Learning Physics Through Communication During Laboratory Work : An empirical study at upper secondary school

Laboratory work as a teaching and learning method is given prominence in the Swedish physics curriculum for upper secondary school. It is emphasised that students should be given opportunities to develop the ability to search for answers to questions, plan, conduct, interpret and present results. Moreover, students should also be encouraged to use their physics knowledge to communicate, argument and present conclusions. This thesis is based on the belief that physics laboratory work creates a special discourse, where the student becomes the actor and the teacher becomes the organiser and observer. Such an environment enables students to naturally engage in physics discussions using their own terms. The aim is to explore students’ laboratory work at upper secondary school in-depth, with respect to its design and influence on students’ communication. Through analysis of students’ communication, the purpose is to better understand the physics laboratory work’s possibilities as a teaching and learning method. This will contribute to ongoing debate about the effectiveness of laboratory work. The results show that laboratory work consists of similar activities but differs in amount of time allocated to the different activities. Different types of talk are used for different purposes. An analytical framework has been created to enable deeper investigations of how and what students are talking about at both a linguistic and cognitive level. Moreover, the analysis shows the importance of students acquiring knowledge about physics and understanding the value of using an investigative approach as well as acquiring core content physics knowledge.Laboratory work as a teaching and learning method is given prominence in the Swedish physics curriculum for upper secondary school. It is emphasised that students should be given opportunities to develop the ability to search for answers to questions, plan, conduct, interpret and present results. Moreover, students should also be encouraged to use their physics knowledge to communicate, argument and present conclusions. This thesis is based on the belief that physics laboratory work creates a special discourse, where the student becomes the actor and the teacher becomes the organiser and observer. Through analysis of students’ communication, the purpose is to better understand the physics laboratory work’s possibilities as a teaching and learning method. The results show that laboratory work consists of similar activities but differs in amount of time allocated to the different activities. Different types of talk are used for different purposes. An analytical framework has been created to enable deeper investigations of how and what students are talking about at both a linguistic and cognitive level. Moreover, the analysis shows the importance of students acquiring knowledge about physics and understanding the value of using an investigative approach as well as acquiring core content physics knowledge.