Teaching and learning the photoelectric effect: a systematic review of student difficulties, prerequisite knowledge and representations — Review protocol

Systematic review, reported according to PRISMA 2020, of empirical research on the teaching and learning of the photoelectric effect at upper-secondary and university level, including pre- and in-service physics teachers. The review maps documented student and teacher difficulties, examines to what extent these difficulties are attributed to prerequisite knowledge (electric circuits, potential difference, electromotive force, classical model of light) and whether that attribution is supported by data, identifies the representations used in instruction and assessment (experimental set-up, I–V graph, energy diagram, equations, simulations) and whether conversions between them are addressed, and summarizes evaluated instructional interventions. Expected outcomes: a thematic map of difficulties by educational level, an assessment of the evidence on prerequisite knowledge, and research gaps to inform the design of research-based teaching-learning sequences.