FYS5810 – Physics Education in Practice
Schedule, syllabus and examination date
Course content
Physics Education in Practice? is a course specifically developed for the science teacher education Master's degree programme at the University of Oslo and is offered to students specializing in physics teaching. The course is targeted at training candidates to teach in the optional physics subject in Norwegian upper secondary school (years 12 and 13). This course gives candidates practical experience with planning, designing, performing, and reflecting on teaching and learning activities in physics. The course involves theoretical components as well as practice components and gives insight into upper secondary physics classrooms. The course also gives candidates experience with reflecting on physics education research literature.
The course if one out of five "science/mathematics in practice" courses in the 9th semester of the teacher education Master's degree programme. Two of these five courses, together with the courses PROF1015, PROF3025 – Ledelse av elevers l?ring and PROF4045 – Tilrettelegging for elevers l?ring, between them, fulfil the programme's requirements for school practice.
Learning outcome
After completing this course, you:
- can develop?and carry out?teaching and learning sequences for physics in upper secondary school, with durations from single lessons up to longer sequences.
- have experience with a variety of teaching strategies in physics for upper secondary school.
- master meeting students’ challenges when learning physics.
- have experience with planning and conducting laboratory. work/demonstrations/programming activities?with physics students in upper secondary school.
- can design and justify physics teaching based on professional didactic insight as well as practical experience.
- can take advantage of and critically reflect on academic and research literature related to teaching and learning in physics.
Admission to the course
This course is only for students admitted to Realfag (studieretning).
Formal prerequisite knowledge
- PROF1015 – Profesjonsidentitet, l?ring og undervisning
- PROF3025 – Ledelse av elevers l?ring
- PROF4045 – Tilrettelegging for elevers l?ring
or
- PPU3310L – PPU del 1 av 2: Undervisning og l?ringsforl?p (discontinued)
- PPU3220 – PPU del 2 av 2: Vurdering og tilpasset oppl?ring
or similar courses.
In addition the following courses are required:
- AST1010 – Astronomy - a Cosmic Journey
- FYS-MEK1110 – Mechanics
- FYS1120 – Electromagnetism
- FYS1120L – Electromagnetism
- FYS2140 – Quantum Physics
- FYS2160 – Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics
- FYS3810 – Physics Education Research and Practice or?FYS2150L – Practical work in physics education (discontinued)
Teaching
Attendance at the first lecture is mandatory. If you are unable to attend, the Department of Physics studieinfo@fys.uio.no has to be informed no later than the same day, or else you will lose your place in the course.
The course runs for 8 weeks (in the second half of the semester) including practice in an upper secondary school.
Four hours of teaching?weekly in the form of interactive seminars where students present plans for, and reflect on the outcome of, the teaching in their school placement period. Research literature from the course syllabus is also presented (by instructor and/or students) and discussed during sessions. Mandatory assignments in the form of for instance presentations and reflection notes concerning school placement teaching must be approved before you can sit?the final exam.
Practice will be?varied and supervised and?altogether amounts to 7,5 full days including preparations and reflection sessions. Practice will preferably take place at one of the upper secondary schools in the University of Oslo network.?Discussions during the campus-based seminars concerning your own and fellow students' school placement teaching are considered part of the 7,5 days of practice. Thus, it is mandatory to be present in approximately 60 % of the seminar time on campus. School teaching practice, including discussions related to this during seminar time, is mandatory and must be completed and approved before the final exam.
As?the?teaching involves laboratory and/or fieldwork, you should consider taking out separate travel and personal risk insurance.?Read about your insurance cover as a student.
Examination
- Final oral exam which counts 100 % towards the final?grade.
The exam consists of a presentation that the student prepares beforehand and that includes reflections on the school practice teaching and presentation and reflection on selected parts of the course literature. After the presentation, there is a short follow-up conversation with the examiners.??
Mandatory practice and assignments must be approved before you can sit the final?exam.
Examination support material
All support materials are available during the preparation for the exam presentation. The student may work on the exam preparation during the entire duration of the course.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about the grading system.
Resit an examination
Students who can document a valid reason for absence from the regular examination are offered a?postponed exam?at the beginning of the next semester.
New examinations?are offered at the beginning of the next semester for students who do not successfully complete the exam during the previous semester.
We do not offer a re-scheduled exam for students who withdraw during the exam.
More about examinations at UiO
- Use of sources and citations
- Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
- Withdrawal from an exam
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Explanation of grades and appeals
- Resitting an exam
- Cheating/attempted cheating
You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.