Ricardo Trumper

• Associate Professor
• University of Haifa

Teaching the Nature of Science (NOS) has been defined as a central goal in science education. However, studies consistently show that students of all ages, from preschool through high-school, do not attain a desirable understanding of NOS. The present study examined the influence of an intervention on high-school students' conceptions of NOS. The i...

Students' Conceptions of NOS Questionnaire

Students' Conceptions of Physics and of Learning Physics Questionnaire

Since the 1980s, studies have increasingly shown that traditional teaching causes a deterioration in students’ conceptions of physics and of learning physics. The present study examined the influence of an intervention on high school students’ conceptions of physics and of learning physics. The intervention included two components: a unique design...

This paper presents a unique and innovative model for project-based learning in physics in which students are engaged in long-term open-ended research projects in physics that are done at the laboratory in school, and in which the project advisor is a physics teacher supported by a community of teacher-researchers.

The study aimed to identify teachers’ motivations to study Master of Education (M.Ed.) programs offered by teachers’ training colleges. M.Ed. degree programs have become available in Israel since 2004, with a rapid increase since then in the number of colleges offering various programs and a consequent increase in the number of graduates. M.Ed. deg...

Post-qualification Master’s level programs in Israeli teacher education colleges were launched in 2004 under the governance of two nationwide policy bodies – the Council for Higher Education and the Ministry of Education – each holding different ideologies regarding the nature of these studies: one in accordance with a ‘transmissive’ and the other...

This study reports the effect of teachers’ professional development in a two-year MEd program of High School Science Education, held from October 2010 until March 2012. Twelve out of the 33 teachers enrolled in the program participated in the study. The main research questions were: what are the teachers’ perceptions of their own work and teaching...

The present study was carried out in the framework of earlier research on environmental education for sustainability, using data collected in the ROSE Project. Attention was focused mainly on students' responses to sections and items related to environmental issues, regarding their countries' degree of development.The research questions d...

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 no...

Bearing in mind students' misconceptions about basic concepts in astronomy, the present study conducted a series of constructivist activities aimed at changing future elementary and junior high school teachers' conceptions about the cause of seasonal changes, and several characteristics of the Sun–Earth–Moon relative movements like Moon phases, Sun...

In view of students' alternative conceptions about basic concepts in astronomy, we conducted a series of constructivist activities with future elementary and junior high school teachers aimed at changing their conceptions about the cause of seasonal changes, and of several characteristics of the Sun-Earth-Moon relative movements like Moon phases, S...

Our study, conducted as part of the ROSE Project, on students' interest in biology at the end of their compulsory schooling in Israel, and its relation to their views on science classes, out-of-school experiences in biology, and attitudes to science and technology, showed that their overall interest in learn-ing biology was relatively positive but...

We report the results of a study on students' interest in physics at the end of their compulsory schooling in Israel carried out in the framework of the ROSE Project. Factors studied were their opinions about science classes, their out-of-school experiences in physics, and their attitudes toward science and technology. Students' overall interest in...

This investigation explores the kinds of study strategies used by campus-based university students in terms of the dialogues they engaged in while learning physics and chemistry in both large and small classes. Research objectives were threefold: (1) to document what dialogue types, mediated through which resources, were generally utilized by stude...

This study investigated the kinds of dialogues utilized by Open University students while studying an intermediate level physics course. Research objectives were twofold: to document what dialogue types, mediated through which resources, were (1) generally utilized by students as they learned; and (2) were specifically utilized by students to overc...

In the framework of teaching the natural sciences, ``laboratory'' is a general name for activities based on observations, tests, and experiments done by students. It is hard to imagine learning to do science, or learning about science, without doing laboratory or fieldwork. In this paper, a historical overview of the place, purposes, and goals of t...

Do students in pre-service training programs for elementary school teachers hold the correct scientific views, which will eventually allow them to plan and implement instructional strategies, which, in turn, will lead their future pupils to achieve scientific conceptions of basic astronomy concepts? The results of a cross-college age study of this...

La importancia creciente dada al estudio de la energía y la constatación de serias dificultades en su aprendizaje han dado lugar a numerosas investigaciones, la mayoría de las cuales abordan aspectos conceptuales concretos. En nuestra opinión, sin embargo, las distintas dificultades señaladas en la literatura están relacionadas entre sí y con otros...

A constructivist approach to the teaching of energy is presented. The curriculum is seen as a process in which pupils are actively involved in constructing the scientific concept. This process should be presented as early as possible, in primary or junior high-schools.

We want physics specialized high school and college students to think like physicists, and this involves an understanding of the scientific methods of inquiry and the ability to use these methods in their own investigations. In order to do that, students have to be made aware that no experimental result has any physical meaning unless an estimate o...

Senior high school students' astronomy conceptions were analysed by means of a written questionnaire presented to them during the beginning of the rst semester. The main ndings were: (1) Most students answered correctly the questions dealing with the following subjects: the day–night cycle, the reason for the different seasons, and the time of the...

A questionnaire of 19 questions given to a total of 433 students in college preservice training for future high-school teachers showed that science and nonscience majors held a series of misconceptions on several central topics in basic astronomy.

Teaching physics in the laboratory, and more specifically the use of computers in the physics laboratory, is a question of worldwide concern. In this manuscript we shall try to validate the use of microcomputer-based laboratories (MBL), on both theoretical and empirical grounds, and their contribution to scientific and technological literacy. Furth...

How do students in training to be primary school teachers in Argentina and Israel understand the concept of energy? Do they hold correct scientific views that will enable them to instruct their future pupils accurately? Are there fundamental differences between students studying in these different populations? Students’ energy conceptions, expresse...

