Planning problem-based teaching and learning; an example of geometric optics in secondary education

Abstract

Planning problem-based teaching and learning topics requires to choose a guiding aim (what we would like to achieve for our students with the topic to deal with), a structural problem, and also to identify the big steps to reach its solution together with the possible associated obstacles. These decisions are based on a historical and epistemological study and on the previous educational research in the field (Duit et al, 2005; Furió et al, 2006; Verdú et al, 2002). The potential importance of these decisions to improve teaching and learning is tested by means of an empirical study. The data gained in this empirical study are then used to make a sequence of activities for the classroom into the problematized framework initially selected. In this paper we show the results of such a process in planning problem-based light and vision’s teaching in Secondary Education (14-16 years old students).