Physics teacher webinars for stem-oriented thermodynamics

KALLIOPI MELI

Abstract

Efficient teaching and learning of elementary thermodynamics in upper secondary school science classes are important not only for students who will pursue studies and careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) but also for the scientific literacy of the 21st-century citizen. This case study presents a physics teachers’ webinar series for a STEM-oriented constructivist approach of elementary thermodynamics in upper secondary school. The pre- and during-webinar results indicated that physics teachers, to a great extent, lacked the epistemological and pedagogical knowledge that would allow them to overcome the traditional instruction restrictions and yet they were very eager to incorporate STEM-oriented constructivist components in their upcoming classes. Post-webinar results confirmed this inceptive conclusion, as teachers expressed their intention to adopt many of the training program suggestions for the development of new thermodynamics teaching and learning sequences.

Keywords

Science education, secondary school education, elementary thermodynamics, teacher training program

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References

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.26220/mje.3763

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Mediterranean Journal of Education | ISSN: 2732-6489 |  Department of Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education - University of Patras.

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