In this paper, we report some results obtained in classroom implementations of Quantum Physics teaching proposals, carried out in different school contexts. In particular, we observed significant cases of students who did not accept quantum physics as a personally reliable and convincing description of physical reality – cases of ‘non-acceptance’ –, even though they seemed to understand the basic concepts of quantum physics as they were proposed. A qualitative semantic analysis has been carried out on students’ interviews, so as to individuate the main cognitive needs emerging in learning quantum physics, and that have to be satisfied in order to make it acceptable, to a degree. We found three of them - need of visualization, need of comparability, and need of ontology - emerging from students’ words, and used them to reread discourses of all students, despite their degree of acceptance. As this is a preliminary study, further work is suggested to better understand acceptance dynamics, to eventually operationalize its recognition in students’ discourses and to design instruction materials.
Accepting Quantum Physics: analysis of secondary school students’ cognitive needs
Ravaioli G.;Levrini O
2018
Abstract
In this paper, we report some results obtained in classroom implementations of Quantum Physics teaching proposals, carried out in different school contexts. In particular, we observed significant cases of students who did not accept quantum physics as a personally reliable and convincing description of physical reality – cases of ‘non-acceptance’ –, even though they seemed to understand the basic concepts of quantum physics as they were proposed. A qualitative semantic analysis has been carried out on students’ interviews, so as to individuate the main cognitive needs emerging in learning quantum physics, and that have to be satisfied in order to make it acceptable, to a degree. We found three of them - need of visualization, need of comparability, and need of ontology - emerging from students’ words, and used them to reread discourses of all students, despite their degree of acceptance. As this is a preliminary study, further work is suggested to better understand acceptance dynamics, to eventually operationalize its recognition in students’ discourses and to design instruction materials.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.