The fundamentals of 11 to 19 physics
A framework based on the big ideas and practices of physics.
The IOP has been considering how best to design a physics curriculum that is fit for students in the 21st century. Having worked with teachers, teacher educators, physicists and education researchers, we have developed a framework for designing a physics curriculum based on the practices and big ideas of physics.
Within this framework we propose four main design principles for a physics curriculum:
- The substantive knowledge of the curriculum should be built on a relatively small set of big ideas
- The curriculum should explicitly delineate the practices and ways of thinking of physics
- The characteristics of physics should be described to help guide curriculum developers and teachers to provide a faithful representation of the discipline
- Examples of major applications of physics should be provided and there should be space in the curriculum for teachers to give local and familiar contexts to motivate students and help them feel included.
These principles, their details and how to apply them are described in the two documents below. The first (Overview, PDF 3MB) provides an outline and summary of how the design principles can be applied. And the second (Further details) to be published in December 2024 will go into more depth.
The fundamentals of 11 to 19 physics: Overview
A framework based on the big ideas and practices of physics.
The fundamentals of 11 to 19 physics: Further details
Further development and details of the design principles and how they will result in achieving the aims.