Развитие педагогических компетенций у обучающихся программ магистерской подготовки направления 03.04.02 Физика

Национальный исследовательский Томский политехнический университет

Relevance. Competences in Pedagogy for Students within the Master's Degree Studies in 03.04.02 Physics. Educating next generations in engineering and fundamental sciences to ensure country competitiveness is a vital task. It is stated in the Decree of the President of Russian Federation dated as 07.05.2024 No. 309 that educating next generations within professional training is of actuality [8]. Development of science and technologies is stated in the Decree of the President of Russian Federation dated as 28.02.2024 No. 145 [9]. Engineering and Physics are the front-end fields in science that require life-long learning skills in present-day students developing and maturing as professionals in the chosen direction of specialization. Thus, it is acknowledged that priorities lie in

РАЗВИТИЕ ПЕДАГОГИЧЕСКИХ КОМПЕТЕНЦИЙ У ОБУЧАЮЩИХСЯ ПРОГРАММ МАГИСТЕРСКОЙ ПОДГОТОВКИ НАПРАВЛЕНИЯ 03.04.02 ФИЗИКА providing not only professional skills and competences but also skills and competences to ensure self-training and education and educate next generation of professionals and teachers in science and engineering.

Engineering education and training has its aim in moving research and development to breakthroughs and this implies educating and training next generation of researchers, engineers, technicians passing over knowledge and skills on how to manage self-development, teach others, in all tiers of education. Education and training also imply developing learning strategies, and bringing up shared socially-viable values [1]. Talented teachers and tutors may spring out from researchers, scientists, engineers; however, talent has to be nourished and cultivated. Thus, engineering degrees curricula at universities encompass pedagogical training courses, aiming at competences and skills for teaching and learning in higher education. Mastering such courses enables acquisition of skills for adaptation and development of real observable science phenomena and research materials into teaching aids as in engineering education one can teach new only from practical experience based on the experimental works performed in research teams and executing research and development projects for industrial and other partners.

Earlier this strategic direction was announced by the Government of Russian Federation as introduction of pedagogy courses into non-pedagogical majors [1]. According to newly accepted Federal law dated as 16 April 2025 [10]; pedagogical competences to obtain new qualification are to be offered solely by state organizations. The Division of Experimental Physics at Tomsk polytechnic university (TPU) is revisiting its academic curricula with pedagogical competences for master's degree and other tiers of university learners [2]. We presume such training can start with revamped courses in pedagogical training for master's degree students of engineering majors, namely in the specializa- tion of Physics. The competences in teaching and learning physics are vital to perceive, digest and communicate information about Physics in the world around us to other people, learners regardless of their professional background in Physics, age, job position, etc. Explaining Physics is the skill to master. Physics is a highly visual discipline which would require explanation, experiments and demonstrations as well as other teaching aids including visualization, simulations and other materials to convey the essence of physics laws and phenomena [16].

Within this paper we consider the delivery of the course “Pedagogical Practice. Basics of Pedagogy”, for TPU master's degree program “Condensed Matter Physics” delivered in English as medium of instruction within specialization in 03.04.02 Physics [6].

The course comprises 36 contact hours including 16 hours in-person sessions (8 hours for lectures and 8 hours for seminars) and 20 hours of independent studies [3; 6]. The course has been redesigned with formative assessment procedures (from five to seven) and piloted in spring semester of 2023–2024 academic year and autumn semester 2024–2025 to enable students to accumulate their learning achievements within the assessment tasks and earn grades into learner's teaching and learning portfolio. The accumulative nature of the courses' learning outcomes is within the methodology of learner's portfolio [13].

Within the course, a student not only receives tasks to complete but during studies a student also fills in the self-reflection and self-evaluation lists to reflect on, analyse his (her) learning progress and achievements and adjust certain learning behavior as on analogy given in [15]. For example, a self-reflective learner may say that she (he) is able to identify questions that can be tested in experiment and provides evidence for this competence development. All adjustments and recommendations for learner's progress are to be discussed and ver- ified with the course instructor before proceeding to their implementation.

The nature of Physics as the science discipline influences the way university course instructors may see and understand teaching practice and the theory of teaching and learning [14] that can be offered to master's degree students majoring in Physics, in our case, in Condensed Matter Physics. As presumed here, being able to explain physics laws and phenomena, teach how to operate equipment and instrumentation, plan and conduct experimental works and interpret the data of experiments, etc. [5], these skills in Physics as subject under study at university are to be translated via the content of the course under discussion.

