Community agreements pedagogy in physics

The idea of engaging critically and creatively with physics theories is a stretch for many physicists and physics educators. Most physicists become enculturated into the belief that physics definitions, laws, and equations are read from the book of nature. However, this belief obscures how theories are collectively negotiated by people in specific socio-political and personal conditions—and how students’ particular ideas and intuitions will inevitably shape their own practice of science. To help students build their skills for collective theory-building, we suggest a pedagogy for physics in which students actively negotiate the laws and definitions of theories.

The Physics Teacher, forthcoming