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The FUN project (Physics Education
in Norway)
Like many other countries,
Norway has experienced a decline in enrolments to physics courses
in upper secondary school and higher education. In upper secondary
school, physics enrolments decrease substantially from year 12 to
year 13 (the graduation year), and the main decline is due to girls
dropping out. The problem propagates to institutions of higher education
within engineering and natural sciences. This trend poses a severe
problem regarding recruitment to and development of a high technology
society.
We are currently undertaking
a research project with the following aims:
- To explore the factors which influence students' choice to study
(or not to study) physics in upper secondary school and university
- To explore how students perceive physics as a subject
- To explore how students experience physics teaching
In the first phase of
the project, questionnaires were administered to four different
populations: Students (pupils) in grades 12 and 13 of upper secondary
school; first-year university students of physics; and students
who started a university education in physics in 1997.
Some findings:
- Physics appears to students at all levels as very abstract and
mathematical in nature
- Students call for more qualitative discussions of physics concepts
- Students perceive the workload and speed of progression in physics
courses as high
- University students choose physics out of academic interest rather
than as a means of competing for well-paid jobs
In a second phase of
the project, questionnaires were sent to grade 12 students who were
NOT taking physics.
Some findings:
- Students who specialise in English or social science do NOT to
the same extent as physics students perceive their specialisation
subjects as difficult and work-intensive
- Students who specialise in English do not as freqeuntly as physics
students experience their subject as interesting and the instruction
as good.
Some FUN results presented
at the ESERA conference in Tessaloniki, Greece, August 2001 may
be found here (pdf format).
In a third phase of the
project, two master students have performed qualitative studies
of physics students' attitudes and physics teachers' attitudes,
respectively. Results for the students are summarised here
by Oystein Guttersrud, and for the teachers here by Bente Bjorkhaug.
Publications:
Angell, C., Guttersrud,
Ø., Henriksen, E. K., & Isnes, A. (2004). Physics: Frightful,
But Fun. Pupils' and Teachers' View of Physics and Physics Teaching.
Science Education, 88, 683 - 706.
Henriksen, Ellen Karoline;
Angell, Carl; Lavonen, Jari; Isnes, Anders. WHY CHOOSE PHYSICS –
IN NORWAY AND FINLAND ?. Journal of Baltic Science Education
2004;1
Lavonen, Jari; Angell,
Carl; Byman, Reijo; Henriksen, Ellen Karoline; Koponen, Ismo. basic
teaching methods in physics and social cience classroom: Reality
and upper secondary school students' expectations in Norway and
Finland. ESERA conference: Research and the Quality of Science Education;
19.08.2003 - 23.08.2003
Angell, C.; Henriksen, E.K.;
Isnes, A.
Should I stay or should I go. Students' impression of physics and
their reasons for choosing it in upper secondary school and university
-- Pinto, R.; Surinach, S. (ed.): Physics Teacher Education beyond
2000 (ISBN 2-84299-312-8) Barcelona, Spain. 2000-08 : 733-736
Isnes, A.; Angell, C.;
Henriksen, E.K.
Physics education: Who comes and why? -- Psillos, D. (ed.): Science
Education Research in the Knowledge Based Society Third International
Conference of ESERA (ISBN 960-243-578-X) Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki. 2001-08 : 447-450
In Norwegian:
Carl Angell, Ellen K. Henriksen og Anders Isnes (2003): "Hvorfor
lære fysikk? Det kan andre ta seg av! Fysikkfaget i norsk
utdanning: innhold - oppfatninger - valg". I Jorde og Bungum
(red.):
Naturfagdidaktikk. Perspektiver - forskning - utvikling.
Gyldendal Akademisk. Oslo
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