New Trends in Physics Education Research (Education in a Competitive and Globalizing World)

Those who operate in physics education frequently ask research operators for suggestions, reference models, updated content and answers for their professional work. So far, the sector has not achieved significant advances specifically in terms of both content updates and methodology approaches. In the special issue, titled New Trends in Physics Education Research, the authors, in addition to presenting some new topics in physics education, take into account the greater relevance that in recent years the Evidence Based Education has taken place. In this framework, the main points of issue include: 1) Dealing with new trends in teaching and learning processes in physics; highlighting new mathematics content for physics courses; 3) giving evidence of the key role played by laboratory activities in physics training courses; and 4) stressing the importance of interdisciplinary approaches as well as scientific culture, communication and dissemination. Physics teaching involves several fields and different disciplines (such as mathematics, philosophy, laboratory activities, etc.) where the same arguments are often explained without clarifying that often there is a close correlation between disciplines. In particular, an integrated theoretical and experimental approach can improve the knowledge of some subjects of physics and mathematics; furthermore, it is also useful to employ a joint approach with laboratory activities, and by doing so enriching topics of meaning. In such cases, mathematics provides the adapt tools for physics and also is able to drive physical intuition; on the other hand, physics and its laboratory activities provide simple access to mathematical topics of complex comprehension. The issue is addressed to academics and schoolteachers as well as researchers in the field of physics education.