NEW TRENDS: PROMOTION OF DIDACTIC METHODS THAT FAVOUR THE INCREASE OF STUDENTS' INTEREST AND MOTIVATION FOR STUDYING PHYSICS

Studies carried out in Europe - Report by High Level Group on Science Education "Science Education Now: A renewed Pedagogy for the Future of Europe", Report by the High Level Group on increasing Human Resources for Science and Technology in Europe "Europe needs more scientists", show an alarming decline of the interest in and motivation for the study of sciences in general, of Physics in particular. Unfortunately, this descending trend is also confirmed in Romania. These studies indicate as a possible cause, besides social and economical factors, an old-fashioned approach of the teaching-learning process, for example "chalk and talk" method. Therefore it is recommended the use of some didactic methods adapted to each student's knowledge level, style and rhythm. In this paper we present a pedagogical experiment conducted in Bucharest, in which 150 high-school students from 6th and 9th grade were involved. The results of this experiment confirm the hypothesis of the research: differentiated instruction according to the student's readiness and learning profile can lead to a significant increase of the efficiency in learning Physics and implicitly to an increase of the interest in and motivation for the study of this subject.