Our findings support the view that conceptual QP is valuable for all students because an informed NOS view is vital for everybody in today’s society. Our research reveals teachers’ perspectives on teaching QP in secondary schools and why they think NOS aspects can be helpful to reach their teaching goals. Teacher interviews (N=10) supported by classroom observations provided insights into how and why teachers use specific elements from the resources. We based our framework on literature about pedagogic content knowledge and on the principles of the practicality of educational innovations.
This study explores whether experienced Dutch high school teachers, who are not trained for NOS teaching, address NOS in their QP lessons when provided with NOS-infused teaching resources. We take the view that teachers only implement these aspects if this serves their goals. However, physics teachers seldom address these nature of science (NOS) aspects in their lessons.
Research shows that addressing epistemological and philosophical aspects would be beneficial for novice students’ conceptual understanding. Students at upper secondary and college level in many countries are introduced to quantum physics (QP) in a mostly mathless course.
