Modern physics and how to get there: teaching and learning quantum physics in secondary school – outline of a research project

The research presented in this paper is concerned with the learning and teaching of modern physics topics in secondary school. The main research question is ‘what content and structure of an upper level physics curriculum could lead to a for pupils meaningful introduction to modern physics?’This paper focuses on the research questions and methodology of the first, most concrete and empirical part of the research: a reasonably deep evaluation of the ‘average learning path’ of pupils in a project course on quantum physics, and the feasibility of this project for teachers. For this evaluation we used a variety of qualitative and semi-quantitative methods, including class room observations, interviews with pupils and teachers and questionnaires. Results are not yet presented, they are planned to be published in 2005.