Master in Physics, Teaching focus

Learning outcomes (Program)

The Master’s degree in Physical Sciences that Unamur offers aims at furthering the training that students have received while completing their bachelor’s degree. Students make a choice among three focuses (in-depth focus, focus on specialisation, focus on teaching) in the first year of the Master’s training, which allows them to perfect their knowledge in Physics within a more specific domain. Besides broadening the general knowledge of modern Physics that every physicist is expected to have acquired, this training is clearly oriented towards research. Students will benefit from the members of staff’s expertise in research, specifically in the areas of Matter and Radiance and in the exploitation of the interactions between this duality. They receive constant guidance from renowned researchers and from professors who have developed teaching strategies whose effectiveness and reliability have been highly rated over the years.

The general subject-linked training is supplemented by a more interdisciplinary approach, including courses such as philosophy, ethics, languages and communication in the field of science, aiming at developing openmindedness and critical thinking.

Objectives (Program)

Aims and objectives are established as follows  :

• Understanding natural phenomena in their complexity : how electromagnetic radiation propagates in various environments and interacts with matter, how the quantum properties of nanoscopic materials lead to technological revolutions (nano-electronics, nanophotonics…) how cellular tissue responds to radiation from photons or particles (particularly in cancer treatment),
• Modelling of innovative physical systems, following nature’s patterns ;
• Biomimetism is a new approach which seeks to follow and copy the patterns of complex organic structures in various animal or plant species which have been perfected over millions of years of evolution (within the field of optics, natural photonics is a new field, inspired by this approach) ;
• Addressing Environmental issues and developing applications that can contribute to Sustainable Energy (improving the performance of photovoltaic cells, developing hybrid materials for fuel-producing batteries, reducing pollution of the atmosphere, etc.)

The focus on teaching offers general training in education as well as more specific training towards epistemology and the teaching of Physics in secondary school; students also have to choose a second scientific discipline in which they will also receive training orientated towards the teaching of that particular subject. Possible choices are the teaching of Mathematics, Chemistry or Biology.

This focus follows the legal prescriptions of Qualified Teachers Status within upper level of the Belgian Secondary System (Agregé de l’Enseignement Secondaire Supérieur) and is granted together with the Master’s degree in Physics with a focus on Teaching.

Description

The teaching focus of the master 120 in physics offers general training in education and pedagogy and specific training in epistemology and practice of physics education in secondary education.

In addition to the compulsory courses, which improve the general education of the physicist, the teaching focus is characterized by a didactic training and epistemology of a second scientific discipline (select mathematics, chemistry, biology). The student can also choose courses for specialization in a non-exhaustive list. It may also choose courses from another department, another faculty or another university. A research project organized in the second semester of the 1^st year of Master is to perfect the research training that will culminate in the realization of a final dissertation during the second year of master. An 8-week internship in Belgium or abroad is also organized in the second semester of the last year of master.

Teaching methods

The Master’s degree in Physical Sciences is offered at Unamur under three different focuses. Regardless of the orientation, the programme includes a common core as well as courses that students can choose from a wide range of options. The compulsory courses ensure that students acquire throrough knowledge in crucial domains of modern Physics. The courses chosen from options cover more specialised fields linked with Physics of Matter, Radiation and Wave-Matter Interaction.

Alongside this traditional course-oriented training, students receive initiation to research, which will include the acquisition of teaching skills for those choosing the teaching focus. This training towards research will add to a good number of credits, as it associates two types of activities. In the first stage of the initation to research, students will undertake a project on a well-defined subject during the first year, involving bibliographical research, a personal experimental or theoretical development, and a presentation of the obtained results. The second stage constitutes the actual research project and dissertation, which is to be completed throughout the second year. It must be an innovative project, carried out under the guidance of a member of the academic staff or a member of the department. A dissertation and an oral presentation will allow a jury to assess its value.

The training as described above is completed through a work placement / internship in accordance with the chosen focus. It can take place in industry (specialised focus),   within the University department or at an external research centre (in-depth focus), or within the Belgian Secondary system (focus on teaching).               The choice of focus has to be made at the beginning of the second year, and leads to thirty specific credits.

Assessment methods

Depending on the activities, the assessment of the acquired knowledge is done following three main methods :

1. an oral exam with the lecturer or lecturers having given the specific course
2. the elaboration of a report which is then assessed by a member of the academic staff
3. a presentation of a seminar summarising the pursued goals, the methodology that was used and the work accomplished.

The assessments take place during the specific periods of the academic year that have been assigned for this purpose.

For a certain number of activities, ongoing assessment is carried out as the activity develops. This approach is certainly the one used in the framework of internships and projects and their dissertation.

Mobility and international openness

Students have the opportunity to study abroad within the Erasmus scheme for Europe, they can also do an internship in a research centre in Belgium or abroad, and a department theme trip to a renowned international laboratory (USA, Switzerland, France, etc.).

Jury