media. It is therefore of the utmost importance that students develop conceptual understanding and critical thinking skills in the context of climate change. In the context of the ENAGING project, we developed ten tutorials...
