Scientific Publications

2024

• A hands-on activity to introduce the structure of NV-center quantum bits in diamond
  Physics Education. 59 (4)
  Ockhorst, R., Koopman, L., Pols, C.F.J.
  
  For the start of a secondary school level lesson series on quantum computing, we designed a hands-on modeling activity where students construct a model diamond lattice with a nitrogen vacancy (NV) defect. NV centers find application as qubits and sensitive magnetometers. This activity aims to help students visualize the structure of such NV centers within the diamond lattice, making the subject matter more tangible. The activity has proven to be challenging but feasible. It features both collaborative and competitive elements thereby surely creating an energizing buzz in the classroom.



• The Vitruvian Man: An Introduction to Measurement and Data Analysis
  The Physics Teacher. 62
  Pols, C.F.J.
  
  Valuable learning objectives of (experimental) physics education include developing in students the ability to design adequate methods and procedures, analyze data, and draw appropriate conclusions, including the specification of limitations to the validity. We have specified these learning goals as the understandings of evidence (UoE) —insights and views that an experimental researcher relies on in constructing and evaluating scientific evidence. To build a foundation on which we can further develop these insights in my first-year physics lab course, I have redesigned an activity that is part of a teaching–learning sequence on scientific inquiry in secondary education. With this activity, deep questions about science, methodology, and validity are raised using simple means. I present the details pertaining to the intervention, the learning goals, and questions that can be addressed during this activity. Possibilities to adopt, adapt, and expand the activity are provided.



• Redesigning a first year physics lab course on the basis of the procedural and conceptual knowledge in science model
  Physical Review: Physics Education Research 20 (1)
  Pols, C.F.J., Dekkers, P.J.J.M.
  
  [This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Instructional labs: Improving traditions and new directions.] Acknowledgement of the limited learning outcomes in our first-year physics lab course, strikingly similar to the observed and reported issues in literature, incited renewal of the course with a focus on developing students’ ability to engage in experimental physics research. The procedural and conceptual knowledge (PACKS) model—addressing different types of knowledge required for scientific investigation—was used as a “guide” in the transformation of the course. This educational design research study—distinguishing three stages—describes our approach in transforming the course and provides theoretical insights and practical solutions through the combined study of both the process of learning and the means that support that process. The merits and trade-offs of our approach and the effectiveness of the course transformation are evaluated through surveys, interviews, and assessment of students’ inquiry skills. The findings provide insights into the application of the PACKS model and its effectiveness in facilitating students’ development of physics inquiry abilities. The results reveal an alignment between perceived, attained and intended learning goals. The self-conceived experiment at the end of the course showcases students’ successful integration of the targeted knowledge types, previously addressed in isolated “preparatory” activities. We argue that the PACKS-model and the design principles are useful attributes when transforming a traditional lab activity, but also specify the limitations.



• Integrating argumentation in physics inquiry: a design and evaluation study
  Physical Review: Physics Education Research 19 (2)
  Pols, C.F.J., Dekkers, P.J.J.M., de Vries, M.J.
  
  This small scale, qualitative study uses educational design research to explore how focusing on argumentation may contribute to students learning to engage in inquiry independently. Understanding of inquiry as the construction of a scientifically cogent argument in support of a claim may encourage students to develop personal reasons for adhering to scientific criteria and to use these with understanding rather than by rote. An understanding of the characteristics of scientific evidence may clarify why doing inquiry in specific ways is important, in addition to the how. On the basis of five design principles – derived from literature – that integrate argumentation in inquiry and enhance learning through practical activities, we developed a teaching-learning sequence of five activities aimed at developing inquiry knowledge in lower secondary school students. By means of observations of a grade 9 physics class (N=23, aged 14-15), students’ answers to worksheets and self-reflection questions, we explored whether the design principles resulted in intended students’ actions and attitudes. We studied whether the activities stimulated students to engage in argumentation and to develop the targeted inquiry knowledge. The focus on argumentation, specifically through critical evaluation of the quality of evidence, persuaded students to evaluate whether what they thought, said or claimed was ‘scientifically’ justifiable and convincing. They gradually uncovered key characteristics of scientific evidence, understandings of what counts as convincing in science, and why. Rather than adopting and practicing the traditional inquiry skills, students in these activities developed a cognitive need and readiness for learning such skills. Of their own accord, they used their gained insights to make deliberate decisions about collecting reliable and valid data and substantiating the reliability of their claims. This study contributes to our understanding of how to enable students to successfully engage in inquiry by extending the theoretical framework for argumentation towards teaching inquiry and by developing a tested educational approach derived from it.



