An overview of physics education research at the international conferences promoted by the IUPAP International Commission on Physics Education (2016–2022)

Abstract

This article presents a critical analysis of the international conferences on Physics Education organized by the International Commission on Physics Education (C14-ICPE) of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP), held between 2016 and 2022. A total of 1,136 contributions were mapped, and the plenary sessions and roundtables of six events were examined in depth, with the aim of identifying the main thematic lines and the discourses legitimized in prestigious spaces. The investigation, of a documentary nature, adopts Pecheutian Discourse Analysis, articulated with the concepts of coloniality of power and Epistemologies of the South, to understand the prevailing discourses and the underlying power relations. The results reveal that, although countries from the Global South, such as Brazil, present a significant number of contributions, the hegemony of the Global North persists in the definition of central themes and the selection of keynote speakers. In contrast, conferences organized directly by C14-ICPE in collaboration with local universities showed greater thematic and geographic diversity. The study highlights contradictions in the internationalization processes of Physics Education and advocates for strengthening the autonomy of C14-ICPE and for the adoption of more equitable practices in event organization. International recognition in the field remains shaped by epistemological and geopolitical inequalities.

Keywords
Pesquisa em Ensino de Física; Internacionalização; Colonialidade do Saber; Análise de Discurso; Epistemologias do Sul