Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2009 APS April Meeting
Volume 54, Number 4
Saturday–Tuesday, May 2–5, 2009; Denver, Colorado
Session R13: Focus Session: Adopting PER-Based Teaching Methods and Materials |
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Sponsoring Units: FEd Chair: Noah Finkelstein, University of Colorado Room: Plaza Court 3 |
Monday, May 4, 2009 1:30PM - 2:06PM |
R13.00001: Sustaining educational transformations: evidence and approaches at CU Boulder Invited Speaker: Research in educational innovations provides mechanisms to systematically improve education in large introductory physics classes. But what is involved in adopting, and than adapting, research-based transformations to suit local constraints? How do we assess the impact of the curricula, how do we promote and sustain changes across time, with a broad variety of faculty? We report here on local efforts to implement two well-studied PER-based innovations: Peer Instruction [1] and Washington Tutorials [2]. Our course transformations are facilitated through our local model of undergraduate Learning Assistants, promoting reforms while recruiting and supporting future K-12 teachers. We document the impacts from multiple terms, instructors, and courses, including sustained learning gains that exceed twice the national average for traditional courses. A guiding theme of our studies is to investigate the sustainability and impacts of our efforts.\\[4pt] [1] Mazur, E., ``Peer Instruction,'' Prentice Hall 1997\\[0pt] [2] McDermott, L., Shaffer, P. and the PEG, ``Tutorials in Introductory Physics,'' Prentice Hall 2002 [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, May 4, 2009 2:06PM - 2:18PM |
R13.00002: Results from an Adaptation and Implementation of \textit{Tutorials in Introductory Physics} Robert Endorf, Kathy Koenig, Cyrill Slezak The \textit{Tutorials in Introductory Physics}, by Lillian McDermott, Peter Shaffer and the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington, have been adapted and implemented in the recitation sections of the large introductory calculus-based physics courses taught at the University of Cincinnati. These courses are now taken by approximately 700 students each year, most of whom are first year engineering students. We will present results from investigations of increased student conceptual understanding, based on pretests and posttests given to the students in the courses. The results indicate that the tutorials are more effective than traditional recitation classes and that the manner in which the instructor interacts with the students in teaching the class is also important. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, May 4, 2009 2:18PM - 2:30PM |
R13.00003: Adopting Modeling Instruction in establishing supportive environments for traditionally underrepresented students Eric Brewe, Laird Kramer, George O'Brien We describe Florida International University's adoption of Modeling Instruction as a foundation of reform for the physics department. Modeling Instruction is a reformed pedagogy that has been central to creating a supportive learning environment for traditionally underrepresented student in physics. Multiple measures have shown the impact of the reform, including improved conceptual understanding, enhanced attitudes toward science and learning science, and more broadly improved recruitment, retention, and persistence in physics as a major. We report FCI scores for students in Modeling Instruction and compare them with traditionally taught students. Modeling students outperform traditionally taught students on post instruction FCI (64.9{\%} vs. 48.3{\%}, p$<$0.001). FCI scores further disaggregated by ethnicity and by gender also show marked improvement. Overall persistence in Modeling classes is four times better than in traditional classes, as measured by DFW rates for introductory physics, and for traditionally underrepresented groups. Numbers of majors and graduation rates have also increased as these reforms have been established. Together these measures indicate that we have established a supportive learning environment for traditionally underrepresented students, thus creating a model for increasing participation in physics by all students. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, May 4, 2009 2:30PM - 2:42PM |
R13.00004: Studio Physics at the Colorado School of Mines: A model for iterative development and assessment Patrick Kohl, Vincent Kuo The Colorado School of Mines (CSM) has taught its first-semester introductory physics course using a hybrid lecture/Studio Physics format for several years. Based on this previous success, over the past 18 months we have converted the second semester of our traditional calculus-based introductory physics course (Physics II) to a Studio Physics format. In this talk, we describe the recent history of the Physics II course and of Studio at Mines, discuss the PER-based improvements that we are implementing, and characterize our progress via several metrics, including pre/post Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism (CSEM) scores, Colorado Learning About Science Survey scores (CLASS), failure rates, and exam scores. We also report on recent attempts to involve students in the department's Senior Design program with our course. Our ultimate goal is to construct one possible model for a practical and successful transition from a lecture course to a Studio (or Studio-like) course. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, May 4, 2009 2:42PM - 2:54PM |
R13.00005: Clickers beyond the First Year Marina Milner-Bolotin, Tetyana Antimirova, Anna Petrov There is ample evidence that the use of interactive engagement methods in the introductory physics courses produces significant learning gains. During the past decade peer response systems (clickers) became very popular among the science faculty. Their readiness to adopt clicker technology can be attributed to the constantly increasing class sizes and simultaneously decreasing level of student preparation. However, to the best of knowledge, the use of clickers has hardly penetrated beyond the first year science courses. At Ryerson University, we decided to study the effect of clicker-based pedagogy on student physics learning beyond the first year. ``Modern Physics'' and ``Electricity and Magnetism'' are the second and third year courses in our B.Sc. Medical Physics Program. Although both courses have an enrollment of fewer than 40 students per course, achieving significant learning gains proved to be challenging. Moreover, there is a lack of research data on how upper level science students perceive the effectiveness of clicker pedagogy. To answer these questions we conducted extensive interviews with the students and administered detailed surveys. In this paper, we report the preliminary results of the study and outline directions of future research. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, May 4, 2009 2:54PM - 3:06PM |
R13.00006: How Active Learning Affects Student Understanding of Concepts in Electromagnetism John Belcher, Judy Dori, Lori Breslow We discuss the effects of the learning environment of the MIT TEAL project on student cognitive and affective outcomes in introductory electromagnetism. Our assessment included examining student conceptual understanding before and after studying electromagnetism in a media-rich environment. We developed pre-and posttests consisting of conceptual questions from standardized tests, as well as questions designed to assess the effect of visualizations and experiments. The research population consisted of 811 undergraduate students, consisting of small-and a large-scale experimental group and control group. The active learning students improved their conceptual understanding of the subject matter to a significantly higher extent than their control group peers. A subsequent longitudinal study indicates that the long-term effect of the TEAL course on student retention of concepts was significantly stronger than that of the traditional course. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, May 4, 2009 3:06PM - 3:18PM |
R13.00007: What's all the fuss about Adoption and Diffusion? Study and Improvement of Change Strategies in Physics Education Noah Finkelstein, Charles Henderson, Andrea Beach Over the last several decades, educational researchers in physics have focused significant attention on the improvement of teaching physics, which has resulted in a variety of successful educational innovations. Yet, despite decades of data and significant effort (and money) directed at spreading these innovations, most college faculty continue to teach traditionally. In part, we lack a model or theory of change in undergraduate science technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. This talk will focus on limitations of the change strategies commonly used by STEM reformers. Information from several of the authors' research projects will be combined to describe these limitations and identify possible ways to improve the situation. [Preview Abstract] |
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