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P.J.J.M. Dekkers
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Exploring the role of generative AI in science teacher education programs
A qualitative study
Journal article
(2025)
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L. G.A. de Putter-Smits, C. F.J. Pols, P. J.J.M. Dekkers, P. R. Runhaar, M. Timmer, J. T. Van der Veen
The introduction of transformative generative open AI (GenAI) has impacted science education, presenting opportunities for students and teachers to enhance teaching and learning efficiency. Equally GenAI poses challenges, including risks such as plagiarism and superficial engagement with content. Science teacher education programs play a key role in the way these opportunities are realized and how challenges are dealt with through educating the future generation of science teachers. Science teacher educators face the challenge to remodel their teaching program to showcase how GenAI is used appropriately. Their student teachers face the challenge of working with GenAI in their own learning, but also in their classroom teaching where their students in secondary education might be using GenAI. This interview study explored how science teacher educators and student-science teachers in the teacher training programs of the four technical universities in The Netherlands envisage the potential impact of GenAI on university science teacher education. Few of the teacher educators had actually used GenAI, compared to the number of student teachers that had used GenAI. Potential uses for GenAI in science teacher education and for science teaching in general were identified, as well as desired new learning goals. A strong need for a policy on the use of GenAI was expressed, including a need for clear guidelines and rules. The conclusion presents possible design characteristics for science teacher education to benefit from the advent of GenAI and circumvent associated risks.
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The introduction of transformative generative open AI (GenAI) has impacted science education, presenting opportunities for students and teachers to enhance teaching and learning efficiency. Equally GenAI poses challenges, including risks such as plagiarism and superficial engagement with content. Science teacher education programs play a key role in the way these opportunities are realized and how challenges are dealt with through educating the future generation of science teachers. Science teacher educators face the challenge to remodel their teaching program to showcase how GenAI is used appropriately. Their student teachers face the challenge of working with GenAI in their own learning, but also in their classroom teaching where their students in secondary education might be using GenAI. This interview study explored how science teacher educators and student-science teachers in the teacher training programs of the four technical universities in The Netherlands envisage the potential impact of GenAI on university science teacher education. Few of the teacher educators had actually used GenAI, compared to the number of student teachers that had used GenAI. Potential uses for GenAI in science teacher education and for science teaching in general were identified, as well as desired new learning goals. A strong need for a policy on the use of GenAI was expressed, including a need for clear guidelines and rules. The conclusion presents possible design characteristics for science teacher education to benefit from the advent of GenAI and circumvent associated risks.
Dertig jaar geleden verscheen in NVOX een artikel van Jaap Buning en Ed van den Berg: ‘Practicum, leren ze er wat?’ De kernboodschap: practica zouden veel leerzamer zijn als ze efficiënt op leren gericht waren. Dat artikel is nog altijd (terecht) verplichte kost in de meeste lerarenopleidingen. Maar is hun boodschap nog actueel? Door de uitspraken van een leerlinge te analyseren en concrete, simpele en laagdrempelige manieren toe te voegen, bespreken we opnieuw hoe je practica leerzamer kunt maken.
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Dertig jaar geleden verscheen in NVOX een artikel van Jaap Buning en Ed van den Berg: ‘Practicum, leren ze er wat?’ De kernboodschap: practica zouden veel leerzamer zijn als ze efficiënt op leren gericht waren. Dat artikel is nog altijd (terecht) verplichte kost in de meeste lerarenopleidingen. Maar is hun boodschap nog actueel? Door de uitspraken van een leerlinge te analyseren en concrete, simpele en laagdrempelige manieren toe te voegen, bespreken we opnieuw hoe je practica leerzamer kunt maken.
Demonstrations are fantastic. They offer so many wonderful possibilities to show the beauty of physics and amaze pupils, that we really should do at least one in every physics class. While it may not always be feasible, the objection “which demo then?” no longer applies. This book presents a selection of the 99 ‘best’, most beautiful physics demonstrations from the Dutch book series “ShowdeFysica” as published by the Dutch Association for Science Education. The demonstrations are categorized as nature of science; scientific inquiry; conceptual development or special occasions. So, whether you want to deepen students’ understanding of a specific topic, want to engage them in thorough thinking, or if you were asked to demonstrate physics on a festive occasion, you can find demonstrations and inspiration in this book.
...
