Increasing efficiency of physics education through elective courses of “Physics Fundamentals of Information Security”

Abstract

The object of this research is the increase in motivation of students towards learning physics as one of the most complex sciences of school curriculum. The subject of this research is the elective course of “Physics Fundamentals of Information Security” developed by the author, based on the cross-disciplinary integration of such disciplines as physics, informatics, and information security. An extensive analysis is conducted on textbooks on physics and scientific methodical sources of literature on information security. Special attention is given to methodological questions of teaching this elective course, structured on application of the method of problem-based learning as an optimal method for search and acquisition of new knowledge and active learning activity. The scientific novelty consists in development of the elective course “Physics Fundamentals of Information Security”, which has applied aim. The laboratory works developed by the author in such way that the students learn the laws of physics in the course of completing the research. They first see “how it works”, and then make conclusions as formulas, after which they solve the theoretical tasks on these topics, understanding entirety of the depth. This course is registered in Rospatent as the database Electronic Educational Resource on the Discipline “Physics Fundamentals of Information Security”. The author pays particular attention to implementation of this course into educational process, as well as describes the methodological system of teaching and the pedagogical experiment that proves the effectiveness of this course.