Session T08: Advances in the Design and Implementation of Physics Curriculum

Live

We examine the instructional considerations that influenced the development of two comprehensive quantum mechanics curricula: \textit{Paradigms in Physics} (the junior-level physics courses at Oregon State University) and \textit{Tutorials in Physics: Quantum Mechanics} (supplementary worksheets designed at the University of Washington). We consider both theoretical commitments about teaching and learning and practical structures determined in part by the local instructional environments. We use these considerations as a lens to explore example activities from each curriculum and to highlight prominent differences between them, along with some underlying reasons for those differences. The\textit{ Paradigms} reflect a case where the theoretical commitments drove changes to the practical structures while the \textit{Tutorials} reflect how theoretical commitments were incorporated into a course with a relatively fixed structure. Partially as a result of this large-scale difference, we find that each curriculum prioritizes different theoretical commitments about how to promote student understanding of quantum mechanics. We discuss both alignment and tension between the theoretical commitments of the two curricula and their impact on the instructional materials.   

Live

The goals for lab instruction are receiving critical attention in the physics education community due to multiple reports and research findings. In this talk, we describe a theoretically-motivated scheme to evaluate instructional lab curricula and apply that scheme to three implementations of an electricity and magnetism lab curriculum: one that aimed to reinforce physics concepts (Semester 0) and two that aimed to teach critical thinking skills (Semesters 1 and 2). The scheme has three components: (1) that critical thinking is a context-dependent process for using critical thinking skills to make evidence-based decisions, (2) that to make decisions one must have agency, and (3) that deliberate practice can be used to effectively teach critical thinking skills. Our analysis shows that the Semesters 1 and 2 curricular designs effectively targeted experimentation-focused critical thinking skills but did not strongly align with theoretical recommendations for deliberate practice. For curriculum developers, instructors, and researchers who intend to teach critical thinking in the context of experimental physics, this scheme serves as a tool to create and evaluate lab instructions by measuring how specific skills are supported through deliberate practice.