• The Scientific Graphic Organizer for lab work
  The Physics Teacher. 61
  Pols, C.F.J.
  
  Secondary school students frequently engage in lab work. Often they are asked to write a report afterwards. But if we just want to know whether they did what they were supposed to do and learned what was intended, is it then necessary to have students write an extensive lab report? Writing consumes a lot of time, and with a report we mostly assess students’ ability to communicate clearly. To formatively assess both aspects of lab work (doing the practical and learning from it) without increasing the teacher’s workload (reports piling up), I developed the Scientific Graphic Organizer (SGO). The SGO can be regarded as a pre-structured but simplified lab journal suited for quantitative physics inquiry (QPI) in which a quantitative relation between variables is sought. In the SGO all essential information is provided to produce a fair judgement of students’ doing and learning in and from lab work. In this paper I present the SGO and its features, along with my personal experience in using the SGO for lab work.

2023

• One setup for many experiments: Enabling versatile student-led investigations
  Physics Education. 59
  Pols, C.F.J.
  This article presents an experimental setup capable of conducting various experiments. The setup is used to accurately determine the acceleration due to gravity using either the pendulum or free fall experiment, as well as to allow students to conceive and conduct their own experiment. We discuss the design of the setup and the experiments conducted with it, highlighting the versatility and potential use for open inquiry. We include students’ perception on this particular experiment and how it led to an interesting and educational open inquiry.



• Development of a teaching-learning sequence for scientific inquiry through argumentation in secondary physics education
  Dissertation
  Pols, C.F.J.
  
  Enabling students to engage in independent scientific inquiry is a highly valued but seemingly elusive goal of (secondary school) science education. Therefore, this study aims to determine and understand how to effectively develop inquiry knowledge in students. The chosen approach to enable students to plan, carry out and evaluate a physics inquiry, is to regard an inquiry as the construction of a scientifically cogent argument for a specific claim. In an authentic scientific inquiry, the researcher invests - from the very start of the inquiry - time and effort in making the inquiry’s claim as indisputable as possible. The researcher strives for optimal cogency of the argument in support of that claim. Throughout the various studies in this thesis it is argued that this idea can be translated to classroom situations: fostering the insight that students’ inquiry should result in a complete, correct and substantiated answer to the research question. It is shown that this is a meaningful strategy in enabling them to engage in independent scientific inquiry: it results in a cognitive need in students to develop the knowledge that allows them to produce such an answer. As such, this thesis shows that argumentation is an indispensable part of teaching scientific inquiry. Explicit attention for argumentation promotes development of students’ inquiry knowledge.



• Education in the Applied Physics Bachelor Programme at Delft University of Technology
  Book. M.J. de Vries (ed).
  Pols, C.F.J., Hut, R. W.
  
  Two mandatory courses that use maker education as learning activity are included in the applied physics bachelor programme at Delft University of Technology. In this chapter we provide the rationale for its inclusion, the associated learning goals, and the need for a makerspace with readily available makertools. We highlight the design of the makerspace and describe how it affected education. Finally, we illustrate how this all accumulates in a final project.



• Data Collection: Shifting focus on meaning making during practical work
  Physics Education. 58
  Pols, C.F.J., Diepenbroek, P.
  
  In practical work focussing on conceptual development, students spend valuable in-class time on collecting data rather than making sense out of it. This provides a barrier to learning about the targeted concept. To address this problem, we developed an approach that we coin collaborative data collection. Using a practical on the topic density, we describe this approach and illustrate how the focus of practical work shifts away from mere data-collection towards meaning making. Although a single practical is described, the approach can be applied to other practicals as well.

2022

• "Would you dare to jump?” Fostering a scientific approach to secondary physics inquiry
  International Journal of Science Education, 44(9): 1481-1505
  Pols, C.F.J., Dekkers, P.J.J.M., de Vries, M.J.
  
