Increasing the presence of Einsteinian physics in high school: the impact of a professional development program on teacher knowledge and practice

ABSTRACT

This article examines the impact of a professional development program aimed at encouraging high school teachers to include more modern physics in their enacted classroom curricula through improved content and pedagogical knowledge. The program was implemented with 17 high school physics teachers (three were the focal point of this study) in Turkey. A multi-case study using mixed-methods analysis followed by a cross-case analysis revealed conceptual and pedagogical gains. Teachers’ higher scores on an achievement test indicated their development of increased subject-matter knowledge. Further, classroom observation revealed a shift from lecturing to dialogic practices centered on student sense-making such as discussion, questioning, and interactive use of technology (simulations, videos). In alignment with the professional development, teachers devoted more instructional time to modern physics, increased the conceptual scope of their lessons (more concepts were taught), and adopted instructional approaches that were more dialogic. It is argued that the combined use of legal mandate and teacher development can help address the problematic status of Einsteinian physics as an absent curriculum at the high school level.

KEYWORDS:

• In-service teacher training
• modern physics teaching
• physics education
• teacher professional development
• national educational policies

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nuri Balta

Nuri Balta received his BSc from Boğaziçi University and his PhD degree in Physics Education from Middle East Technical University in Turkey. His research interests focus on teacher professional development, counterintuitive physics, science demonstrations, and developing strategies to improve teaching and learning science. He has taught physics in high schools for 19 years, has designed many in-service training courses for teachers, and has prepared many students for International Physics Olympiads.

Ali Eryilmaz

Ali Eryilmaz is a Professor of Physics Education in the Department of Mathematics and Science Education at Middle East Technical University in Turkey. He received a Master’s degree in Physics Education at Middle East Technical University in 1992 and a PhD degree in Physics Education at Florida Institute of Technology in 1996. His works focus on student conceptual understanding in physics, assessment of student misconceptions in physics, and preservice and in-service physics teachers’ education.

Alandeom W. Oliveira

Alandeom W. Oliveira is an Associate Professor of Science Education at the State University of New York at Albany. He earned a Master’s degree in Science Education at Southeast Missouri State University (2002) and a PhD degree in Science Education at Indiana University Bloomington (2008). He has taught science education courses to teachers in Brazil and the US and has coordinated multiple professional development programs for school teachers, including Science Modeling for Inquiring Teachers Network, and Technology-Enhanced Multimodal Instruction in Science and Math for English Language Learners. His research interests include cooperative science learning, inquiry-based teaching, and classroom discourse and language use.