Front Matter
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Published:2023
Mehmet Fatih Taşar, Paula R. L. Heron, "Front Matter", The International Handbook of Physics Education Research: Teaching Physics, Mehmet Fatih Taşar, Paula R. L. Heron
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The International Handbook of Physics Education Research: Teaching Physics covers the topics of educational technologies, learning environments, teacher education, and assessment in relation to physics education. As the field of physics education research grows, it is increasingly difficult for newcomers to gain an appreciation of the major findings across all sub-domains, discern global themes, and recognize gaps in the literature. The current volume incorporates the understanding of both physics and education concepts and provides an extensive review the literature in a wide range of important topics.
The International Handbook of Physics Education Research: Teaching Physics includes:
Various teaching perspectives including active learning, the modeling method, and teaching environments.
Distance/online education, formative and summative assessment, and assessment in online education.
Gender, race, and ethnicity equity.
Readers will find this comprehensive treatment of the literature useful in understanding physics education research and extending to all the physical sciences including chemistry, mathematics, astronomy, and other related disciplines.
Preface
As a young science education researcher at Penn State in the mid-1990s with a background in pure physics (condensed matter—high temperature superconductivity), I was totally perplexed and worried about the future of my doctoral studies. I was new to the field and did not know where to turn for research ideas and, if I found one, how to validate the rationale. When I progressed further into my coursework, we were introduced to the handbooks that existed at the time: the Handbook of Research on Science Teaching and Learning (Gabel, 1994) and the International Handbook of Science Education (IHSE) (Fraser and Tobin, 1998). I was amazed by the breadth and depth of the chapters written by experts on each topic deemed to be of concern and be attractive to science education researchers. The sections and chapters outline the major research areas and a respective synthesis of research. Later, other handbooks followed, both those covering science education broadly [e.g., the Handbook of Research on Science Education (HRSE) by Abell and Lederman, 2007 and 2014] and the Second International Handbook of Science Education (Fraser, Tobin, McRobbie, 2012), and others that that covered specific topics in depth (e.g., the International Handbook of Research on Conceptual Change, Vosniadou, 2008; and the International Handbook of Research in History, Philosophy and Science Teaching, Matthews, 2014).
While IHSE did not have chapters on specific science content areas (i.e., physics, chemistry, and biology), HRSE included such chapters in its “Science Teaching” section. Reinders Duit has been compiling a bibliography of science education for some decades and reporting percentages of published studies for each content area. In HRSE's “Teaching Physics” section, the authors (Duit et al.) reported that “… according to the bibliography on constructivist-oriented research on teaching and learning science by Duit (2009), about 53% of the studies documented were carried out in the domain of physics, 18% in the domain of biology, and 28% in the domain of chemistry.” To cut the long story short, having known the obvious advantages of handbooks and the fact that the field of physics education research has a high number of published studies, I envisioned editing a handbook dedicated to physics education research (PER). But, the timing was also crucial, and I was thinking that it was ripening already in 2018.
Scholarly contributions to PER come from two types of researchers: those coming from a background of physics teaching and science education research studies in a college/faculty of education—and those coming from a background of college/university level physics teaching and PER in a department of physics. I mostly represent the former and I thought I needed a co-editor from the background of the latter. Although I had my doctoral degree from an American university, since 2001 I had resided in Turkiye and had become very active in European science education and physics education circles. Moreover, as an educator, I valued and practiced actions favoring inclusion and diversity throughout my professional life. I have cherished international collaborations and connections from around the world and always kept in mind that education and educational research is about enhancing human capacities.
With all these thoughts in my mind, and given the fact that American contributions to PER have been immense, I wanted to have a colleague from the USA co-edit the handbook with me. Thus, I decided to approach Paula Heron, who has a Ph.D. in physics and is in a physics department. We had already known each other for quite some time, and I very much respected and admired her contributions to PER, just like everyone else did in our field. I emailed Paula in early March of 2019. She was a keynote speaker at the GIREP conference that was going to be held in Budapest in early July of that year. Paula carefully considered my invitation to co-edit The International Handbook of Physics Education Research and within a few days responded, as she promised, with a positive answer. Committing oneself to a long-term project like this is indeed courageous and for that reason I am forever grateful to Paula for teaming up with me in this extremely important endeavor, the value of which I am confident will be appreciated in the years to come.
Paula and I could be a successful team of co-editors once we set clear goals and plans, show strong leadership to achieve those goals, fulfill our own tasks, and also help each other communicate openly, resolve emerging conflicts constructively, and feel that each one of us is directly contributing to the handbook's success. All of these became true over the course of the creation of The International Handbook of Physics Education Research. I am forever grateful to Paula for being such a wonderful colleague and co-editor.
