Silke Mikelskis-Seifert

Investigation of Effects and Stability in Teaching Model Competence

A concept for a curriculum concerning the particle structure of matter, which aimed at the development of students’ thinking about models, was developed for grades 9 and 10. Research results in this field indicate that thorough discussions concerning epistemology, models, and reality are necessary in class in order to develop an appropriate understanding of the micro-world (Mikelskis-Seifert, 2002). Accordingly, a learning environment was constructed in which the focus was on developing an understanding of the world of experiences and of the world of models. In this case, students had to distinguish systematically between these worlds (Seifert & Fischler, 2001). When teaching and learning about models, a further objective was that students develop metaconcepts regarding particle conception. As part of an empirical study conducted with 120 students from 8th grade, effects of this approach were analysed; the aim of the analysis was to measure the development of an appropriate understanding of models. We were also interested in the transferability of our approach to an introductory class. The results of this evaluation are presented here.

Physics in Context – A program for Improving Physics Instruction in Germany

The theoretical framework and preliminary results of various evaluation measures of a German program to improve the quality of physics instruction are presented. The major emphasis of the program is to develop teachers’ thinking about good instruction as an indispensable prerequisite for improved teaching behaviour. It turns out that students’ development of affective variables (such as their self-assessed competence) appears to be more pleasing for the “Physics in Context” group than for the control group. Instruction within the program seems to include a significantly higher amount of inquiry activities than for the control group. The teachers rate their participation in the project rather positively