Effects on growth mindset development of a teaching/learning sequence on surface phenomena

Abstract

In this paper we discuss some aspects of the design of a teaching/learning sequence (TLS) on surface phenomena for high school students, inspired by the ideas proposed by inquiry and investigative based learning approaches. A good understanding of surface phenomena is relevant in Physics and other scientific and technical fields. This, and the acknowledgement that traditional teaching methods used to introduce the basic concepts related to this topic have often proved to be not very effective in captivating students’ interest and in favoring authentic understanding of the related physical content drove us in choosing this physics topic. Furthermore, some considerations on a case study on the efficacy of the TLS on the development of a growth mindset are reported.