In Budapest, we met and talked about some of the details of the project. Also, since many PER people were already there, it was a precious opportunity for us to open the project to potential contributors, collect their ideas, and seek ways to involve them in The International Handbook of Physics Education Research. The next steps were to form a structure and organization for The International Handbook of Physics Education Research and find a publisher. Later, we formed an international advisory board to share the idea of The International Handbook of Physics Education Research and their views about the draft structure and organization. As a result, we received much praise and positive feedback. Among our efforts to find a publisher for The International Handbook of Physics Education Research, we finally contacted the AAPT Committee on Publications, who had an agreement with AIP Publishing (AIPP) to publish books. AIPP reviewed our proposal for The International Handbook of Physics Education Research and in July 2020, we signed a contract.
For The International Handbook of Physics Education Research to deserve the “international” character in its name, we wanted to include colleagues with extensive experience in PER from around the world. Another aspect was to have diverse teams of co-authors, such as relatively new and relatively experienced ones, and ones from different countries (or better, whenever possible, from different continents). In addition, we wanted to share not only the responsibility and workload but also the joy and pride of creating The International Handbook of Physics Education Research with respected PER colleagues. Therefore, we decided to have section editors collaborate with us in identifying chapter authors and tracking progress. To a large degree, our scheme worked.
It is important to note that the development of The International Handbook of Physics Education Research took place during a time of tremendous upheaval and uncertainty. The global Covid-19 pandemic presented editors, authors, and reviewers with unanticipated challenges in maintaining high standards while meeting publisher deadlines. While schools and businesses were closed and lockdowns were ordered, we all experienced difficult times. But, the work had to go on. Paula and I held weekly online video meetings and had meetings with section editors. It was a big challenge to organize it since we were spread out around the world. Nevertheless, things worked out well. Afterwards, we communicated frequently with the section editors to respond to their questions, to provide initial editorial reviews for submitted first drafts of chapters, to recruit reviewers, and anything else that came along.
Initially, I was in Turkiye and Paula was in the U.S. During the last year, we switched continents. She came to Europe for a sabbatical, while I moved to the U.S. We still had several hours of time difference, but it did not stop us from working together in accordance with our determination to successfully complete The International Handbook of Physics Education Research. That was our great responsibility to so many who vested trust in us and have been devoting their time and efforts as section editors, authors, and reviewers with diligence, motivation, and ambition.
Now we have the final manuscript, which consists of three volumes organized into 12 sections, with a total of 69 chapters. Nineteen section editors and 170 authors contributed and benefited from the expertise of many external reviewers. Section editors, contributors and reviewers represent countries from Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Australia. As general editors, we are greatly thankful to all.
M. Fatih Taşar
Georgia State University
Atlanta, GA, USA
Coming from a physics background with a Ph.D. in theoretical physics, and entering the field of PER as a postdoc, handbooks were not a significant part of my early professional development. In the mid-1990s, when I joined the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington (then under the leadership of Lillian C. McDermott), the field seemed small enough that everyone knew everyone else (at least in the USA) and you could pick up the phone or send an email to inquire about what they were up to. The literature was relatively sparse, especially concerning university-level teaching, and most researchers were intimately familiar with a small set of seminal papers. Since then, the field has grown enormously and I have come to appreciate the value of review articles, such as those found in handbooks. In my role as an Associate Editor of Physical Review—PER, it has frequently been the case that I have needed a quick overview of a particular area of research. This, more than anything else, convinced me that a handbook for PER would be an invaluable resource for our field. I am grateful that Fatih approached me about this project, which seemed ambitious at first, but has grown into something even bigger than I think either of us imagined. I am also deeply appreciative of all of the effort that has gone into it, especially by the Section Editors, without whom the project would not have been possible.
Paula R. L. Heron
University of Washington
Seattle, WA, USA
Acknowledgments
This handbook would not be possible without the support, suggestions, critiques, and contributions of a large number of people. First and foremost, we are grateful for the work of the section editors who recruited and supported authors, reviewed chapters, and wrote section overviews: Marisa Michelini, Italy; Shulamit Kapon, Israel; Olivia Levrini, Italy; Edit Yerushalmi, Israel; Bat Sheva Eyon, Israel; Sarantos Psycharis, Greece; Eugenia Etkina, USA; Eric Brewe, USA; Eilish McLoughlin, Ireland; Feral Ogan Bekiroglu, Turkiye; Geraldine Cochran, USA; Don Metz, Canada; Peter Heering, Germany; Cibelle Celestino Silva, Brazil; Marika Kapanadze, Georgia; Gabriela Jonas-Ahrend, Germany; Gesche Pospiech, Germany; and David Meltzer, USA. The results are a credit to their efforts. Early in the process we received invaluable suggestions from a small group of advisors: Richard Gunstone, Australia; David Hestenes, USA; the late Norman G. Lederman, USA; Marcia Linn, USA; Robin Millar, UK; E. F. (Joe) Redish, USA; the late Laurence Viennot, France; and the late Lillian C. McDermott, USA. Blane Baker (then AAPT Secretary) and Laura McCullough (then Chair of the AAPT Books Advisory Committee) were instrumental in securing the sponsorship of the AAPT. Martine Felton, Michael Lynch, and Dina Rabie at AIP Publishing worked with us to prepare the manuscript.