Thus, according to the course details [3] a student is to be able to: • design a session plan for the tertiary level of education within the field of topics in Condensed Matter Physics for bachelor degree students;

• •    implement the knowledge of teaching styles and learning principles in his/er session design and teaching;

• •    search for the resources and references for a selected topic, adapt and transform the material into teaching and learning aids for bachelor degree students in Condensed Matter Physics;

• •    consider and acknowledge in his/ er teaching the cultural and linguistic and academic background differences of target audience of learners – bachelor degree students;

• •    design tasks, activities, problems or select appropriate ones for the topic, level of learner's proficiency in Physics, Condensed Matter Physics in particular, formulate adequate learning goals and objectives and assessment objectives;

• •    perform self-reflection on his/er work as a teacher, educator, teaching aids designer and sessions developer.

Teaching Aids and Materials for the course “Pedagogical Practice. Basics of Pedagogy”. This section provides an example of an interactive activity for session (lesson) planning comprising the stages of a ses- sion (lesson) plan and attributed reference materials. The task was tested in English as the medium of instruction for the master's degree program in Condensed Matter Physics. Students from China and Egypt (cohorts 2023 and 2024) completed the activity well and presented variations in the differentiation of stages based on different teaching situations. Their work provided valuable insights into their critical thinking skills and awareness of the changing teaching context.

The activity was designed by the authors and published in the designated TPU LMS (Learning Management System) e-course piloted in spring semester 2023–2024 and autumn semester 2024–2025 [11] for the master's degree students, within the workload of teaching hours mentioned earlier for the discussed course.

TASK 1. Put the stages of session (lesson) planning, preparation and realization into the order that seems appropriate for you. Type your comments for each stage to the right. You may reorganize the stages sequence by copy-paste within the text below.

Lesson Planning and Delivery Stages

• 1.    Presentation of material – course instructor’s comments in case students face an obstacle in completing this task.

• 2.    Teacher’s reflection on the session.

• 3.    Plan B.

• 4.    Assessment.

• 5.    Practice.

• 6.    Evaluation.

• 7.    Feedforward.

• 8.    Organizational moment.

• 9.    Wrap-up.

• 10.    Goals for next session.

• 11.    Students' reflection and self-assessment.

• 12.    Preparation and research on the topic done by a course instructor.

• 13.    Warm-up.

• 14.    Students' feedback.

• 15.    Assigned readings.

• 16.    Quiz based on assigned readings.

• 17.    Peer-evaluation.

• 18.    Group lab work to apply knowledge from assigned readings.

Task 1 is given to students in the cards with stages of session (lesson) planning, preparation, and delivery as a shuffle-the-card task. Task 1 is piloted in autumn semester 2024–2025, master's degree program Condensed Matter Physics, English as the medium of Instruction.

Certain stages of session (lesson) planning, preparation, and realization are offered along with the links to relevant theory and practice for students to investigate and review the nature of each session stage on the spot. The task was given for in-person in-class group work and discussion and also published in the designated TPU LMS e-course as an individual activity to be completed preceding the one in class [11]. For in-class activity, the stages were provided as individual cards to be arranged in a sequence.

Other analogous tasks and activities may be designed and included in teaching materials in both Russian and English. The combination of individual online learning and in-person in-class group work enables for the verification of different approaches in tasks, that is they require the design and development of learning and teaching sequences based on specific principles of didactics and pedagogy, and are to be supported by balanced argumentation.

Independent Studies Tasks and Activities for the course “Pedagogical Practice. Basics of Pedagogy” . Due to relatively small number of contact hours for the course, special attention is given to independent studies to meet specific criteria for their organization. Independent studies are to be paced in design and development, performed, and monitored on a regular basis. They are to be supported by timely and transparent feedback and self-reflection, and logically integrated into in-person in-class sessions topics.

Here is the example of independent studies task assigned to students within flipped teaching design [12]: students read and complete activities before discussing a certain topic in person in class. After the in-class ses- sion, students are asked to read independently using resources selected by the course instructor, complete some written activities, and finish one or two tasks in the designated TPU LMS e-course. An example of the task is provided below.

The task is aimed at developing students’ observation and critical thinking skills regarding teaching practice. The materials chosen for this task are videos recorded in real university sessions worldwide.

The task can be designed based on a selected video showing the delivery of bachelor’s degree university course in Physics or Condensed Matter Physics (see the tasks contents below). We will refer to this task as an “activity” to avoid confusion in definitions, as the activity encompasses several tasks. This is the default content for the activity, and the course instructor can design more activities on analogy, thus ensuring sufficient training for the course topic “Stages of Session Planning and Design. Teaching Observation. Bloom's Taxonomy”.

TASK (ACTIVITY) 2. Video Analysis.

