Teaching radioactivity in high schools - tested activity

Učna snov o radioaktivnosti je tema, ki jo dijaki spoznajo proti koncu šolskega leta v tretjem letniku gimnazijskega programa fizike. Zaradi prenatrpanosti učnega načrta profesorji velikokrat prenesejo učno snov o radioaktivnosti v četrti letnik, ko se dijaki pripravljajo na opravljanje mature iz fizike. Tako se z omenjeno tematiko srečajo samo maturantje, ki so si za izbirni predmet izbrali fiziko, ostala populacija pa z radioaktivnostjo ni seznanjena. Različne raziskave iz osemdesetih let in sedaj opozarjajo, da dijaki in širša javnost ne razume znanstvenih konceptov, pojmov, kar vpliva na percepcijo novic in dojemanje strahu. Dijaki pridobijo znanje o vrstah radioaktivnih razpadov, iz lastnih izkušenj in po pripovedovanju profesorjev pa je znano, da se poučevanje o radioaktivnosti tu konča. Posledica je, da dijaki ne pridobijo dovolj znanja ter sposobnosti, da bi se v vsakdanjem življenju lahko spopadli z goro novic in senzacionalnimi poročanji o jedrskih nesrečah in sevanju nasploh. Testirana in razvita aktivnost na temo radioaktivnosti vzpodbuja profesorje, da bi poučevanje o vrstah radioaktivnih razpadov nadgradili, pri tem pa bi uporabili predstavljeno predlogo aktivnosti, ki traja dve šolski uri. Hkrati bi tako omogočili dijakom tudi bolj poglobljeno znanje o sevanju in radioaktivnosti, o varstvu pred sevanjem radioaktivnih snovi, o ionizirajočem sevanju, obenem pa bi dijaki razvijali kritično mišljenje in presojanje. Aktivnost sem testirala v treh razredih na Gimnaziji Bežigrad. Analiza je bila narejena ob opazovanju z udeležbo, s sprotno evalvacijo po koncu vsake ure z dijaki, s samoevalvacijo ter z intervjuji profesorjev. Izsledki testiranja nakazujejo, da je aktivnost primerna za tretje letnike proti koncu šolskega leta, saj je sproščena, dijake vzpodbuja k sprotnemu sodelovanju, ni zahtevna, a je hkrati polna fizikalne vsebine. Analiza je pokazala, da so dijaki pri aktivnosti s timskim delom uspešno reševali probleme, kljub temu da dela v skupinah niso navajeni in imajo različno predznanje. Dodatno sem analizirala tudi vpliv različnih navodil na delo skupine: navodila, ki so bolj strukturirana in artikulirana z navdušenjem, naloga pa je primerljiva s situacijo iz vsakdanjega življenja, imajo večji vpliv na motivacijo skupin. Dijaki so bolj osredotočeni na problem, ki ga rešijo hitreje, njihovi odgovori pa so razloženi in utemeljeni. Poleg poudarka na vsebini aktivnosti sem pazila tudi na tehnični vidik, saj vse šole nimajo inventarja, ki bi jim omogočal izvedbo kateregakoli eksperimenta. Zato sem pri razvijanju poskušala uporabili kar se da osnovne tehnične stvari, kot so detektor sevanja, radioaktivni viri ter absorpcijske plasti. Za potrebe aktivnosti je potrebna izdelava iskrnega števca, ki pa vsebuje zelo malo elementov, zato sestava ni težka. Hkrati je predstavljena tudi alternativa, ki ne zahteva njegove uporabe. V magistrskem delu so našteta tudi podjetja, pri katerih lahko šola dokupi in dopolni svoj inventar.Students come across radioactivity as a theme in the curriculum of physics in the third class at the end of the school year. Because of overfull curriculum, professors usually pass the radioactivity theme into the fourth year, when students prepare themselves for a final physics exam, a part of matura. Only these students are acquainted with this topics and the rest of student population does not come across with radioactivity at all. Many different researchers from the eighties and more recent periods concluded that students and general public do not understand scientific terms and concepts, which effects on perception of media news and fear. Accordingly to curriculum, students get the knowledge about different radioactive decays. However, based on my experiences and professors\u27 claims, this knowledge is not enough for understanding the radioactivity phenomena. Consequently, for everyday\u27s life, students do not have enough knowledge and abilities to cope with sensational media news about nuclear accidents and radiation in general. Tested and developed activity about radioactivity encourages professors to upgrade their teaching about different radioactive decays. They can use the template of activity that is elaborated here, which takes two school hours. At the same time, they will enable students greater knowledge about radioactivity, about safety measures, ionizing radiation and simultaneously, students will get the opportunity to develop critical thinking and judging. Activity was tested in three classrooms of Gimnazija Bežigrad. Participant observation, real-time evaluations with the students, self-evaluation and interviews with teachers were used to analyse the testing. Results show that the activity is suitable for the third year\u27s students for the end of the school year. Activity creates relax atmosphere because of its incomplexity and at the same time, it is full of physics content. Analyses showed that students did successfully solve the problems with teamwork, even though they are not used to work in groups and they have different prior knowledge, too. I also researched how different instructions effect on teamwork. Better structured and articulated instructions for the problem that can be applied in everyday\u27s life have a stronger effect on group motivation. Students are more focused on a problem solving and their answers are explained and justified. In addition to the content of the activity, I bore in mind also a technical aspect. All schools do not have the same inventory, which will enable the execution of any kind of experiment. Therefore I tried to design the activity with basic technical things, for example, a radiation detector, radioactive materials and different layers for absorption. For activity, a spark counter is needed too. However, making is not complicated because it has only a few elements. At the same time, an alternative is presented, which does not require a spark counter. Additionally, a list of companies states the best possibilities for schools\u27 purchases, if they decide to buy new inventory