Demonstrations are fantastic. They offer so many wonderful possibilities to show the beauty of physics and amaze pupils, that we really should do at least one in every physics class. While it may not always be feasible, the objection “which demo then?” no longer applies. This book presents a selection of the 99 ‘best’, most beautiful physics demonstrations from the Dutch book series “ShowdeFysica” as published by the Dutch Association for Science Education. The demonstrations are categorized as nature of science; scientific inquiry; conceptual development or special occasions. So, whether you want to deepen students’ understanding of a specific topic, want to engage them in thorough thinking, or if you were asked to demonstrate physics on a festive occasion, you can find demonstrations and inspiration in this book.
Integrating argumentation in physics inquiry
A design and evaluation study
This small-scale, qualitative study uses educational design research to explore how focusing on argumentation may contribute to students’ learning to engage in inquiry independently. Understanding inquiry as the construction of a scientifically cogent argument in support of a claim may encourage students to develop personal reasons for adhering to scientific criteria and to use these with understanding rather than by rote. An understanding of the characteristics of scientific evidence may clarify why doing inquiry in specific ways is important, in addition to the how. On the basis of five design principles—derived from literature—that integrate argumentation in inquiry and enhance learning through practical activities, we developed a teaching-learning sequence of five activities aimed at developing inquiry knowledge in lower secondary school students. By means of observations of a grade 9 physics class (N=23, aged 14–15), students’ answers to worksheets, and self-reflection questions, we explored whether the design principles resulted in the intended students’ actions and attitudes. We studied whether the activities stimulated students to engage in argumentation and to develop the targeted inquiry knowledge. The focus on argumentation, specifically through critical evaluation of the quality of evidence, persuaded students to evaluate whether what they thought, said, or claimed was “scientifically” justifiable and convincing. They gradually uncovered key characteristics of scientific evidence, understandings of what counts as convincing in science, and why. Rather than adopting and practicing the traditional inquiry skills, students in these activities developed a cognitive need and readiness for learning such skills. Of their own accord, they used their gained insights to make deliberate decisions about collecting reliable and valid data and substantiating the reliability of their claims. This study contributes to our understanding of how to enable students to successfully engage in inquiry by extending the theoretical framework for argumentation toward teaching inquiry and by developing a tested educational approach derived from it.
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This small-scale, qualitative study uses educational design research to explore how focusing on argumentation may contribute to students’ learning to engage in inquiry independently. Understanding inquiry as the construction of a scientifically cogent argument in support of a claim may encourage students to develop personal reasons for adhering to scientific criteria and to use these with understanding rather than by rote. An understanding of the characteristics of scientific evidence may clarify why doing inquiry in specific ways is important, in addition to the how. On the basis of five design principles—derived from literature—that integrate argumentation in inquiry and enhance learning through practical activities, we developed a teaching-learning sequence of five activities aimed at developing inquiry knowledge in lower secondary school students. By means of observations of a grade 9 physics class (N=23, aged 14–15), students’ answers to worksheets, and self-reflection questions, we explored whether the design principles resulted in the intended students’ actions and attitudes. We studied whether the activities stimulated students to engage in argumentation and to develop the targeted inquiry knowledge. The focus on argumentation, specifically through critical evaluation of the quality of evidence, persuaded students to evaluate whether what they thought, said, or claimed was “scientifically” justifiable and convincing. They gradually uncovered key characteristics of scientific evidence, understandings of what counts as convincing in science, and why. Rather than adopting and practicing the traditional inquiry skills, students in these activities developed a cognitive need and readiness for learning such skills. Of their own accord, they used their gained insights to make deliberate decisions about collecting reliable and valid data and substantiating the reliability of their claims. This study contributes to our understanding of how to enable students to successfully engage in inquiry by extending the theoretical framework for argumentation toward teaching inquiry and by developing a tested educational approach derived from it.
Secondary school students often only use the rules for doing scientific inquiry when prompted, as if they fail to see the point of doing so. This qualitative design study explores conditions to address this problem in school science inquiry. Dutch students (N = 22, aged 14–15) repeatedly consider the quality of their work: in a conventional, guided inquiry approach; by evaluating their conclusion in terms of the contextual purpose of the investigation; as consumers of knowledge facing the (hypothetical) risk of applying the findings in the real world. By gauging students’ confidence in the inquiry’s trustworthiness, we established that, while each confrontation instigated some students to (re)consider the quality of their inquiry, the final stage had the greatest impact. Students came to see that finding trustworthy results is essential, requiring scientific standards. The scientific quality of their inquiries was described, weaknesses identified and compared with the improvements students themselves proposed for their inquiries. While the improvemens were expressed in non-specific terms these align with a scientific perspective. Students now wanted to find trustworthy answers by exploiting scientific standards. In enabling students to engage successfully in basic scientific inquiry, finding ways to establish students’ mental readiness for attending to the quality of their scientific claims, and of personalised scientific criteria for their assessment, is indispensable.
