For Peer Review Only

Conclusions and teaching implications 
The pilot study presented here has analyzed the effectiveness of a teaching sequence oriented to 
introducing notions of semiconductor physics in SE. One can conclude from the results that it is feasible to 
give a first introduction to the topic in the sense that the students were able to familiarize themselves with its 
basic concepts. Nevertheless, the learning obstacles detected suggest that new studies should be done —as 
it will be discussed below— that go deeper into the subject, and contribute to improving its teaching at this 
educational level. 
With respect to the teaching-learning process that was applied, the results indicated that the strategies 
followed to implement the sequence contributed to the students learning to construct their own knowledge. 
This was achieved because a high priority was given to encouraging a good working and communication 
climate in the classroom, both among the students and with the teacher. Similarly, the students were 
encouraged to evaluate and monitor the progress and difficulties of their own learning [self-regulation]. It was 
found that this practice, which was highly valued by the students, led to cooperative learning and the whole-
class sessions for each of the activities taking on especial importance. This all helped the students to learn to 
learn by being in permanent interaction with their classmates. In addition, it fostered the development of 
communication skills in the students. Nonetheless, it is necessary to say that accustoming the students to this 
form of learning science required a time of prior training. 
The results also indicated that in general the students developed positive attitudes towards semiconductor 
physics and its learning. These attitudes, seen in the high level of stimulus of the students during the learning 
process, were encouraged fundamentally by the way the content was dealt with in class. In particular, the 
students positively valued: (a) the group work and the whole-class sessions as essential parts of the process 
of self-regulation, and (b) the way the content was adapted to their level, most of it being —according to the 
students themselves— eventually comprehensible. 
With respect to the learning of concepts, it was found that around two-thirds of the students acquired ideas 
that were either appropriate [Level 4] or close to appropriate [Level 3] with respect to: (1) the recognition of a 
semiconductor from the electronic configuration of its elements, (2) the process of generation and 
recombination of electron-hole pairs, (3) the generation of free electrons by doping with donor impurities, and 
(4) the balance of charge carriers in an extrinsic semiconductor. The main obstacles and most frequent 
learning difficulties were related, in this order, to: (i) the electrical state of a doped semiconductor, (ii) the 
behaviour of semiconductors with temperature, (iii) obtaining a p-type extrinsic semiconductor, and (iv) the 
concept of hole, although this last difficulty was also the cause of part of the previous obstacles, as we shall