This book is invaluable for teachers and students in high school and junior college who struggle to understand the principles of modern physics and incorporate scientific methods in their lessons. It provides interactive and multidisciplinary approaches that will help prepare present and future generations to face the technological and social challenges they will face. Rather than using a unidirectional didactic approach, the authors - scientists, philosophers, communication experts, science historians and science education innovators - divide the book into two parts; the first part, “Communicating Contemporary Physics”, examines how new physics developments affect modern culture, while the second part, “Digital Challenges for Physics Learning”, covers physics education research using ICT, plus the experiences of classroom teachers and a range of ideas and projects to innovate physics and STEM teaching.

Adapting to a Changing World was commissioned by the National Science Foundation to examine the present status of undergraduate physics education, including the state of physics education research, and, most importantly, to develop a series of recommendations for improving physics education that draws from the knowledge we have about learning and effective teaching. Our committee has endeavored to do so, with great interest and more than a little passion. The Committee on Undergraduate Physics Education Research and Implementation was established in 2010 by the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Research Council. This report summarizes the committee's response to its statement of task, which requires the committee to produce a report that identifies the goals and challenges facing undergraduate physics education and identifies how best practices for undergraduate physics education can be implemented on a widespread and sustained basis, assess the status of physics education research (PER) and discuss how PER can assist in accomplishing the goal of improving undergraduate physics education best practices and education policy.

Physics at the beginning of the twenty-first century has reached new levels of accomplishment and impact in a society and nation that are changing rapidly. Accomplishments have led us into the information age and fueled broad technological and economic development. The pace of discovery is quickening and stronger links with other fields such as the biological sciences are being developed. The intellectual reach has never been greater, and the questions being asked are more ambitious than ever before. Physics in a New Era is the final report of the NRC's six-volume decadal physics survey. The book reviews the frontiers of physics research, examines the role of physics in our society, and makes recommendations designed to strengthen physics and its ability to serve important needs such as national security, the economy, information technology, and education.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of the theoretical background and practice of physics teaching and learning and assists in the integration of highly interesting topics into physics lessons. Researchers in the field, including experienced educators, discuss basic theories, the methods and some contents of physics teaching and learning, highlighting new and traditional perspectives on physics instruction. A major aim is to explain how physics can be taught and learned effectively and in a manner enjoyable for both the teacher and the student. Close attention is paid to aspects such as teacher competences and requirements, lesson structure, and the use of experiments in physics lessons. The roles of mathematical and physical modeling, multiple representations, instructional explanations, and digital media in physics teaching are all examined. Quantitative and qualitative research on science education in schools is discussed, as quality assessment of physics instruction. The book is of great value to researchers involved in the teaching and learning of physics, to those training physics teachers, and to pre-service and practising physics teachers.

This book describes novel approaches designed to enhance the professional training of physics teachers, and explores innovations in the teaching and learning of physics in the classroom and laboratory. It features selected contributions from the International Research Group on Physics Teaching (GIREP) and Multimedia in Physics Teaching and Learning (MPTL) Conference, held in Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain, in July 2018, which brought together two communities: researchers in physics education and physics teachers. The book covers a broad range of topics, highlighting important aspects of the relationship between research and innovation in the teaching of physics, and presenting fresh insights to help improve learning processes and instruction. Offering a contemporary vision of physics teaching and the learning process, the book is of interest to all teachers and researchers committed to teaching and learning physics on the basis of good evidence.

Those who operate in physics education frequently ask research operators for suggestions, reference models, updated content and answers for their professional work. So far, the sector has not achieved significant advances specifically in terms of both content updates and methodology approaches. In the special issue, titled New Trends in Physics Education Research, the authors, in addition to presenting some new topics in physics education, take into account the greater relevance that in recent years the Evidence Based Education has taken place. In this framework, the main points of issue include: 1) Dealing with new trends in teaching and learning processes in physics; highlighting new mathematics content for physics courses; 3) giving evidence of the key role played by laboratory activities in physics training courses; and 4) stressing the importance of interdisciplinary approaches as well as scientific culture, communication and dissemination. Physics teaching involves several fields and different disciplines (such as mathematics, philosophy, laboratory activities, etc.) where the same arguments are often explained without clarifying that often there is a close correlation between disciplines. In particular, an integrated theoretical and experimental approach can improve the knowledge of some subjects of physics and mathematics; furthermore, it is also useful to employ a joint approach with laboratory activities, and by doing so enriching topics of meaning. In such cases, mathematics provides the adapt tools for physics and also is able to drive physical intuition; on the other hand, physics and its laboratory activities provide simple access to mathematical topics of complex comprehension. The issue is addressed to academics and schoolteachers as well as researchers in the field of physics education.

Nations around the globe consider physics education an important tool of economic and social development and currently advocate the use of innovative strategies to prepare students for knowledge and skills acquisition. Particularly in the last decade, a series of revisions were made to physics curricula in an attempt to cope with the changing needs and expectations of society. Educational transformation is a major challenge due to educational systems’ resistance to change. Updated curriculum content, pedagogical facilities (for example, computers in a school), new teaching and learning strategies and the prejudice against girls in physics classes are all issues that have to be addressed. Educational research provides a way to build schemas and resources to promote changes in physics education. This volume presents physics teaching and learning research connected with the main educational scenarios.