...
Secondary school students often only use the rules for doing scientific inquiry when prompted, as if they fail to see the point of doing so. This qualitative design study explores conditions to address this problem in school science inquiry. Dutch students (N = 22, aged 14–15) repeatedly consider the quality of their work: in a conventional, guided inquiry approach; by evaluating their conclusion in terms of the contextual purpose of the investigation; as consumers of knowledge facing the (hypothetical) risk of applying the findings in the real world. By gauging students’ confidence in the inquiry’s trustworthiness, we established that, while each confrontation instigated some students to (re)consider the quality of their inquiry, the final stage had the greatest impact. Students came to see that finding trustworthy results is essential, requiring scientific standards. The scientific quality of their inquiries was described, weaknesses identified and compared with the improvements students themselves proposed for their inquiries. While the improvemens were expressed in non-specific terms these align with a scientific perspective. Students now wanted to find trustworthy answers by exploiting scientific standards. In enabling students to engage successfully in basic scientific inquiry, finding ways to establish students’ mental readiness for attending to the quality of their scientific claims, and of personalised scientific criteria for their assessment, is indispensable.
Defining and assessing understandings of evidence with the assessment rubric for physics inquiry
Towards integration of argumentation and inquiry
Physics inquiry can be interpreted as the construction of a cogent argument in which students apply inquiry knowledge and knowledge of physics to the systematic collection of relevant, valid, and reliable data, creating optimal scientific support for a conclusion that answers the research question. In learning how to devise, conduct and evaluate a rigorous physics inquiry, students should learn to choose and apply suitable techniques and adhere to scientific conventions that guarantee the collection of such data. However, they also need to acquire and apply an understanding of how to justify their choices and present an optimally convincing argument in support of their conclusion. In this modified and augmented Delphi study we present a view of inquiry knowledge and a way to assess it that acknowledges both of these components. Using our own expertise with teaching physics inquiry and using curriculum documents on physics inquiry, “inquiry knowledge” is deconstructed as a set of “understandings of evidence” (UOE)—insights and views that an experimental researcher relies on in constructing and evaluating scientific evidence. While insights cannot be observed directly, we argue that their presence can be inferred from a student’s actions and decisions in inquiry, inferred with more definitude as a more explicit and adequate justification is provided. This set of UOE is presented and validated as an adequate, coherent, partially overlapping set of learning goals for introductory inquiry learning. We specify conceivable types of actions and decisions expected in inquiry as descriptors of five attainment levels, providing an approach to assessing the presence and application of inquiry knowledge. The resulting construct, the assessment rubric for physics inquiry, is validated in this study. It distinguishes nineteen UOE divided over six phases of inquiry. Preliminary results suggesting a high degree of ecological validity are presented and evaluated. Several directions for future research are proposed.
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Physics inquiry can be interpreted as the construction of a cogent argument in which students apply inquiry knowledge and knowledge of physics to the systematic collection of relevant, valid, and reliable data, creating optimal scientific support for a conclusion that answers the research question. In learning how to devise, conduct and evaluate a rigorous physics inquiry, students should learn to choose and apply suitable techniques and adhere to scientific conventions that guarantee the collection of such data. However, they also need to acquire and apply an understanding of how to justify their choices and present an optimally convincing argument in support of their conclusion. In this modified and augmented Delphi study we present a view of inquiry knowledge and a way to assess it that acknowledges both of these components. Using our own expertise with teaching physics inquiry and using curriculum documents on physics inquiry, “inquiry knowledge” is deconstructed as a set of “understandings of evidence” (UOE)—insights and views that an experimental researcher relies on in constructing and evaluating scientific evidence. While insights cannot be observed directly, we argue that their presence can be inferred from a student’s actions and decisions in inquiry, inferred with more definitude as a more explicit and adequate justification is provided. This set of UOE is presented and validated as an adequate, coherent, partially overlapping set of learning goals for introductory inquiry learning. We specify conceivable types of actions and decisions expected in inquiry as descriptors of five attainment levels, providing an approach to assessing the presence and application of inquiry knowledge. The resulting construct, the assessment rubric for physics inquiry, is validated in this study. It distinguishes nineteen UOE divided over six phases of inquiry. Preliminary results suggesting a high degree of ecological validity are presented and evaluated. Several directions for future research are proposed.
