Specialized vs. Standard High School Classes and Their Results in Physics

Abstract

Three years ago, one high school class for students with special abilities in physics was founded in Nis, Serbia (www.pmf.ni.ac.yu/f_odeljenje). The basic aim of this project is introducing broadened curriculum of physics, mathematics, computer science, as well as chemistry and biology. Three years after establishing of this specialized class, we present analyses of the pupils' progress in knowledge of physics. These results are compared to the progress results of the pupils in a standard Grammar School and the corresponding classes of the Mathematical Gymnasiums in Nis, Novi Sad and Belgrade. We make some conclusions and remarks, may be useful for the future work that aims to increase pupils' interest in physics.

High School Class for Gifted Pupils in Physics and Sciences and Pupils’ Skills Measured by Standard and Pisa Test

“…The mai n goals of the project "GRAMMAR SCHOOL CLASS FOR STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL ABILITIES IN PHYSICS" are to offer a high-quality education, to give gifted pupils a perspective for continuing with high-quality education and to convey initiative and enthusiasm [1,2]. These goals are to be reached by the following measures: (i) focus on the natural science, on physics in particular, (ii) provision of basic laboratory equipment and PCs (virtual experiments and Internet access), (iii) close collaboration with the University (Host teaching by docents, assistants and project guests, mentors from the university), (iv) close collaboration with similar projects in EU and Eastern Europe, (v) more intensive foreign languages teaching (especially English), for details see [2,3].…”