Alexandra Jansky (2016 – 2019) Development of a teaching concept on learning about radioactivity: physics phenomena based on randomness and the benefits of new devices
Randomness and probability play a big role in many areas of science. For example, probabilistic statements can only describe quantum mechanical phenomena, such as the decay of an unstable atomic nucleus. It is known that adolescents have problems understanding random processes from previous studies in mathematics education research and psychology. These problems of understanding could also have an impact on the understanding of random physical processes. The starting point of this work was the question of whether students’ ideas on probability and randomness can also be found in the context of natural sciences. The following steps examined this question: In the framework of educational reconstruction, it was first clarified what scientists understand by probability theory and randomness and which topics in physics are relevant in terms of probability theory. Ten physicists were participating in a Delphi study. It shows, among other things, that randomness and probability in radioactivity are considered relevant. To survey the perspective of students, ideas about probability and randomness, as well as selected topics of physics are summarized. To investigate the influence of well-known students’ ideas on randomness on the understanding of particle physics processes, 33 interviews were carried out with 16 to 19-year-old German-speaking students and content-based analyzed. It turns out that students express students conceptions of probability and randomness known from literature even in scientific contexts, for example in the context of radio-activity. Based on these results, a teaching unit on probability theory in the context of radioactivity was developed. It was explored whether radioactivity can be introduced with the help of probability theory in such a way that students understand and accept the decay of an unstable atomic nucleus. The teaching unit was developed within the scope of Design-Based research in several cycles. In total, three iterations were carried out and the respective version of the teaching unit was evaluated with the help of an acceptance survey. A total of 14 one-on-one interviews were conducted with 17- to 18-year-old German-speaking students. All interviews were filmed, transcribed and evaluated with the methods of qualitative content analysis. The final teaching unit was considered by the participating students to be both adequate and plausible. In summary, students’ views on probability and randomness play a role in the scientific context. It has been discovered that students have problems understanding the decay of unstable atomic nuclei due to its random nature. The results also demonstrate the feasibility of an adequate and plausible introduction to radioactivity using probability theory.
University of Vienna, Prof. M. Hopf