ABSTRACT
This chapter is based on previously unpublished research by John Bilorusky and Milly Henry. Their purpose was to learn more about the teaching of college physics by interviewing four professors of physics who were highly respected for both their research and their classroom instruction. The resulting insights focus on the importance of teaching physics as inquiry rather than merely as facts, theories, and formulas and is very much related to what distinguishes transformative action research from those research methods, action-oriented or not, that focus on research primarily as a collection of methods. With regards to transformative action research, as well as with some of the best traditions of liberal education, “physics as inquiry” gives great attention to the importance of each individual learning how to think critically, and imaginatively, and also to be curious about the meaning and larger significance of what one is studying. To do this, the instructor should be prepared to take on a variety of roles—collaboration, sharing knowledge, modeling, and providing support. To facilitate participation in inquiry, an educator, a colleague, may begin by asking others to identify what they see to be two or three of the important aspects of what they are studying.
