The Influence of "The Radiation Around Us" on Student Conceptual Understanding and Interest

Abstract

The MS thesis of the first author focuses on a special method of teaching called "Hypothesis–Experiment Class" (HEC), developed in Japan by Kiyonobu Itakura. In this method, the teacher is provided with a "Classbook" with which to conduct the lesson. In HEC, students are asked a question and choose between several possible answers. The number of votes for each answer choice is recorded on the blackboard. Individual learners are asked to explain why they chose one of the answer options. Afterwards, all learners have the opportunity to change their choice. Finally, an experiment decides which answer was the correct one. This process is repeated in a cycle with new questions and experiments. HEC has three goals (Itakura, 2019, p. 19-23): 1. make sure each and every student gains the ability to use the central theory or concept. 2. struc-ture the class so that most students report that they like both science and these science classes. 3. make all necessary preparations so that any teacher sufficiently passionate about education, not just special veteran teachers, will be able to teach this type of class. In my work, I will focus on the first and second goals for the Classbook "The Radiation Around Us" (TRAU), which deals with where ionizing radiation can be found in what amounts in our everyday life. The third goal of HEC is discussed in the accompanying paper first-authored by Markus Wintersteller.