Atwood's machine is used in a microcomputer-based experiment to demonstrate Newton's second law with considerable precision. The friction force on the masses and the moment of inertia of the pulley can also be estimated.

Microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) tools have been developed that interface with a great variety of computers. Students use these tools to gather physical data in real time that can later be manipulated and analysed. This new investigative method together with a high standard of precision enables students to investigate many principles of physics...

A questionnaire of 19 questions given to 76 students entering an `Introduction to astronomy' course at university showed that the students held a series of misconceptions on several central topics in basic astronomy.

Microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) tools have been developed which interface with a great variety of computers. Students use these tools to collect physical data in real time which can later be manipulated and analysed. This new investigative method together with a high standard of precision enables students to investigate many principles of phys...

Do physics students in pre-service training to be high-school teachers hold correct scientific views that will eventually allow them to plan and implement instructional strategies which, in turn, will lead their future students to achieve a correct scientific concept of force? The results of a cross-college age study dealing with this issue will be...

Microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) tools have been developed which interface with a great variety of computers. Students use these tools to collect physical data in real time which can later be manipulated and analysed. This new investigative method together with a high standard of precision enables students to investigate many principles of phys...

Do Physics students in pre-service training to be high-school teachers hold the accepted scientific views which will eventually allow them to plan and implement instructional strategies which, in turn, will lead their future students to achieve a scientific concept of force? The results of a longitudinal study dealing with this issue will be discus...

How physics students teachers' understanding of energy develops during their pre-service high school teacher university program? How do their physics and Didactics courses influence their energy conceptions? Do university physics students in pre-service training to be high-school teachers finally hold correct scientific views that will eventually a...

Do students in preservice training programmes for elementary‐school teachers hold the correct scientific views which will eventually allow them to plan and implement instructional strategies which, in turn, will lead their future pupils to achieve a scientific concept of force? The results of a cross‐college age study dealing with this issue are di...

Do biology students in pre‐service training to be high school teachers hold correct scientific views which will eventually allow them to plan and implement instructional strategies which, in turn, will lead their future students to achieve a correct scientific concept of force? The results of a study dealing with this issue are discussed in this ar...

Do students in pre‐service training programmes as elementary school teachers hold the correct scientific views, which will eventually allow them to plan and implement instructional strategies which, in turn, will lead their future pupils to achieve a scientific concept of energy? The results of a cross‐college age study dealing with this issue is d...

This paper reports on a study which deals with implications of instructional strategies through which it was attempted to creak cognitive disequilibrations in order to achieve conceptual change, while learning the energy concept. Different responses to disequilibration were observed, pointing out several difficulties in the application of such conc...

This paper study analyzes differences in motivation towards science subjects among kibbutz and urban high school students in Israel. Students' motivational traits in science were explored by a questionnaire whose items corresponded to four motivational patterns: achievement, curiosity, conscientiousness and sociability. The major findings of this s...

The goal of this case study was to check the effect of V-Scope activities in the performance of 11th-grade students in analyzing kinematics graphs. The V-Scope kinematics laboratory consisted of five double lessons that challenged students to construct different kinds of graphs using their own movements as well as the motion of a dynamics cart. The...

The conceptions of energy of the pre‐service high school biology teachers were identified by means of a two‐part written questionnaire which was presented to them in the first day of class. These students: are considerably anthropocentric in their associations, their choice of pictures and their alternative conceptual frameworks; hold a number of d...

Do physics students in pre‐service training to be high‐school teachers hold correct scientific views which will eventually allow them to plan and implement instructional strategies which, in turn, will lead their future students to achieve a scientific concept of energy? The results of a cross‐age study of college students dealing with this issue a...

Conventional science instruction often fails to address or change students' misconceptions about physical phenomena. Students stubbornly cling to anthropocentric, causal, and product conceptions about energy. This article explores scientific and pedagogical arguments favoring development of a spiral curriculum for teaching energy in (Israeli) senio...

This paper reports the results of a cross‐age study dealing with high school students’ motivational traits in science. Students’ motivational traits in science were explored by a questionnaire whose items were written to correspond to four motivational patterns: achievement, curiosity, conscientiousness and sociability. The major findings of this s...

The Israeli education system is currently going through a period of change as a result of measures that are being introduced by the Tomorrow 98 Report (1992). Among the reforms proposed by the Report there is the revision of curricula and “the implementation of a comprehensive program for the pre-service and in-service training” of elementary schoo...

This article reports on a two-part study designed (a) to find the relation, if any, between junior high school students' alternative frameworks on energy held prior to instruction and their cognitive level of operations, either preformal or formal, and (b) to determine the relation, if any, between junior and senior high school students' success or...

This paper reports on a study which attempts to answer the question: at what age may children usefully be taught about energy? It has been shown in previous studies that conceptual change strategies, based on children's prior knowledge about energy, have been successful with 9th‐grade students. This study shows that the ‘building blocks’ on which t...

This article describes a study carried out in Israel which deals with the identification of high school pupils’ beliefs about energy, both before and after formal instruction in physics. In so doing, several of the alternative frameworks reported in the literature were redefined. Based on the findings obtained, an elementary course was developed an...

Without Abstract

Teaching physics in the laboratory, and more specifically, the use of computers in the physics laboratory is a question of worldwide concern. In this article the authors shall try to validate the use of microcomputer-based laboratories (MBL), based both on theoretical and empirical grounds. Furthermore, an example of an MBL in introductory kinemati...

Teaching physics in the laboratory, and more specifically, the use of computers in the physics laboratory is a question of worldwide concern. In this article the authors shall try to validate the use of microcomputer-based laboratories (MBL), based both on theoretical and empirical grounds. Further-more, an example of an MBL in introductory kinemat...