Reinders Duit, IPN Kiel, Germany
The IPN Video Study Physics – Rational, Research Design, Major findings1
There is a growing awareness in the domain of science education research that studies on the
reality of normal instructional practice are necessary in order to facilitate programs on
improving practice to be successful. Recent advances of video analysis techniques allow to
investigate actual practice on a much more fine grained level than methods available so far.
The power of such methods will be discussed in presenting the design and major findings of a
study investigating German lower secondary physics instruction (grade 7 to 9). 13 teachers
participated in a pilot study (2000 to 2002). Another 50 teachers from randomly selected
schools took part in the subsequent main study (2002 to 2004). This study is linked with a
parallel study in the German speaking part of Switzerland. The third phase of the project
includes intervention studies that investigate possibilities to change teachers’ ways of thinking
about good instruction and their actual instructional behaviour. One of the studies of this
phase is closely linked with a major project to improve physics teaching and learning in
German schools.
The video-studies attempt to investigate the dominating instructional patterns (scripts) of
German physics instruction and to identify relationships between these patterns and the
development of student achievement and affective variables (like interests). The aim is to
identify possibilities for improving practice. The following issues are given particular
attention:
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Goal orientation of instruction.
Opportunities provided to scaffold students’ learning.
Taking students’ conceptions into account and dealing with mistakes.
Role and function of experiments.
The script concept as introduced into video-analysis of instructional practice by Stigler et al.
(1999) provides a major theoretical frame. It is a basic assumption that teachers and students
determine the script of instruction. Teachers and students are viewed as participants of the
same “game”. The script concept also includes the idea that single variables do not determine
the quality of instruction but patterns or “choreographies” of instruction (Oser & Patry, 1990).
Constructivist views of teaching and learning play a major role as reference position of
analysis (Duit & Treagust, 2003). Additionally, various theoretical positions concerning the
significance of affective variables and frameworks addressing particular science education
issues (like the role of experiments) are also employed.
Various methods to code and analyse the video-documented lessons have been developed:
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1
Basic coding: Organisation of classroom activities (Tina Seidel)
Quality of classwork and scaffolding science classrooms (Tina Seidel)
Analysis of learning processes (Mareike Kobarg and Tina Seidel)
Role and function of experiments (Maike Tesch)
Constructivist oriented science classrooms / Constructivist teaching sequences (Ari
Widodo)
Reconstruction of content structure (Reinders Duit, Christoph T. Müller, Maja
Brückmann)
The IPN Video Study Physics Team: Manfred Prenzel, Tina Seidel, Reinders Duit, Manfred Lehrke, Rolf
Rimmele, Inger Marie Dalehefte, Lena Meyer,Mareike Kobarg, Maike Tesch, Ari Widodo, Maja Brückmann
The Project is supported by the German Science Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) within the
priority program BiQua (http://www.ipn.uni-kiel.de/projekte/biqua/biqua_eng.htm)
In the presentation a particular emphasis will be given the coding system to investigate the
role of experiments and the method to reconstruct the content structure of instruction from
video data and additional sources (like lesson plans of the teachers).
Video-analyses provide information on instructional scripts (patterns of instruction). For each
of the 50 teachers two lessons were videotaped. Further data allow to investigate relations
between certain features of instructional patterns and student and teacher variables.
On the student side:
- At the beginning and the end of the school year of video-taping: Questionnaires on
affective variables (like interests) and achievement concerning the topic videodocumented.
- Right after video-taping the lessons: Views about the lessons; IQ; views about the
nature of science
On the teacher side:
- Questionnaire on various issues of their views about instruction as well as teaching
and learning (before video-taping)
- Interviews with part of the sample (40%) on their views, including discussion of
sequences from their lessons
The findings of the studies reveal major patterns of German lower secondary physics
instruction. There is, for instance, a strong teacher dominance. Only 15% of the lesson time
students work in groups or individually. Interestingly, there is no clear correlation between the
amount of student work in a class and achievement gains. In general, there are no clear effects
of classroom organisational pattern on student achievement gains. It appears that the
particular “orchestration of instruction”, i.e. the kind of support given by the teacher is
essential. A closer look at the kind of classwork observed reveals that simple forms of dyadic
interactions between the teacher and the students predominate and that somewhat narrow
variants of a “questioning-developing” approach prevail.