  Secondary school students often only use the rules for doing scientific inquiry when prompted, as if they fail to see the point of doing so. This qualitative design study explores conditions to address this problem in school science inquiry. Dutch students (N= 22, aged 14–15) repeatedly consider the quality of their work: in a conventional, guided inquiry approach; by evaluating their conclusion in terms of the contextual purpose of the investigation; as consumers of knowledge facing the (hypothetical) risk of applying the findings in the real world. By gauging students’ confidence in the inquiry’s trustworthiness, we established that, while each confrontation instigated some students to (re)consider the quality of their inquiry, the final stage had the greatest impact. Students came to see that finding trustworthy results is essential, requiring scientific standards. The scientific quality of their inquiries was described, weaknesses identified and compared with the improvements students themselves proposed for their inquiries. While the improvemens were expressed in non-specific terms these align with a scientific perspective. Students now wanted to find trustworthy answers by exploiting scientific standards. In enabling students to engage successfully in basic scientific inquiry, finding ways to establish students’ mental readiness for attending to the quality of their scientific claims, and of personalised scientific criteria for their assessment, is indispensable.



• Defining and Assessing Understandings of Evidence with the Assessment Rubric for Physics Inquiry - Towards Integration of Argumentation and Inquiry
  Physical Review Physics Education Review
  Pols, C.F.J., Dekkers, P.J.J.M., de Vries, M.J.
  
  Physics inquiry can be interpreted as the construction of a cogent argument in which students apply inquiry knowledge and knowledge of physics to the systematic collection of relevant, valid, and reliable data, creating optimal scientific support for a conclusion that answers the research question. In learning how to devise, conduct and evaluate a rigorous physics inquiry, students should learn to choose and apply suitable techniques and adhere to scientific conventions that guarantee the collection of such data. However, they also need to acquire and apply an understanding of how to justify their choices and present an optimally convincing argument in support of their conclusion. In this modified and augmented Delphi study we present a view of inquiry knowledge and a way to assess it that acknowledges both of these components. Using our own expertise with teaching physics inquiry and using curriculum documents on physics inquiry, “inquiry knowledge” is deconstructed as a set of “understandings of evidence” (UOE) — insights and views that an experimental researcher relies on in constructing and evaluating scientific evidence. While insights cannot be observed directly, we argue that their presence can be inferred from a student’s actions and decisions in inquiry, inferred with more definitude as a more explicit and adequate justification is provided. This set of UOE is presented and validated as an adequate, coherent, partially overlapping set of learning goals for introductory inquiry learning. We specify conceivable types of actions and decisions expected in inquiry as descriptors of five attainment levels, providing an approach to assessing the presence and application of inquiry knowledge. The resulting construct, the assessment rubric for physics inquiry, is validated in this study. It distinguishes nineteen UOE divided over six phases of inquiry. Preliminary results suggesting a high degree of ecological validity are presented and evaluated. Several directions for future research are proposed.

2021

• Students’ report on an open inquiry
  Physics Education, 56(6), 063007.
  Pols, C.F.J., Duynkerke, L., van Arragon, J., van Prooijen, K., van der Goot, L., & Bera, B.
  
  As part of the final projects of our introductory lab course, students conceived experiments related to the umbrella topic of ‘Physics of toys and sports’ and carried out the experiments at their homes. This paper revisits two of these experiments described by student teams and illustrates how self-conceived experiments provide opportunities to truly engage students in doing science.



• What’s inside the pink box? A Nature of Science activity for teachers and students
  Physics Education, 56(4), 045004.
  Pols, C.F.J.
  
  Although learning about Nature of Science (NOS) promotes a variety of important outcomes, teachers often lack suitable activities for younger students to effectively address NOS. In this article I elaborate on a NOS activity developed for a teacher professionalisation workshop. The activity is suited for younger students as well, where clear links are made between elements of the activity and how science works.



• The Sound of Music: Determining Young’s Modulus using a Guitar String
  Physics Education, 56 (3), 035027.
  Pols, C.F.J.
  
  When a new topic is introduced in the curriculum, teachers seek various ways to teach students the related concepts. For the novel topic ‘materials’ in the revised Dutch curriculum, I developed an experiment in which students determine Young’s modulus using a guitar string. The experiment not only covers several concepts related to ‘materials’ it also provides a clear link to the physics of music and illustrates to students, aged 16, why the topic ‘materials’ could be of interest.

2020

• What do they know? Investigating students' ability to analyse experimental data in secondary physics education
  International Journal of Science Education, 43(2): 1-24.
  Pols, C.F.J., Dekkers, P.J.J.M., de Vries, M.J.
  