Watch the recorded lecture by Professor Name on the topic Title (from the course Title). Complete the following steps:

• •    answer the questions from the handout while watching;

• •    submit your written answers via the designated TPU LMS e-course;

• •    be prepared to talk in class commenting on every task within this activity.

Note: The video is a recording of a real university session, sourced from open online access.

TASK. Watch the video.

• 1.    Which level(s) of Bloom's Taxonomy is (are) presented in Learning Objectives (LO) for the course?

• 2.    Are the LO written for students or the teacher?

• 3.    Analyse the LO within tasks 2.1, 2.2., 2.3. and 2.4.

TASK 2.1. Learning Objectives relation to Teaching and Learning Formats. List the LO that contain information about learning formats

РАЗВИТИЕ ПЕДАГОГИЧЕСКИХ КОМПЕТЕНЦИЙ У ОБУЧАЮЩИХСЯ ПРОГРАММ МАГИСТЕРСКОЙ ПОДГОТОВКИ НАПРАВЛЕНИЯ 03.04.02 ФИЗИКА

(which?) and LO information about assessment (what kind of?). Choose the LO that are specific and measurable. Be prepared to talk in class commenting on every task within this activity.

TASK 2.2. Compare LO and Assessment activities provided: which LO works for which Assessment activ-ity(ies)? Write the original version or your example here for the LO. Relate it to Assessment Activity. Formulate the original version or your example here for the Assessment Activity next to the chosen LO.

TASK 2.3. Which level(s) of Bloom's Taxonomy are reflected in the assessment activities methods? Name Home Activities relation to Bloom's Taxonomy Levels. E.g. Home Activity # 1. Write the original version or your example here corresponding to Level(s) of Bloom's Taxonomy Apply.

TASK 2.4. Imagine you are a member of the University Methodology Committee. Would you approve this course for delivery? Provide your reasoning here based on the following criteria:

• •    relation between course goals and learning objectives;

• •    alignment of learning objectives and assessment objectives;

• •    appropriateness of assessment tasks for measuring the stated objectives;

• •    additional comments on the course alignment, teaching style and delivery methods, classroom management, and considerations for types of learners.

Note. This activity, comprising several tasks, is quite challenging for many students as they are inexperienced in pedagogy and have little to no teaching experience. However, the questions from Task 2.4 are often performed separately on a smaller scale (e.g., the course first class or another separately taken session or activity or task). This format was tested as an assessment activity for master's degree students in Condensed Matter Physics studying in English as the medium of instruction and proved efficient for facilitating discussion on course and session alignment. Please note numbering of tasks and activities is done for this text sequencing.

Conclusion. In summary, a wide variety of tasks and activities can be implemented to build a learner's portfolio in teaching Physics, particularly Condensed Matter Physics. Master’s degree students can contribute to this process by designing self-reflection and self-evaluation lists. Furthermore, working with such lists not only allows students to monitor and adjust their progress as a learner in the courses discussed here but also helps develop their critical thinking skills. It fosters their ability and skills in pedagogical design and planning appropriate assessments for their future intended target audience in bachelor degree studies as part of their prospective teaching practice. On analogy the discussed here activities may be offered within the course “Pedagogical Practice. Basics of Pedagogy” delivered in Russian as the medium of instruction.

This study examines the specifics of pedagogical competences – namely, those in teaching and learning in higher education – relevant to master's students majoring in 03.04.02 Physics. This includes students enrolled in two Master's degree programs in Condensed Matter Physics delivered in Russian and English [6; 7].

Both master's degree programs presuppose mastering the courses discussed here and taking pedago- gical practice (teaching) internship, as outlined in their respective syllabi [3; 4].

The nature of the science discipline Physics in general, and Condensed Matter Physics in particular – its emphasis on discovery and inquiry – is central to this study and should be reflected in how Physics is taught and learned. These specific characteristics provided a foundation for revamping the objectives of the courses under discussion here. This involved:

• •    modernization of teaching aids and materials;

• •    restructuring lectures into an inquiry-based delivery mode;

• •    redesigning practical sessions (seminars);

• •    organizing paced structured independent studies supported by self-reflection and measurable learning outcomes.

The differentiation is to be made for the home students mastering the course in Russian language and international students mastering the course in English as a foreign language and as the medium of instruction; also, cultural differences and various academic background of master's students are to be taken into consideration.

During spring semester 2023–2024 and autumn semester 2024–2025, new tasks and activities were developed and introduced to the target groups of students. The students' performance in these tasks and activities demonstrated the course alignment efficiency.

The teaching aids, materials, and recommendations developed may be useful for university course instructors teaching courses in pedagogy to master's students in other engineering and technical specializations.