Physics Education

Reviewed by Nur Endah Susilowati, Hani Sulsilah, Andi Moh. Amin

Authors: Hans Ernst Fischer, Raimund Girwidz

Publisher: Springer
Physics Education Pages: 503
Publication Year: 2021
ISBN: 9783030873905

If you are curious about how to teach physics properly in this era and what skills must be
mastered to teach physics, this book, with all the brilliant gems in it, is really for you!

As part of Springer’s “Challenges in Physics Education” series, Physics Education is addressed

to practitioners in physics education including researchers, teachers, and pre-service teachers.
Comprised of 17 chapters with different authors in each chapter, this book explains very clearly
about physics education, from the connection of physics with other disciplines to professional
knowledge for physics teachers. Each chapter presents the results of current research and
examples from practice. The depth of research and detailed explanations in each chapter are very
impressive.

This book opens with the chapter “Topic of Physics Education and Connections to Other
Sciences,” by Fischer, Girwidz, and Treagust. This chapter provides designs on important
reference disciplines for physics teaching and physics teacher education. A thorough explanation
is given to physics education practitioners that teaching and researching physics is not only about
having physics skills, but being able to utilize all the resources of the education system and
additional international resources—for example, physics teachers should be familiar with other
languages and know how to use digital media, take advantage of the internet, and filter reliable
information. Professional competence for teaching physics is discussed in more detail by Fischer
and Kauertz in Chapter 2.

Chapter 3 explores the challenges of teaching physics in Germany and the United States. Authors
Dusen, Vogelsang, Taylor, and Cauet lead us to understand the differences between the physics
education systems in both countries. In Germany, physics is a mandatory subject for all students
in secondary schools, while in the United States, it is a subject of choice due to the system
having more options for course choices. The difference in these systems certainly affect the
criteria for teaching physics, and this chapter provides an extensive explanation of how to
become a good physics teacher in both countries.

In the Instructional Design chapter, Krabbe and Fischer present several ways to plan lessons and
evaluate quality teaching. They emphasize that physics teaching should be oriented towards
learning processes, content structure, and other design features of instruction found through
empirical research. This chapter does not limit itself to theory, but also presents examples of
lesson plans that can be a guide for physics teachers to design learning to be more process-
oriented. Furthermore, to enrich knowledge related to the nature of scientific knowledge (NOSK)
and nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI) in physics, Priemer and Lederman present a full chapter
discussing how to make students more literate in science and how to teach NOSK and NOSI in
physics learning.

However, to make students actively involved in learning in reality requires not just a good
learning design, but also the optimization of all elements of education, including teachers,
policymakers, curriculum, and so on. Therefore, in Chapter 6, K Neumann and J Nordine argue
that the development of student competencies requires a systemic solution—not just the teacher
as a spearhead who deals directly with students in teaching but all other stakeholders such as
fellow teachers, policymakers, and researchers working together to formulate student
competency development.

In physics learning, physics instruction plays an important role in developing students'

competence to be able to face new situations in the real world. Theories and learning instruction
should be structured in such a way as to help students understand concepts in depth. Several
chapters discuss the theory and application of various learning approaches including multiple
representations in physics learning in Chapter 7 and mathematical physics modeling in chapter 8
to describe phenomena, build models, and solve problems.

Tasks and experiments play an important role in learning physics. Tasks can be considered as a
medium of communication between students and teachers, allowing teachers to map out potential
and monitor students’ learning progress. In Chapter 9, H. E. Fischer and A. Kaurtez discuss the
theory and structure of tasks as a reference for teachers in making, selecting, and evaluating tasks
and thinking about their use in teaching and testing. In Chapter 10, the authors discuss how to
design an experiment in physics learning that can be adapted to the needs/objectives to be
achieved. They also provide several teaching recommendations given the authors in terms of
psychology, pedagogy, and motivation in carrying out experiments in the classroom.

To provide more interesting learning, in Chapter 11, the authors focus on the theory of
multimedia learning and guidelines for teachers on the use and instruction of learning using
multimedia. The authors also provide some multimedia suggestions that can be used in physics
learning, including the use of the internet and mobile devices. Some examples of the use of
multimedia are also given in this chapter.
This book doesn’t just teach tips and tricks; it also discusses, in Chapter 12, that scientific and
instructional explanations have several differences. The authors note that a good explanation can
make students more active in thinking and help them build mental models so that unnecessary
explanations should not be raised. Quite interesting, isn’t it?

More interesting topics are provided in the next chapter, which opens with the question, “Does
language determine thoughts or thoughts determine language?” In this chapter, the authors
describe the relationship between thought and language; language determines thought, mind
determines discussion, and language and thought are independent things. The role of language in
learning is very important because it is a tool for communicating physics concepts.
Communication errors in learning can have an impact on the misconceptions as described in
Chapter 14. In the description of the concept, the author provides examples to make it easier for
readers to understand the information presented. More advanced discussion related to assessment
is given in Chapter 15.

There are four characteristics of a publication that can be trusted: objectivity, reliability, validity,
and significance. The last chapter in this book discusses empirical and qualitative research on
science education in school. Each chapter in this book explains in detail how to teach physics
properly, design lessons, and use technology-based media for learning; they also provide
discussions related to educational research.

Thus, if you are a physics teacher and feel that you are not meeting the needs of all your
students, I suggest you read this book. If you are a physics education researcher and feel you
need a guide for conducting physics education research, this book should be on your bookshelf.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their deepest gratitude to Lembaga Pengelolaan Dana
Pendidikan (LPDP/Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education) under the Ministry of Finance of
the Republic of Indonesia as the sponsor for their master’s studies, and a supporter of this
publication. We thank our mentors, Fikri Yanda, Frida Akmalia, and Yunita Laila Zulfa from
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia for mentoring and editing the manuscript. The authors declare
no competing interest.

Author Biographies

NUR ENDAH SUSILOWATI is a Bachelor of Physics Education who is currently pursuing a

master's degree in physics education. For four years, she focuses on physics educational
research, specifically on creative-instructional design and assessment.

HANI SULSILAH is a Bachelor of Physics Education who is currently pursuing a master’s

degree in Physics Education. She focuses on STEM Learning and computational thinking
research in Physics Education.
ANDI MOH. AMIN is a Bachelor of Education who is currently pursuing a master’s degree in
Physics Education. He focuses on the Refutational laboratory and student misconception in
Physics Education.