How might educational research into children’s ideas about light be of use to teachers? (original) (raw)

How might educational research into children’s ideas about light be of use to teachers?

This paper offers a synthesis of research evidence around teaching light to secondary school pupils, as part of the Institute of Physics (IOP) Promoting and Interpreting Physics Education Research (PIPER) project. Conceptual change literature describes many difficulties young people have with understanding the phenomenon of light, and while this knowledge can be useful in the classroom, how best to address these issues is not something which can be proscribed by the research community. Teaching must be adapted to the particular needs of the learners in each group as each lesson unfolds. This paper highlights a range of influences on pupils from everyday life and from the classroom, with a view to promoting teacher awareness of conceptual change research evidence.