For fellow physicists, who will read, my record is based on personal attendance at the Seminar and the Collected Works of the 38th Republic Seminar on Physics Teaching, No. 10, ISSN 2406 - 2626.
At the foot of Kopaonik in Brzeće from 13th May to 15th May 2021. (The school year 2020/2021), the Republic seminar on teaching physics was held. This seminar, based on accreditation and previous experiences, included invited lectures, workshops, oral presentations, scientific papers and papers from teaching practice, as well as a poster section, discussion of current topics at a round table, with a presentation of teaching tools, books, and other publications. According to the established scheme, the lectures by invitation included a lecture on the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2019 and 2020, on graphic tasks, on the action and membrane potential, on the transuranium element and Pavle Savić's contribution to fission research, and various teaching possibilities.
An interesting and certainly inspiring fact is that at this seminar, as many as nine teachers, who can be proud of the title of the Best educator in Serbia given by the "Živojin Mišić" Association, were present and active. Their activities were diverse and ranged from specific lectures, workshops, and participation in publishing to participation and membership in the decision-making bodies of the Serbian Physical Society.
Marinko Petković, employed at the school for primary and secondary education Milan Petrović in Novi Sad, together with a group of authors and associates from the Department of Physics in Novi Sad, held a lecture called "Alternative methods of teaching physics to students with disabilities." In the lecture, there were presented methods of working with children with disabilities that can have a positive effect on learning and acquiring the necessary skills. These methods are usually characterized as alternatives. Within them are the methods:
- Social stories
- Cartoon
- Music therapy
- Infographics
- Constant time delays
In addition to the well-attended lecture, colleague Marinko, together with professors from the Department of Physics, held a workshop entitled "Inclusion in the teaching physics - challenges and opportunities." The workshop first discussed the education of children with disabilities, its reliance on the UN resolution from 1948. Then, the historical story that follows the introduction of IEP (Individualized Education Plan) in the Serbian educational system was presented. Special attention is paid to the formation of the pedagogical profile of students, then the adjustment of workspace, and finally the adjustment of work methods, teaching tools, and aids, with the intention that teaching for these students is efficient and helpful.
Slavoljub Mitić, a physics teacher from the Svetozar Marković Gymnasium in Niš, gave an interesting lecture on experimental practical, presenting a new curriculum in the second grade of the gymnasium. Colleague Mitić informed his colleagues in detail how to set up practical, organize students, which teaching tools can be used, and which can be adequately replaced. The exercises are planned in three cycles - Molecular Kinetic Theory and Thermodynamics, Fluid Dynamics and Molecular Forces and the Aggregate States; Electricity.
In addition to "real" practical, colleague Mitić also used FET simulations, with the information that they can be used online or be installed on a computer. In addition to the above, he provided an opportunity for teachers who listened to his lecture to digitally connect and use the resources he created and posted on the Moodle platform and Google Drive. This e-learning platform has a wide range of possibilities, such as: creating courses, educational material, organizing the learning process, but also monitoring the progress of each student individually. Due to all the above advantages of the Moodle platform, colleague Mitić warmly recommends it in regular and online teaching.
At this physics seminar, colleague Biljana Živković, from the Vuk Stefanović Karadžić Elementary School from Kragujevac, was the co-author of two professional papers in the form of lectures. Three physics teachers, awarded by the Association "Živojin Mišić", Ana Marković, a physics teacher from Kragujevac, permanently employed at the First Kragujevac Gymnasium, and Ivana Krulj, a physics teacher at the Academy of Technical-Educational Vocational Studies in Vranje, collaborated on both works.
The first paper entitled "New models of teaching physics" was very inspiringly presented by colleague Ana Marković. It concerned new models in teaching physics, with an emphasis on the method Lazy teachers. This method aroused significant interest in the hall, partly because of its name. In addition to the Lazy Teachers method, my colleague Ana presented integrative teaching by giving particular examples (marking the π day), then the method of learning by pages (vs escape room), and experiments in physics (vs M - learning). The work aims to make a different approach to physics and to contribute to the increase in motivation and permanent acquisition of knowledge by students. Colleagues stated in the Collected Works important references that can further guide the interested teacher to use them for independent work and the application of these innovative approaches.
The second work, which was written by our award-winning educators, Ivana Krulj and Biljana Živković (with two other co-authors), entitled "Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 75 years later" was also noticed and provoked a number of comments, given that this topic is relevant during every period. The paper is conceptualized in the form of integrative teaching.
The authors emphasize the importance of pre-preparing students for class, forming a Viber group, joint preparation on Google Drive, selecting content, informing students, and jointly creating a PPT presentation. As part of the preparation for the paper, students also prepare questions for division into groups and encode answers with QR codes along with the creation of Google questionnaires and Kahu surveys for quick class evaluation and outcome assessment. Students form differently oriented groups that cooperate, for example, tourist guides, historians, geographers, physicists, etc.
The educational significance of this class is reflected in the fact that students, in an interactive way, in a digital environment, acquired, connected, and applied knowledge from different subjects (physics, history, and geography) about one significant event in the history of humankind.
In addition to one workshop and four lectures given by our five best educators, one of our teachers, Marina Dorocki, a physics teacher at the Isidora Sekulić High School in Novi Sad, is in the process of recording experimental exercises for the digital edition of physics, by the publishing house Klet. Meanwhile, other educators were active in decision-making bodies. These are a physics teacher, Vladan Mladenović from Aleksinac High School and Ivan Vušović Elementary School, who was a representative of physicists in the National Educational Council of the Republic of Serbia, than Dragana Milićević, a former physics teacher from Kruševac High School, now employed in the Kruševac City Administration as coordinator of environmental education, also a delegate of the DFS assembly and a representative of the Raška district; Tatjana Marković Topalović in the status of a member of the Board of directors of the Serbian Physical Society in charge of vocational schools in Serbia.