A professional development course with an introduction of models and modeling in science

Abstract

This contribution proposes a short professional development course we designed for high school and introductory courses at the college level of physics. The design is based on the results of Physics Education Research by using a contructivistic, active-learning approach so that teachers, besides being instructed content knowledge, they are also trained in pedagogical knowledge by living the experience. Models and modeling in science are introduced in one of the activities of the course in which teachers reflect, based upon their own experience, their students' alternative conceptions and difficulties resulting in a model-eliciting activity in which teachers offer their own model of teaching practice. Results of content knowledge and results on teachers' models will be presented. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.