Young teachers, especially teachers educated for upper secondary school, find it difficult to organize and plan lessons according to the knowledge and ability of their pupils. Furthermore they know only little of educational research and have a limited awareness of different possibilities for presenting the subject matter.
To overcome these shortages we conduct a seminar on physics education with two objectives: The students should learn to know quite different methods applicable in physics lessons – kind of a a ''tool kit''. This practical aspect was embedded in a theoretical foundation on the basis of a learning theory which focussed on the activation of students (or pupils). During a seminar there are presented more than ten different methods to be used in physics lessons. The students decide which method and which physics content they want to present in a class like situation. During this lesson the “pupils” and their reactions to the presented content - interest, annoyment etc - are videographed and later analysed in the group on the basis of a theoretical reflection. The experiences show that the students gain confidence in trying unusual methods. Furthermore they discuss possible learning difficulties that might be encountered by pupils at school. This was especially visible in a seminar jointly attended by student teachers for upper secondary school and lower secondary school. These students acted with quite different backgrounds which led to very fruitful discussions for all of them.
So in this seminar we connect the aspects of practical activity, subject knowledge and results from research on learning processes.