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Dortmund approach to physics teacher education emphasizing preconceptions and cognitive conflict

Design · All designs
Evidence · no claims cited

Description

The article describes an approach developed at the Institute of Physics at the University of Dortmund (Nachtigall, 1990) whose essentials are that better physics teacher education must put more emphasis on educational philosophy and individual preconceptions in pupils' minds, avoiding and overcoming misconceptions, the deliberate use of assimilation and accommodation, "the cognitive conflict as a trigger for changes of thought structures", simple qualitative experiments done by learners, comprehension exercises, making explicit the connection between formalism and the real world, and the role of the affective domain. These elements span didactic principles, pedagogical strategies, subject-matter understanding, teacher self-concept and student motivation, and their integration is said to lead to better education for future physics teachers.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

  • Integration of the interconnected components of the teaching-learning process

Constraints

  • Framed in the article as an approach for the education of physics teachers

Target Learners

  • future physics teachers
  • pupils and students taught by these methods

Learning Goals

  • overcoming misconceptions
  • conceptual change through cognitive conflict
  • connecting physics formalism to the real world

Claims

Examples

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Key Sources

  • Krišťák, Ľ., Němec, M., Danihelová, Z. (2014). Interactive Methods of Teaching Physics at Technical Universities. Informatics in Education, 13(1), 51–71. https://doi.org/10.15388/infedu.2014.03
Page metadata
Field Value
type design
id dortmund-approach-preconceptions-cognitive-conflict
title Dortmund approach to physics teacher education emphasizing preconceptions and cognitive conflict
description The article describes an approach developed at the Institute of Physics at the University of Dortmund (Nachtigall, 1990) whose essentials are that better physics teacher education must put more emphasis on educational...
status review
generated by process:settle-candidates on 2026-11-02
trust unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources 1 — krišťák-2014

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