Role of Laboratory Work in Improving Physics Teaching and Learning

Dagmara Sokolowska is an adjunct in the Faculty of Physics, Astronomy, and Applied Computer Sciences at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. She obtained her PhD in physics of soft matter and still does research in that field, concentrating particularly on conductivity percolation of water networks in different materials. For the last 7 years she has been involved in research in physics and science education and in the development of didactic materials at all levels of education, from primary school to PhD level. She also conducts training for in-service teachers in science and physics, with emphasis on inquiry-based learning. Due to her interest in physics and science education, she has participated in five European projects, focusing especially on the implementation of inquiry-based learning and on European science curricula and their inclusion of inquiry-based  learning. In 2012 she received the Polish National Medal in Education. An NGO that she founded – Fundacja Akademia Młodych Odkrywców – organizes a national contest in science for primary schools that attracts more than 50,000 participants each year.Marisa Michelini is full professor of physics education at Udine University, Italy, where she is Rector Delegate for Didactic Innovation and Head of the Research Unit in Physics Education (URDF). She is president of the International Research Group in Physics Education (GIREP), a committee member of Multimedia Physics Teaching and Learning (MPTL), director of the Italian University Consortium on Education and Guidance (GEO), a member of the Permanent Commission for Education of the Italian Physical Society, and an honorary member of the Italian Association for Physics Teaching (AIF). She founded the Center for Research in Education (CIRD), the Lab Center for Physics Education (CLDF), the Center for Guidance (CORT), and the Research Unit in Physics Education (URDF). Dr. Michelini is long-standing director of the national journalsLa Fisica nella Scuola and Università e Scuola. She has carried out various research projects at EU, national, and regional levels. She is a member of many editorial boards of physics education journals and has authored 660 publications in books and journals, including 257 in English at the international level.

• Introduction.- Part 1 Background Aspects.- Empowering the Engines of Knowing and Creativity: Learning from Experiments.- Labs in Building a Modern Physics Way of Thinking.- The Impact and Promise of Open-Source Computational Material for Physics Teaching.- Research Validated Distance Learning Labs for Introductory Physics Using IOLab.- The Value of Solving Experimental Problems in Groups.- Formative Assessment in Physics Teaching and Learning.- Part 2 Experimental Lab.- Integrating NOS in Lab Work.- Open Inquiry Experiments in Physics Laboratory Courses.- Educational Lab on Optical Diffraction to Bridge from Classical to Modern Physics.- Advanced Lab Experiments: Linking Undergraduate Labs and Research.- Part 3 Lab work and Multimedia.- Computer modelling in Physics Teaching.- Preparing Preservice Science Teachers to Develop Inquiry Based Activities.- The Role of Information in Inquiry-Based Learning in a Remote Lab on Optical Spectrometry.- Web-Based Interactive Video Activities for Undergraduate Advanced Laboratories.- Smartphones as Measuring Instruments in the Physics Classroom – What Do Students Think?.- Part 4 Concepts and Lab.- Addressing Some Common Difficulties in Teaching and Learning Energy in High School.- Teaching – Learning Sequences Using Low-Cost Experiments Aimed at Understanding of Concepts of Electricity.- Part 5 Assessment for Learning Through Experimentation.- Inquiry Based Learning of Contemporary Physics Topics and Gifted Students.- The Development and Pilot Testing of the Measurement Tool of Skills Level Development in the Lower Secondary Physics Classroom.- Assessing Student’s Conceptual Understanding in a Laboratory on the Measurement of the Planck Constant.- Part 6 Low-cost Experiments and Inquiry.- Effectiveness of learning through inquiry.- A Non-Classical Acoustics Teaching Lab Supported by BYOD and Inquiry-Based Learning.- Quantitative measurements of RGB and CMYK colours with a homemade spectrophotometer.