Bulletin of the American Physical Society
Annual Meeting of the APS Four Corners Section
Volume 60, Number 11
Friday–Saturday, October 16–17, 2015; Tempe, Arizona
Session D8: Education II: Research-based strategies for effective physics teaching |
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Chair: Robert Culbertson, Arizona State University Room: MU242B |
Friday, October 16, 2015 1:50PM - 2:14PM |
D8.00001: Research on physics learning and research-based instructional strategies Invited Speaker: David E. Meltzer For over 100 years, physicists have strived to develop effective methods of helping students at all levels learn the concepts and methods of physics. A long-favored strategy has been to guide students to synthesize physics concepts by engaging in gently guided laboratory-based investigations in which the outcome is not known in advance; in recent times these have often been called "active-learning" methods. [D. Meltzer and V. Otero, AJP 83, 447 (2015).] However, it has only been since the 1970s that systematic research on teaching and learning physics at the university level has been carried out. This "physics education research" (PER) has proved to be valuable in generating productive insights into physics learning that help guide development of instructional materials and methods. In addition, this research has provided persuasive evidence of the effectiveness of research-based active-learning instruction by documenting improvements in students' ability to understand and apply physics ideas. [D. Meltzer and R. Thornton, AJP 80, 478 (2012).] I will provide a brief overview of these developments and give some examples of PER and of PER-based instructional strategies. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 16, 2015 2:14PM - 2:26PM |
D8.00002: Argumentation in the College Physics Course: Does it Belong? Sharon Schleigh As university classrooms increase in student enrollment, and the calls to engage learners beyond the traditional lecture format become more prominent, instructors in undergraduate courses struggle to find effective ways to teach basic concepts. Although the flip classroom has been offered as a means of addressing these stresses in the undergraduate courses, faculty continue to concern themselves with the ability to adequately instruct for conceptual understanding, and revert back to the traditional lecture format. The hybrid classroom with an emphasis on the flip format can address these needs and stresses by relying on the research-based argumentation strategies. This presentation offers examples of how the hybrid flip classroom looks in a large lecture hall and provides evidence that the argumentation strategies, in a flip course format, does support student learning, can increase an interest in physics related degrees and careers, and is effective in developing conceptual understanding for both majors and non-majors. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 16, 2015 2:26PM - 2:38PM |
D8.00003: Adapting Interactive Technology to High School Physics Learners with a Novel Framework for Differentiating Classroom Interventions Bryan Henderson The use of clicker voting technology to promote student interaction is increasingly popular in college physics classrooms. However, concerns persist about the efficacy of this technique for younger physics learners. To systematically investigate these concerns, the same instructor taught four different physics classes in four different ways for each of two years at a diverse high school. This permitted differing implementations of clicker use for adolescent physics learners (n$=$250) to be adjudicated empirically. After controlling for the instructor, multiple student covariates, and the time of day that experimental treatments were implemented, students given an opportunity to discuss their clicker votes verbally with each other significantly outperformed students that instead received a supplemental lecture between clicker votes. This empirical study was predicated on a theoretical framework garnering a surge of attention in the learning sciences, and a practical extension of this research is a non-profit partnership between teachers and researchers. This non-profit utilizes a cloud-based platform to host formative assessment items based on common physics preconceptions. The platform will be demonstrated, including examples of assessments that have been iteratively refined through the use of the system in pilot classrooms. Interested physics educators will be provided access to materials designed to assist effective implementation of the interactive technology in their own classrooms. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 16, 2015 2:38PM - 3:02PM |
D8.00004: Modeling Instruction: A Research-Based Guided-Inquiry Approach to Physics Teaching Invited Speaker: Kelli Gamez Warble Modeling Instruction began at Arizona State University in the physics department in the 1980s, and became one inspiration for subsequent Physics Education Research, including the well-known Force Concept Inventory. It is designed to correct many of the weaknesses of the traditional lecture-demonstration method of instruction, including the fragmentation of knowledge, student passivity, and the persistence of naive beliefs about the physical world. Modeling Instruction developed into the American Modeling Teachers Association, an organization of STEM teachers working to reform their classrooms to train students to think like scientists. However, Modeling Instruction is not commonly utilized at colleges and universities. A brief history of Modeling Instruction in Physics and its dissemination to high school and middle school physical science classrooms will be shared, as will ideas about how elements of Modeling might benefit post-secondary physics instruction. [Preview Abstract] |
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