We are also grateful for the review efforts and invaluable feedback provided for improving the manuscripts in this volume by the following colleagues:
Section I
Omiros Iatrelis, University of Thessaly, Greece
Patrinopoulos Mathaios, Coordinator of 2nd Regional Center for Educational Planning of Attica, Greece
Stamovlasis Dimitrios, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Ali İbrahim Can Gözüm, Kafkas University, Turkiye
Nikos Zygouris, University of Thessaly, Greece
Section II
Chris Orban, The Ohio State University, USA
Jennifer Doctor, University of Wisconsin–La Crosse, USA
James Bell, Center of Advancement of Informal Science Education, USA
Eilish McLoughlin, Dublin City University, Ireland
Section III
Eilish McLoughlin, Dublin City University, Ireland
David Meltzer, Arizona State University, USA
Deirdre O’Neill, University of Limerick, Ireland
Section IV
Feral Ogan Bekiroglu, Marmara University, Turkiye
Mehmet Fatih Taşar, Gazi University, Turkiye
Contributors
Emily Alicea-Muñoz
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA
Saalih Allie
Physics Department & Centre for Higher Education, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7701, South Africa
Feral Ogan Bekiroglu
Faculty of Education, Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Marmara University, 34722 Goztepe Istanbul, Turkiye
Michael B. Bennett
QSEnSE Quantum Leap Challenge Institute, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
Eric Brewe
Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA
Mojca Čepič
Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Lin Ding
Department of Teaching and Learning, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43220, USA
Julie Direnga
Universität Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany
Eugenia Etkina
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901, USA
Claudia Fracchiola
University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Jon D. H. Gaffney
Utica University, Utica, New York 13323, USA
Georgios Giannakas
Department of Computer Science and Telecommunications, University of Thessaly, 35132 Lamia, Greece
Ana Gostinčar Blagotinšek
Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Danielle B. Harlow
Department of Education, UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106-9490, USA
Paraskevi Iatrou
STEM Advisor, Socialinnov, 11854 Athens, Greece
Victoria Ikoro
Future Swipe Analytics, Mancester M32 0EX, United Kingdom
Meltem Irmak
Mathematics and Science Education Department, Gazi University, Ankara 06500, Turkiye
Leonora Kaldaras
Department of Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
Michail Kalogiannakis
Department of Preschool Education, Faculty of Education, University of Crete, 74100 Crete, Greece
Konstantinos Kalovrektis
Department of Computer Science and Bioinformatics, University of Thessaly, Livadeia, Greece
Derya Kaltakci-Gurel
Faculty of Education, Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Kocaeli University, 41380 Umuttepe, Turkiye
Antonios Karampelas
American Community Schools of Athens, 15234 Chalandri, Greece
Jari Lavonen
University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
Eilish McLoughlin
CASTeL & School of Physical Sciences, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland
Knut Neumann
IPN–Leibniz-Institute for Science and Mathematics Education, 24118 Kiel, Germany
Valerie K. Otero
University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0249, USA
Stamatios Papadakis
Department of Preschool Education, Faculty of Education, University of Crete, 74100 Crete, Greece
Matthaios Patrinopoulos
Coordinator of 2nd Regional Center for Education Planning of Attica, Thrakomakedones, Greece
Jerneja Pavlin
Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Despina Potari
Department of Mathematics, University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Dimitris Psillos
Emeritus Professor, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 57500, Greece
Sarantos Psycharis
School of Pedagogical and Technological Education, Athens, Greece
Katemari Rosa
Federal University of Bahia, Salvador 40170-115, Brazil
Dagmara Sokolowska
Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
Stefan Sorge
IPN—Leibniz-Institute for Science and Mathematics Education, 24118 Kiel, Germany
Dimitrios J. Sotiropoulos
European University of Cyprus, 19002 Athens, Greece
Vasiliki Spiliotopoulou-Papantoniou
Department of Education, School of Pedagogical and Technological Education (ASPETE), Athens, Greece
Mehmet Fatih Taşar
Gazi University, Ankara, Turkiye
Kalliopi Theodoropoulou
Department of Physics, University of Thessaly, 38221 Volos, Greece
David F. Treagust
School of Education, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia 6102, Australia
Chrissavgi Triantafillou
Department of Mathematics, University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Charilaos Tsihouridis
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Education and Social Work, University of Patras, Patras, Greece
Dionysios (Denis) Vavougios
Faculty of Sciences, Department of Physics, University of Thessaly, 35100 Lamia, Greece
Apostolos Xenakis
Deparment of Digital Systems, University of Thessaly, Volos 38221, Greece
Duygu Yılmaz Ergül
Gazi University, Ankara, Turkiye
Marjan G. Zadnik
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia 6102, Australia
Ping Zhang
Department of Physics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, People's Republic of China
Alkinoos-Ioannis Zourmpakis
Department of Preschool Education, Faculty of Education, University of Crete, 74100 Crete, Greece
Benjamin M. Zwickl
School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York 14623, USA