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School visits and field trips to museums and science centres are considered a powerful learning resource given their recreational and educational potential, but visits need to be integrated into classroom programming to optimize learning. In this study, we have attempted to design and build bridges between what a school needs and what a museum can offer, to ensure that future teachers acquire teaching skills that allow them to prepare a visit focused on learning. To that end, we make a 'proposal for pre-service teacher training' consisting of designing and implementing a teaching unit cantered on a visit to the science centre. The study aims to assess how students' conceptions evolved with regard to the particular topic, using a pre- and post-test methodology, supported by qualitative analysis in the final reports. Although the results were limited to a single experiment, they provide evidence of an improvement in the methodological knowledge of teacher trainees regarding school visits to museums, although several aspects were identified to be worked on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, research has shown the challenge posed to teachers by science education in informal contexts such as science museums or centres. In addition, there is consensus that in the case of pupils visiting a science centre, learning improves when the visit is connected to the classroom curriculum, so the teachers' involvement in preparing a visit is essential. In this work, we present research into primary and secondary school teachers' behaviour when preparing a school visit to the 'Eureka Science Museum' in San Sebastián. Semistructured interviews were conducted for 158 teachers (87 from primary and 71 from secondary education). The results show that most teachers who visit this centre with their class group scarcely prepare for the visit, i.e. they do not have a clear idea of how to use the museum as an informal resource for learning about science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the didactic suitability of introducing a teaching sequence when teaching the concept of magnetic fields within introductory physics courses at the university level. This instructional sequence was designed taking into account students’ common conceptions, an analysis of the course content, and the history of the development of ideas about magnetic fields. The evaluation is undertaken by comparing the results with a control group using written questionnaires and analyzing recordings of class discussion. The results show that the elements within the sequence help students to reconcile an overall description with field analysis of magnetic interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work we present the design and assessment of a teaching sequence aimed at introducing the principle of energy conservation at post-compulsory secondary school level (16–18 year olds). The proposal is based on the result of research into teaching-learning difficulties and on the analysis of the physics framework. Evidence is shown that this teaching sequence, together with the methodology used in the classroom, may result in students having a better grasp of the principle of energy conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing awareness of serious difficulties in the learning of energy issues has produced a great deal of research, most of which is focused on specific conceptual aspects. In our opinion, the difficulties pointed out in the literature are interrelated and connected to other aspects (conceptual as well as procedural and axiological), which are not sufficiently taken into account in previous research. This paper aims to carry out a global analysis in order to avoid the more limited approaches that deal only with individual aspects. From this global analysis we have outlined 24 propositions that are put forward for debate to lay the foundations for a profound reorientation of the teaching of energy topics in upper high school courses, in order to facilitate a better scientific understanding of these topics, avoid many students’ misconceptions and enhance awareness of the current situation of planetary emergency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study we present tries to explore how first year engineering students formulate hypotheses in order to construct their own problem solving structure when confronted with problems in physics. Under the constructivistic perspective of the teaching–learning process, the formulation of hypotheses plays a key role in contrasting the coherence of the students' ideas with the theoretical frame. The main research instrument used to identify students' reasoning is the written report by the student on how they have attempted four problem solving tasks in which they have been asked explicitly to formulate hypotheses. The protocols used in the assessment of the solutions consisted of a semi-quantitative study based on grids designed for the analysis of written answers. In this paper we have included two of the tasks used and the corresponding scheme for the categorisation of the answers. Details of the other two tasks are also outlined. According to our findings we would say that the majority of students judge a hypothesis to be plausible if it is congruent with their previous knowledge without rigorously checking it against the theoretical framework explained in class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyse, based on common characteristics of the Nature of Science, how first year university Physics textbooks present the introduction of the concept and theories of magnetic field. It shows that despite the increasing number of studies into the Nature of Science in Science Education, Physics textbooks fail to adopt the results of this research. It is proposed that it would be plausible for textbooks to illustrate the characteristics of the Nature of Science by focusing on problems and changes in the development of the theory of magnetic field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After an impressive development throughout the last two decades, supported by a great amount of research and innovation, science education seemed to be becoming a new scientific domain. This transformation of Science Education into a specific field of research and knowledge is usually associated with the establishment of what has been called an `emergent consensus' about constructivist positions. However, some voices have begun to question these constructivist positions and therefore the idea of an advancement towards a coherent body of knowledge in the field of science education. The goal of this work is to analyse some of the current criticisms of the so-called constructivist orientations and to study their implications for the development of science education as a coherent body of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are few didactic studies concerning the difficulties met by students in understanding the meaning of capacitance in a charged body. However, the understanding of capacitance can be a good indicator of the students' learning of electrostatic theory in general. To describe students' difficulties in learning this concept we have considered, on the one hand, that individuals construct mental representations in order to help their understanding of the way a physical system works under varied circumstances. On the other hand, a critical study of the history and epistemology of science is likely to enlighten us teachers and researchers about the presence of qualitative leaps in the evolution of a concept. Thus, the consideration by teachers of these `discontinuities' between meanings for the same concept, may lead them to understand students' difficulties on learning it. We developed a historical study of the development of the capacitance concept and an empirical study with students to identify historical and learning difficulties. The results obtained seem to show that most of the students who reason about aspects related to the charge of bodies and capacitance feel more comfortable when they talk in terms of charge than in terms of electric potential in a similar way to the first explanations of the early electric theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]