A positive effect on students’ achievement gains is observed for: (a) high level of goal
orientation (by offering a clear and sound structure); (b) taking into account students’
preinstructional conceptions; (c) teaching concepts within life contexts; (d) various means of
cognitive activation provided; (e) the knowledge elements are deliberately interrelated.
Narrow focused classwork has a negative effect on the development of student interest.
Video-data and the above additional student and teacher data reveal two major orientations of
instruction:
- Instructional – Oriented at physics; focus is on physics concepts; learning is viewed as
knowledge transmission.
- Constructivist – Focus is on student learning, in particular which conditions are
necessary to support learning; learning is viewed as student construction.
The instructional orientation predominates teaching behavior and teachers’ views of good
teaching. Most teachers are not informed about research findings concerning effective
teaching and learning. They are not aware, for instance, that students’ pre-instructional
conceptions provide the interpretation schemata for everything presented in the classroom. If
instruction and if teachers’ views are more constructivist in the above sense there is a
tendency that student achievement is better.
References
Duit, R. & Treagust, D. (2003). Conceptual change – A powerful framework for improving science teaching and
learning. International Journal of Science Education 25, 671-688.
Oser, F. & Patry, J.-L. (1990). Choreographien unterrichtlichen Lernens, Basismodelle des Unterrichts
[Choreographies of school learning, basic models of instruction]. In: Berichte zur Erziehungswissenschaft,
Nr. 89. Freiburg, Switzerland: Pädagogisches Institut der Universität Freiburg.
Stigler, J.W., Gonzales, P., Kawanaka, T., Knoll, S., and Serrano, S. (1999). The TIMSS videotape classroom
study: Methods and findings from an exploratory research project on eight-grade mathematics instruction in
Germany, Japan and the United States. U.S. Department of Education, National Centre for Education Statistics
(199NCES 99-074). Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office (http//nces.ed.gov/timss).
Publications
Publications including the research methods used (in German):
1. Phase (2000 to 2002)
Prenzel, M., Duit, R., Euler, M., Lehrke, M. & Seidel, T., Hrsg.(2001). Erhebungs- und Auswertungsverfahren
des DFG-Projekts Lehr-/Lernprozesse im Physikunterricht – eine Videostudie [Research Methods of the IPN
Physics Videostudy]. IPN Materialien. Kiel: Leibniz Institut für die Pädagogik der Naturwissenschaften.
2. Phase (2002 to 2004)
Seidel, T., Prenzel, M., Duit, R. Lehrke, M., Hrsg. (2003). Technischer Bericht zur Videostudie „Lehr-LernProzesse im Physikunterricht“ [Technical report of the IPN Physics Video Study]. Kiel: IPN Materialien.
Summary of findings (with a physics education focus)
Duit, R., Müller, C.T., Tesch, M, Widodo, A. (2004). A video study on the practice of German physics
instruction. In D. Zandvliet,Ed., NARST Conference 2004, Conference Proceedings. Vancouver: NARST –
National Association for Research in Science Teaching (CD Rom). – For a copy contact: duit@ipn.uni-kiel.de.
Widodo, A. (2004). Constructivist oriented lessons: The learning environments and the teaching sequences.
Frankfurt: Peter Lang (PhD Study within the project)
Further information
URL: http://www.ipn.uni-kiel.de/projekte/video/Videostudie_eng.htm
- Tina Seidel (seidel@ipn.uni-kiel.de): Design, general issues of the study
- Reinders Duit (duit@ipn.uni-kiel.de): Physics education issues
- Rolf Rimmele (rimmele@ipn.uni-kiel.de): Videoanalysis software „Videograph“
(http://www.ipn.uni-kiel.de/projekte/video/Videostudie_eng.htm)
Address of the IPN:
IPN – Leibniz-Institute for Science Education at the University of Kiel, Olshausenstr. 62,
D 24098 Kiel, Germany