Learning to engage in scientific inquiry is an important goal in secondary physics education. However, attaining this learning goal continues to be a challenge. We addressed this problem by devising and testing a teaching sequence that aims at developing students’ (aged 14-15) understanding of and adherence to scientific criteria. We observed, that after going through this sequence, the students' critical attitude evolved and they developed basic understandings of how to conduct a physics inquiry. They started to substantiate the decisions made in their inquiries. The teaching sequence thus seems a suitable starting point for engaging young students in scientific inquiry.
...
Learning to engage in scientific inquiry is an important goal in secondary physics education. However, attaining this learning goal continues to be a challenge. We addressed this problem by devising and testing a teaching sequence that aims at developing students’ (aged 14-15) understanding of and adherence to scientific criteria. We observed, that after going through this sequence, the students' critical attitude evolved and they developed basic understandings of how to conduct a physics inquiry. They started to substantiate the decisions made in their inquiries. The teaching sequence thus seems a suitable starting point for engaging young students in scientific inquiry.
This paper explores students’ ability to analyse and interpret empirical data as inadequate data analysis skills and understandings may contribute to the renowned disappointing outcomes of practical work in secondary school physics. Selected competences, derived from a collection of leading curricula, are explored through interviews and practical tasks, each consisting of three probes. The 51 students, aged 15 and commencing post-compulsory science education in the Netherlands, were able to carry out basic skills such as collecting data and representing these. In interpreting the data in terms of the investigated phenomenon or situation however, performance was weak. Students often appeared to be unable to identify the crucial features of a given graph. Conclusions based on the data were often tautological or superficial, lacking salient features. Students failed to infer implications from the data, to interpret data at a higher level of abstraction, or to specify limitations to the validity of the analysis or conclusions. The findings imply that the students’ understanding of data-analysis should be developed further before they can engage successfully in more ‘open’ practical work. The study offers a collection of activities that may help to address the situation, suggesting a baseline for guided development of data analysis abilities.
...
This paper explores students’ ability to analyse and interpret empirical data as inadequate data analysis skills and understandings may contribute to the renowned disappointing outcomes of practical work in secondary school physics. Selected competences, derived from a collection of leading curricula, are explored through interviews and practical tasks, each consisting of three probes. The 51 students, aged 15 and commencing post-compulsory science education in the Netherlands, were able to carry out basic skills such as collecting data and representing these. In interpreting the data in terms of the investigated phenomenon or situation however, performance was weak. Students often appeared to be unable to identify the crucial features of a given graph. Conclusions based on the data were often tautological or superficial, lacking salient features. Students failed to infer implications from the data, to interpret data at a higher level of abstraction, or to specify limitations to the validity of the analysis or conclusions. The findings imply that the students’ understanding of data-analysis should be developed further before they can engage successfully in more ‘open’ practical work. The study offers a collection of activities that may help to address the situation, suggesting a baseline for guided development of data analysis abilities.
Successfully carrying out a secondary school physics inquiry requires a considerable amount of procedural and content knowledge. It further requires knowledge of how and why maintaining scientific standards produces the best available answer to the given research question. To this purpose, a series of five inquiry activities was developed and tested in a single case study with students aged 14. The test shows that students indeed come to use a more scientific approach to inquiry tasks and understand why they should do so. We believe that this series of activities can serve as a starting point for more complex physics inquiries.
...
Successfully carrying out a secondary school physics inquiry requires a considerable amount of procedural and content knowledge. It further requires knowledge of how and why maintaining scientific standards produces the best available answer to the given research question. To this purpose, a series of five inquiry activities was developed and tested in a single case study with students aged 14. The test shows that students indeed come to use a more scientific approach to inquiry tasks and understand why they should do so. We believe that this series of activities can serve as a starting point for more complex physics inquiries.
ShowdeFysica 2
Natuurkunde laat je zien
Book
(2017)
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C.F.J. Pols, P.J.J.M. Dekkers, Wouter Spaan, Norbert Veen, Leo ten Brinke, Norbert Veen, Maarten van Woerkom, Ed van den Berg, W. Sonneveld, J.E. Frederik
Ruim 80 demonstraties om morgen in de klas uit te voeren zó beschreven dat fysische begripsvorming optimaal is, met soms conceptcartoons gericht op natuurwetenschappelijke vaardigheden, begripsontwikkeling of de charme van natuurkunde voor een groot publiek voorzien van een site met links, aanvullende informatie en downloadbare bestanden.
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Ruim 80 demonstraties om morgen in de klas uit te voeren zó beschreven dat fysische begripsvorming optimaal is, met soms conceptcartoons gericht op natuurwetenschappelijke vaardigheden, begripsontwikkeling of de charme van natuurkunde voor een groot publiek voorzien van een site met links, aanvullende informatie en downloadbare bestanden.