Abstract:

The teaching profession is going through a long-term crisis in Slovakia. Especially in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), young people's interest in becoming a teacher is not enough to cover the needs of lower and upper secondary schools.

Due to educational reforms in last 20 years, the number of physics lessons per week is decreasing. As a result, most physics teachers do not have at school a colleague with the same professional focus. The implemented reforms shift the emphasis from transmissive to active learning. At the same time, however, the level of practical skills that students used to acquire in their everyday life in the past is decreasing. The importance of informal and non-formal education is growing. The offer of various information sources that students encounter is growing, but their quality is very diverse. In the number of rapidly changing showy stimuli, it is increasingly difficult to attract students' attention, awaken and maintain curiosity, cultivate patience and sensitivity to details and interrelationships. Pandemic situation in the last two years has also significantly affected students’ learning habits and skills.

Above mentioned changes also affect applicants for studying physics teaching., of course. To maintain students’ interest and enthusiasm, to integrate students into the professional community and to build their professional confidence, we offer a new mandatory subject- an experiential camp in bachelor’s study program Teaching physics.

The theoretical background of the optional subject is based mainly on:
- the neuroscience in learning (Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2019)
- cognitive sciences and developmental psychology (Reif, 2010);
- theory of non-formal and informal education (Plakitsi, 2013);
- the "Knowledge in Pieces" theory (diSessa. 2018) and the theory of conceptual changes (Vosniadou, 2013).

References:
[1] diSessa A.A. 2018. A Friendly Introduction to “Knowledge in Pieces”: Modeling Types of Knowledge and Their Roles in Learning. In: Kaiser G., Forgasz H., Graven M., Kuzniak A., SimmtE., Xu B. (eds) Invited Lectures from the 13th International Congress on Mathematical Education. ICME-13 Monographs. Springer, Cham
[2] Plakitsi K. (Ed.) 2013. Activity Theory in Formal and Informal Science Education. Springer Science & Business Media, Sense Publishers. 2013, ISBN 978 94 6091 315 0, 253 pp.
[3] Reif, F. 2010. Applying Cognitive Science to Education. Thinking and Learning in Scientific and Other Complex Domains. MIT Press, 2010, ISBN 9780262515146, 496 pp.
[4] Tokuhama-Espinosa, T. 2019: Five Pillars of the Mind: Redesigning education to suit the brain. New York, NY: W.W. Norton
[5] Vosniadou, S. (Ed.), 2013. International Handbook of Research on Conceptual Change. New York : Routledge. 2013. ISBN 978 0 203 15447 2, 644 pp.

Keywords:

University education, pre-service physics teachers, optional subject.