Norwegian Deaf Students' Concept Formation in the Subject of Physics, 1999

The purpose of this project was to examine deaf teachers' own assessment of the physics classes they took during high school, to find possible causes of how they developed a solid conceptual structure in the subject from such a weak foundation.

In 1988 and 1989 the first deal Norwegian pupils completed the full examination and graduated high school at a sign language school. Out of 8 students, 6 chose physics as a specialization subjuct. From these 5 went on to become teachers. At the same time another deaf student went to a technical college and later completed an exam to become a teacher. Of these 6 deaf teachers, 5 were able to participate in the study.

The interviewer / project leader was their former physics teacher.

The interviews were open conversations with the interviewees concerning subjects that they were made aware of in a letter before the interview took place. One of the interviews was with one interviewee and the other two were with two interviewees at the same time. The interviews were conducted in sign language and were filmed and translated to Norwegian by the interviewer. The written interviews were sent to the interviewees with the original video footage for approval of the translations and to give them the opportunity to add/subtract/change anything (No changes were made).

Main findings: The interviewees pointed out that the teaching of deaf students has changed dramatically since they went to elementary school. They even noticed this when they started high school. There were expectations and had to participate in daily discussions because this contributed to achieving good academic results.
A systematically structured teaching plan that emphasizes understanding concepts and the connections between them is important. The discussions in their own language, sign language, were also important and the development of a scientific terminology that happened in these classes had an impact on their understanding of concepts. Using experiments as an experience foundation for understanding was also important

本研究旨在探究聋人教师对其高中阶段物理课程的自我评估，以剖析他们如何在薄弱基础上构建起扎实的物理概念体系的潜在成因。

1988年与1989年，首批挪威聋人学生完成全部学业考核并从手语学校毕业。在8名毕业生中，有6人选择物理作为专攻科目，其中5人后续成为了物理教师；另有1名聋人学生就读于技术学院，后续亦通过考核成为教师。最终共有6名符合条件的聋人教师，其中5人成功参与了本研究。

本次研究的访谈者兼项目负责人为他们昔日的物理任课教师。

访谈采用开放式对话形式，访谈前会通过信函提前告知受访者需讨论的主题。本次访谈包含1次单人访谈与2次双人同步访谈，所有访谈均以手语开展，由访谈者录制视频并将内容翻译为挪威语。访谈的书面转录稿与原始视频素材一并发送给受访者，供其审核翻译内容，并允许其修改、补充或删减相关内容（最终未进行任何修改）。

主要研究发现如下：受访者指出，针对聋人学生的物理教学自其小学阶段以来已发生翻天覆地的变化，这一变化甚至在他们刚进入高中时便已有所体现。当时的教学要求学生必须参与日常课堂讨论，而这正是取得优异学业成绩的重要途径。以理解概念及其内在关联为核心的系统化结构化教学方案至关重要；使用受访者母语（手语）开展课堂讨论同样意义重大，且课堂上逐步形成的科学术语体系，对其物理概念的理解能力产生了深远影响。以实验作为理解物理知识的体验基础，亦是教学中的关键环节。