Using science education research in the physics teacher training

In spite of significant developments in research on science education in the past decades, the impact on classroom practice appears insufficient. One of the most important problems today is how to reduce the gap between research and the actual work of teachers. Research has shown that teachers have their own conceptions and beliefs on science and on teaching and learning, often based on quite simplistic models, considering teaching as transmission and learning as absorption. A real conceptual change has to take place, for which adequate training strategies must be adopted. This paper proposes the introduction of a direct use of research publications as documents to analyse and discuss with students teachers and describes one such experiment conducted in the two-years graduate school for physics teaching at the University of Udine, Italy, in 2002 and 2003. The goal is to help to view teaching practice “differently”, to develop a more scientific approach to teaching-learning phenomena and to change the teachers’ view on research works, often felt as too abstract and removed from the school reality. The elements of evaluation of experiment seem to indicate that the proposed activity was viewed positively. Some specific characteristics of student teachers’ reading and interpretation of research works were identified, and will be useful in promoting a more effective relationship between research and teachers and to perfect experiments of this type in the future. A direct experience with research works seems to help teachers to better understand their practice and to think about their own conceptions on teaching and learning.