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