Abstract
The differences between competences and understanding are explored and their complementarity is emphasised. As part of this, special attention is given to the communication process in education and to understanding as an internal learning outcome; these are illustrated by reference to difficulties faced by physics students who have autism spectrum disorders. There is discussion of the competences that physics degree course should aim to develop in students with special attention being paid to some basic aspects of communication competence and to the development of personal qualities. Some work done by the EUPEN Network and by the HOPE project is described. The process of degree programme design is described and examples are given of work in (a) developing a package of modules for self-paced flexible learning of mechanics, (b) development of “guided discovery learning” in nuclear physics and (c) Socratic dialogue methods in tutorials. Brief speculations are made concerning some possible implications of applications of artificial intelligence to education. Finally the essence of thinking like a physicist is illustrated by some quotations.
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Notes
- 1.
“The Fool on the Hill”, Music and Lyrics written by Lennon and McCartney, first recorded Abbey Road Studios, London, 1967. The interpretation given here is due to the present author.
- 2.
The Tuning Project (Europe) is described in a very large number of papers which can be found at http://tuning.unideusto.org/tuningeu.
- 3.
EUPEN (European Physics Education Network) has published a series of books based on the various specific projects it has engaged in. These have mostly been Thematic Network Projects funded in part by the European Commission in various programmes of the ERASMUS, Socrates, and Life-Long Learning Programmes. An example is “Inquiries into European Higher Education in Physics: Volume 7”. Universiteit Gent, 2003. ISBN 90-804859-6-9.
- 4.
HOPE (Horizons in Physics Education) is a project of the EUPEN Network, partly funded by the European Commission in the ERASMUS section of the Life-long Learning Programme (project number Nr 2013-3710_540130-LLP-1-2013-1-FR-ERASMUS-ENW), It is described in http://www.hopenetwork.eu.
- 5.
Presentation of Prof. Sara-Jayne Blakemore, University College London Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, at the meeting of SCORE at The Royal Society, London, on 24 Feb 2014. http://www.score-education.org/media/15383/final%20annual%20conference%20report%20-%20for%20website.pdf.
- 6.
Course Design for Resource Based Learning: Technology (Case Study 6), Editors F. Percival and G. Gibbs. The Oxford Centre of Staff Development, 1994. ISBN 1-873576-25-0.
- 7.
As told to the author by one of his students
- 8.
‘Surely you’re joking, Mr. Feynman!’, Richard Feynman (as told to Ralph Leighton), Edited by Edward Hutchings, first published by W.W. Norton 1985 then by Unwin Paperbacks, London, 1986. ISBN 0-04-530023-2.
Acknowledgments
As stated at the beginning, I owe a great debt to my students over many years but there are other individuals who have contributed greatly to my understanding of all of the above issues. These include:
Many colleagues at Imperial College in Physics, Neuroscience, Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science.
Many colleagues in the EUPEN network, particularly Luigi Dona dalle Rose (Padova, IT) and Hendrik Ferdinande (Ghent, BE), discussions with whom have had a very beneficial influence on me.
Colleagues in TUNING, particularly Robert Wagenaar and Julia Gonzalez.
Vanessa Aldis (Coombe Hill Junior School, UK) for extra insight into problems faced by students with Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Carlos Uribe (Uni-Valle, Cali, CO) with whom I had stimulating conversations on some of the above topics from a very different perspective.
I am very grateful to GIREP for inviting me to give a presentation at the conference.
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Jones, G. (2017). Competence and Understanding—A Personal Perspective. In: Greczyło, T., Dębowska, E. (eds) Key Competences in Physics Teaching and Learning. Springer Proceedings in Physics, vol 190. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44887-9_2
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