A Pedagogical Approach to History and Philosophy of Physics for Physics Teacher Education

This article describes a model of pedagogical intervention in history and philosophy of physics in physics teacher education. This model is focussed on developing a critical knowledge on some selected founding concepts of physics in their historical context, as well as on the development of an adequate knowledge of the Nature of Science as it was developed in the twentieth century Philosophy of Science. These three contributions (foundations and history of physics, philosophy of science) are intended to cooperate in developing a rich conception of the Nature of Physics, in order to enhance student teachers' meta-reflection, with the aim of improving the effectiveness of their future pedagogical intervention. This model has been implemented in a Course for the Graduate Program of pre-service teacher education at the University of Palermo, Italy. Early results are reported.