  This paper explores students’ ability to analyse and interpret empirical data as inadequate data analysis skills and understandings may contribute to the renowned disappointing outcomes of practical work in secondary school physics. Selected competences, derived from a collection of leading curricula, are explored through interviews and practical tasks, each consisting of three probes. The 51 students, aged 15 and commencing post-compulsory science education in the Netherlands, were able to carry out basic skills such as collecting data and representing these. In interpreting the data in terms of the investigated phenomenon or situation however, performance was weak. Students often appeared to be unable to identify the crucial features of a given graph. Conclusions based on the data were often tautological or superficial, lacking salient features. Students failed to infer implications from the data, to interpret data at a higher level of abstraction, or to specify limitations to the validity of the analysis or conclusions. The findings imply that the students’ understanding of data-analysis should be developed further before they can engage successfully in more ‘open’ practical work. The study offers a collection of activities that may help to address the situation, suggesting a baseline for guided development of data analysis abilities.



• Teaching a hands-on course during corona lockdown: from problems to opportunities
  Physics Education 55 (6), 065022.
  Hut, R.W., Pols, C.F.J., Verschuur, D.J.
  
  Teaching a hands- and minds-on course, in which feedback is essential in order to learn, is difficult, especially in times of COVID-19 where student progression cannot be monitored directly. During the lockdown period, the workshops of an undergraduate Design Engineering course had to be transferred to the home situation, which required a redesign of this course by the staff. It also provided new opportunities for students to adapt to this situation, which required extra creativity and problem-solving skills. The adapted workshops revealed conditions that enhance maker education. However, providing timely feedback required a substantial amount of time not anticipated for. We also report that short instruction videos seem to work much better than longer lectures or tedious materials. As we practice what we preach, we will evaluate the course and apply our design knowledge acquired over the years.



• A pandemic-resilient open-inquiry physical science lab course which leverages the Maker movement
  The Electronic Journal for Research in Science & Mathematics Education 24(3).
  Bradbury, F.R., Pols, C.F.J.
  
  Without any major changes, a pilot version of a physical science lab course was able to continue when the COVID-19 crisis necessitated the abrupt suspension of on-campus education. The ‘Maker Lab’ course, in which students conceive and set up their own experiments using affordable microcontrollers, required students to follow the entire arc of the empirical research cycle twice. The facilitation of such open-inquiry projects was based on the literature on teaching the process of experimental research and scientific methodology. The flipped classroom approach was used, where contact time is devoted to discussions and the students’ actual experiments were carried out independently at home or elsewhere without the supervision of an instructor. Despite the COVID-19 measures, all students were able to produce interesting and successful research projects. While there were of course difficulties encountered in the abrupt transition to online teaching, we found several counterbalancing advantages that bear consideration for including the instructional method even when all teaching activities can return to campus. We believe that three components in the design of the course were vital to the resilience of the course: the choice for fully open-inquiry projects, the decision to use Arduinos as measurement tools, and the flipped aspect of the instruction methods. We also include considerations for adapting these pandemic-resilient methods in other courses and programs.



• A Physics Lab Course in Times of COVID-19
  The Electronic Journal for Research in Science & Mathematics Education 24(2): 172-178.
  Pols, C.F.J.
  
  Due to the coronavirus lockdown, home experiments were devised for our first-year physics lab course. In this practitioner contribution we elaborate on the guided inquiries that were set up. Students could carry out the experiments with standard tools available at home, including sensors mobile phones are equipped with. Various design principles stemming from the literature were used that are meant to encourage the development of inquiry skills. The switch from prescribed to more open experiments allowed us to focus on the quality of the inquiry rather than judging the quality of the final report alone. Students tried to produce sound research but often did not make optimal choices. We were not able to provide adequate feedback during their investigations. How students carried out the experiments shows that the current course does not adequately develop the highly valued inquiry skills to set up an independent scientific experiment. We expect the design principles to be transferable to other science subjects and can be used by other practitioners when students have to stay at home.

2019

• Introducing argumentation in inquiry—a combination of five exemplary activities
  Physics Education 54 (5), 055014.
  Pols, C.F.J., Dekkers, P.J.J.M., de Vries, M.J.
  
  Successfully carrying out a secondary school physics inquiry requires a considerable amount of procedural and content knowledge. It further requires knowledge of how and why maintaining scientific standards produces the best available answer to the given research question. To this purpose, a series of five inquiry activities was developed and tested in a single case study with students aged 14. The test shows that students indeed come to use a more scientific approach to inquiry tasks and understand why they should do so. We believe that this series of activities can serve as a starting point for more complex physics inquiries.