Bulletin of the American Physical Society
Fall 2009 Meeting of the Four Corners Section of the APS
Volume 54, Number 14
Friday–Saturday, October 23–24, 2009; Golden, Colorado
Session C8: Symposium on Physics Education I: PER and Educational Transformations |
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Chair: H. Vince Kuo, Colorado School of Mines Room: Green Center 265 |
Friday, October 23, 2009 3:40PM - 4:04PM |
C8.00001: What does it mean to learn physics? Invited Speaker: Learning physics involves much more than developing a ``conceptual understanding'' of a phenomenon. Part of learning physics involves learning how to reason with evidence, learning how to engage in mechanistic reasoning, and learning how to generate and use models. These important scientific practices are rarely explicitly addressed in physics courses. I will present physics education research that focuses on how these practices unfold for students as they attempt to develop a model of magnetism on the basis of their observations. I will also present data that suggests that students increase their interest in physics and develop positive attitudes about physics as a result of participating in the practice of model building in the physics class. I conclude by discussing how learning physics has as much to do with learning a specialized ``Discourse" as it does with learning the canonical knowledge of the discipline. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 23, 2009 4:04PM - 4:16PM |
C8.00002: Sustaining Educational Transformation in a Physics Department (part 1 of 2) Noah Finkelstein, Steven Pollock The CU Boulder Physics Department has been engaged in the systematic transformation and study of many of its physics courses for the last five years. We report on two interrelated research threads: 1) sustaining and 2) scaling of educational innovations. In this first, of two talks, we examine the sustainability of two of the most widespread PER-based innovations, Peer Instruction and the University of Washington's Tutorials in Introductory Physics, at our institution. We demonstrate measures of improved student conceptual mastery, and that these achievements can be reliably maintained as the introductory sequence is taught by a variety of faculty. Applying a contextual constructivist framework, we document key factors that might account for the success and variation in student performance. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 23, 2009 4:16PM - 4:28PM |
C8.00003: Scaling Educational Transformation in a Physics Department (part 2 of 2) Steven Pollock, Noah Finkelstein, Paul Beale, Stephanie Chasteen, Michael Dubson, Steven Goldhaber, Katherine Perkins, Chandra Turpen We report on two interrelated research threads, sustaining and scaling of educational innovations. In this second of two talks, we examine the scaling of educational innovations into the upper division. We have begun course transformation of Quantum Mechanics and E\&M, which employ the practices and findings from educational research at the lower division. Related, we examine the spread of clicker-based approaches into the upper division and graduate level courses. We have studied faculty choices about how they come to adopt these reforms, and what choices they make as they adopt new materials and pedagogical approaches. We identify critical components of success: resources (whether undergraduate learning assistants or post-doctoral science teaching fellows), faculty buy-in and inclusion (from the earliest stages), and institutional support. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 23, 2009 4:28PM - 4:40PM |
C8.00004: Enriched Curriculum for Energy Education Ruwang Sung Introducing fundamental science concepts and real world issues in energy, renewable energy, energy conservation and the environment to college students has become increasingly important and urgent in higher education. Efforts to effectively incorporate energy materials have led to improvements in the instructional methodology of the general education course ``Energy and the Environment.'' A new approach will be reported, including: 1) adding hands-on projects related to daily life experience; 2) infusing updated information on renewable energy applications into course projects through collaborations; 3) introducing energy and environmental concepts to art majors to stimulate creative art work; 4) broadening student understanding of related issues from a global perspective through a successful study-abroad initiative; and 5) using an online course platform \textit{EnhanceEdu} to manage multilevel interactions with students. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 23, 2009 4:40PM - 4:52PM |
C8.00005: Using a Non-Equivalent Groups Quasi Experimental Design to Reduce Internal Validity Threats to Claims Made by Math and Science K-12 Teacher Recruitment Programs Laura Moin The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act national policy established in 2009 calls for ``meaningful data'' that demonstrate educational improvements, including the recruitment of high-quality teachers. The scant data available and the low credibility of many K-12 math/science teacher recruitment program evaluations remain the major barriers for the identification of effective recruitment strategies. Our study presents a methodology to better evaluate the impact of recruitment programs on increasing participants' interest in teaching careers. The research capitalizes on the use of several control groups and presents a non-equivalent groups quasi-experimental evaluation design that produces program effect claims with higher internal validity than claims generated by current program evaluations. With this method that compares responses to a teaching career interest question from undergraduates all along a continuum from just attending an information session to participating (or not) in the recruitment program, we were able to compare the effect of the program in increasing participants' interest in teaching careers versus the evolution of the same interest but in the absence of the program. We were also able to make suggestions for program improvement and further research. While our findings may not apply to other K-12 math/science teacher recruitment programs, we believe that our evaluation methodology does and will contribute to conduct stronger program evaluations. In so doing, our evaluation procedure may inform recruitment program designers and policy makers. [Preview Abstract] |
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