Since the physics lesson is about the nature, laboratory work has a special place in teaching physics. By doing laboratory work, students understand various physical laws easily and clearly. However, it is inconvenient to conduct laboratory work in every lesson to achieve the educational goals of the curriculum. Moreover, it takes a lot of time to conduct laboratory work, and some equipments are not available in schools or do not give accurate results. To fill such gaps, thought experiments are a great solution. A. Velentzas and K. Halkia (2013) in the research conducted for high school students pointed out that thought experiments are very useful as didactic materials in teaching physical laws. In a study conducted by professors Senem Bedemci and Musa Sari (2014) of Gazi University, on first- and fifth-year students, thought experiments helped students to explore physical laws more deeply. N. Bhaw, J. Kriek, M. Lemmer (2014) focused on the importance of coherence for the development of students' scientific planning skills. In a study conducted by Robert N. F. Conway and Adrian F. Ashman (2006), lesson planning was based on the skill development model of helping students become as independent as possible. When students make a clear plan for themselves, their lesson results are high and they are ready for a big life. A study conducted by Eugenia Etkina, Anna Karelina, and Maria Ruibal-Villasenor (2010) highlighted the importance of formative assessment for students to successfully complete physics laboratory assignments. In one of the fundamental works on the functions of thought experiment, Brown J. R.,  Frappier M. and Letitia Meynell L.(2004) substantiates the important role of thought experiment in the formation of fundamental aspects of scientific theories. According to data from the history of physics, Galileo, Einstein, Newton and other scientists used thought experiments to test the advanced hypotheses. According to McDermott (1993), thought experiments play an important role in the development of abstract thinking and can become a powerful tool in teaching students complex patterns.              Analyzing the results of the external summative assessment of the 12th grade students of the Nazarbayev Intellectual School (NIS) in the field of chemistry and biology, Shymkent, Kazakhstan. We have observed the challenges from alternative lab works after discussing and collecting feedback from peer teachers. Researchers decided to use “Thought Experiment was established to teach Lab work. We have included 24 grade 11 students for AY  2024-25 for three weeks time frame. “Due to such reasons, it was planned to teach the students of the 11th grade this year with the method of "thought experiment". 24 students of the 11th grade participated in this research. The purpose of research. Developing students' ability to plan research by conducting “Thought” experimental work in the teaching of the "Oscillations and waves" section of physics.

Research questions:

1. How important is the "Thought experiments" method in teaching physics?

2. What is the peculiarity of the "Thought experiments" method used in the physics class to develop students' research planning skills?

3. How did the method of thought experiments affect the development of students' research planning skills?

Importance of research. The importance of the research lies in the development of approaches for the introduction of thought experiments for practicing and service physics teachers as well where physical lab is not available. Researchers suggested this work can be helpful to enhance students planning, team work and analyzing skill through though experiments.    Ethics statement. Ethical standards (anonymity and confidentiality) and students' rights were respected at all stages of the research.

The method of "Thought experiments" (TEs) has several advantages compared to physical experiments. First of all, no tools are needed here. Due to this, practical work is carried out quickly. Secondly, the confidentiality of work is reliably preserved in exam papers. Thus, there will be no problems related to the lack of tools. Thirdly, students develop planning skills by doing paper work. Lessons in the research work are planned in accordance with the principles of comprehensibility, consistency, transition from simple to complex, consistency, according to the teaching methodology of physics. The proposed tasks are also analyzed according to the age characteristics of the students and are based on the development of lower and higher order thinking skills. In order for students to be able to systematically perform laboratory works, we offered guidance with additional command words. This study was conducted using the Action Research method. As a control group, the 11th-grade students of the NIS in Shymkent city. In accordance with the curriculum of the NIS, a study was conducted for 11th grade students on the topics of the section "Oscillations and waves". According to the results of the preliminary testing, most of the students (80%) have serious difficulties when performing a thought experiment on the topic. The main difficulties are related to the ability to mentally visualize the described phenomenon as well as the lack of deep understanding of the nature of harmonic oscillations. During the intervention, a significant increase in interest in performing thought experiments was observed, especially when working in a group - students willingly joined the discussion of the research plan, offered their ideas and conclusions. However, when performing such tasks, individual students had a little less enthusiasm, but tried to perform the task qualitatively as they understood its importance, especially in the context of exam preparation. In order to assess the level of students' perception of the proposed method and its influence on the understanding of the topic, students were offered a survey consisting of 11 questions (after the fifth experiment), as well as an interview that included 3 detailed questions using Google Forms (at the end of the intervention) The results of the students at the beginning and at the end of the study were compared. Quantitative analysis was conducted according to the results of the thought experiment, and qualitative analysis was conducted by interviewing students of different levels.

The study result confirms the effectiveness of the thought experiment step by step, ensuring that data can validate or disprove the proposed relationship. After conducting seven thought experiments (TEs) 87% students showed significant improvement in planning skills. The average score for the completed task increased from 6.2 to 10.3 out of 15, marking a 27.3 % improvement. However, challenges were noted the tasks related to logarithms to reduce functions to a linear form. According to the survey results, 92 % of students confirms that the use of a “TE” is an engaging method that help students to actively participate in learning allows them to become involved in learning, gain a deeper understanding of the concept meaning of the phenomena being studied, and enhance their imagination. This approach would help students master the skills of accurate measurement along with effective skills in planning and executing experiment. One of the challenge, which was seen that lack of immediate feedback on the the method used, as well as the difficulty of visualizing the process. The findings from the study contributed significantly to achieving the set objectives. A collection of tasks with recommendations for working on the most challenging aspects of the TEs based, was developed based on of students' feedback for the "Oscillations and waves". Additionally, a collection of assignments for yearly objectives is under development, after analyzing, testing it will be shared in high school network of Physics teacher in region and can be altered after feedback Limitations and recommendations. This research work was carried out on 24 students studying in the 11th grade of the NIS. Currently, a total of 80 students study physics in the 11th grade. According to the research results, it is recommended to use this method for all groups and other science subjects (biology, chemistry).

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