What Do Epistemology and Ontology Have to Offer in Considering Progression in Physics Education?

Abstract

On the television in the United Kingdom there has been a long running programme: “University Challenge”. In this programme students from different universities in Britain compete, in a quiz-show format, at answering questions from a question master. In some rounds of questions the students are specifically told that they must not confer with their colleagues. “Thinking Science for Teaching: The Case of Physics” is a conference and so, unlike University Challenge, conferring is allowed. In conferring we need to listen to what our colleagues are saying so as to find ways of bringing together the various strands of their arguments and so try to seek coherence, completeness and perhaps conciseness. It is intended that this paper, in being delivered later in the conference, should start by highlighting the contributions of others at the conference. The intention is to show that each of these contributors has something of value to offer and that we neglect any one of their contributions at the peril of failing to gather information to build a complete picture of students’ thinking in physics.