Session K03: The Cutting Edge of Physics Education Research

Learning from Avatars: Developing Student-centered Teaching Skills in a Mixed-reality Simulator

Graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants (TAs) are an essential part of the teaching force at many universities. TAs are increasingly being used to support student-centered learning, such as tutorials or inquiry-based labs. However, TAs likely have little or no prior pedagogical training and may not have experienced student-centered courses in their own undergraduate education. TeachLivE is a highly immersive mixed-reality simulator where teachers can practice pedagogy skills with five interactive avatar students. Prior research has demonstrated that the simulator is effective at helping K-12 math and science teachers increase their use of student-centered teaching practices both in the simulator and in their classrooms, leading to increased student learning. We have extended the use of this tool to physics undergraduate learning assistants and math graduate teaching assistants, and we are starting a project to develop training for graduate teaching assistants in four STEM disciplines (physics, math, chemistry and computer science). To use the simulator, TAs identify particular skills they would like to practice, such as asking open questions, and plan a lesson (typically five to ten minutes) to teach the avatar students. TAs teach the lesson and receive feedback, both automated feedback from the simulator and specific feedback from a facilitator, and then reteach the same lesson to implement that feedback. Our initial work demonstrates that TAs are able to practice their target pedagogical skills and experience the simulator as mostly representative of their actual classrooms.   

Fixed and growth mindsets in physics graduate admissions

Considering the evidence that standard physics graduate admissions practices tend to exclude women and traditionally marginalized racial and ethnic groups from the discipline, we investigate (a) the characteristics of students that physics graduate admissions committee members seek to admit to their programs and (b) the practices associated with these admissions goals. The data for this investigation are interviews with 18 faculty who chair graduate admissions committees in programs that prioritize diversity in their graduate admissions practices. We find that some express elements of an implicit theory of intelligence known as a ``fixed mindset,'' in which intelligence is understood as an inherent capacity or ability primarily measured by standardized test scores and grades. Some also express elements of a ``growth mindset,'' in which intelligence is understood in terms of acquired knowledge and effort. Overall, most faculty interviewed expressed elements of both mindsets. A fixed mindset in physics graduate admissions is consistent with research identifying physics as a ``brilliance-required'' field, whose members tend to believe that raw, innate talent is a primary requirement for success in the discipline. Such a mindset directly affects the participation of women and some racial or ethnic groups, who are stereotyped as lacking such high-level intellectual ability.~