Current Trends in the Development and Application of Natural Sciences

Course guarantor:

Lecturer:

Tutor:

Supervisor:

Department of Physics

Synopsis:

This course is designed for teacher education students. It introduces students to the latest research directions in the natural sciences. Emphasis is placed on developing professional qualifications and interdisciplinary connections. The course is delivered through specialized seminars, which also include guest lectures from external experts, and features a field trip to a specialized research facility.

Requirements:

Participation and presentation of an original contribution; alternatively: a seminar paper that could be published in one of the professional journals for teachers or high school students (e.g., Rozhledy matematicko-fyzikální, Učitel matematiky, etc.).

Syllabus of lectures:

Particle and nuclear physics (introduction to laboratories such as CERN, FAIR Darmstadt, Brookhaven National Laboratory)

Accelerators and detectors (applications in medicine, cyclotron at ÚJF Řež)

Nuclear fission and nuclear reactors

Plasma physics and nuclear fusion (plasma physics laboratory, Golem tokamak)

Radioactivity, its applications, and protection

Modern chemistry and its applications from industry to medicine (production of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, food industry)

Quantum technologies

Contemporary trends in mathematics and their real-life applications (e.g., traffic modeling)

Syllabus of tutorials:

Study Objective:

The student will gain an overview of current trends, findings, and possibilities in the natural sciences, enabling them to provide motivation, higher-quality interdisciplinary teaching, and potentially advanced individual work with gifted students.

Study materials:

Key literature:

Reichl J.: Aplikovaná matematika. Praha, SPŠST Panská. Dostupné online na http://www.jreichl.com/matematika/vyuka/texty/aplikovana_matematika.pdf

Matouš, B. (2010). Základy lékařské chemie a biochemie. Galén.

Recommended literature:

Odborné časopisy: Applications of Mathematics, Chemické listy

Časopisy určené učitelům (Učitel matematiky, Biologie-Chemie-Zeměpis)

Note:

Further information:

No time-table has been prepared for this course

The course is a part of the following study plans:

• Učitelství fyziky pro střední školy (compulsory course in the program)
• Učitelství chemie pro střední školy (compulsory course in the program)
• Učitelství matematiky pro střední školy (compulsory course in the program)