Search

This study investigates how the beliefs and values of physics faculty influence their choice of physics problems for their students in an introductory physics course. The study identifies the goals these instructors have for their students, the problem features they believe facilitate those goals, and how those features correspond to problems they choose to use in their classes. This analysis comes from an artifact-based interview of 30 physics faculty teaching introductory calculus-based physics at a wide variety of institutions. The study concludes that instructors’ goals and the problem features they believe support those goals align with research-based curricular materials intended to develop competent problem solvers. However, many of these instructors do not use the beneficial problem features because they believe these features conflict with a more powerful set of values concerned with clarity of presentation and minimizing student stress, especially on exams.

During the Fall of 2008 we designed and administered a web survey to collect information about pedagogical knowledge and practices of physics faculty. The survey was completed by a representative sample of 722 physics faculty across the United States (a 50.3% response rate). This paper presents results of one part of the survey where faculty were asked to rate their level of knowledge and use of 24 Research-Based Instructional Strategies (RBIS) that are applicable to an introductory quantitative physics course. Almost all faculty (87.1%) indicated familiarity with one or more RBIS and approximately half of faculty (48.1%) said that they currently use at least one RBIS. Results also indicate that faculty rarely use RBIS as recommended by the developer, but instead commonly make significant modifications.

To identify and describe the basis upon which instructors make curricular and pedagogical decisions, we have developed an artifact-based interview and an analysis technique based on multilayered concept maps. The policy capturing technique used in the interview asks instructors to make judgments about concrete instructional artifacts similar to those they likely encounter in their teaching environment. The analysis procedure alternatively employs both an a priori systems view analysis and an emergent categorization to construct a multilayered concept map, which is a hierarchically arranged set of concept maps where child maps include more details than parent maps. Although our goal was to develop a model of physics faculty beliefs about the teaching and learning of problem solving in the context of an introductory calculus-based physics course, the techniques described here are applicable to a variety of situations in which instructors make decisions that influence teaching and learning.

Many proven research-based instructional strategies have been developed for introductory college-level physics. Significant efforts to disseminate these strategies have focused on convincing individual instructors to give up their traditional practices in favor of particular research-based practices. Yet evidence suggests that the findings of educational research are, at best, only marginally incorporated into typical introductory physics courses. In this paper we present partial results of an interview study designed to generate new ideas about why proven strategies are slow to integrate in mainstream instruction. Specifically we describe the results of open-ended interviews with five physics instructors who represent likely users of educational research. We found that these instructors have conceptions about teaching and learning that are more compatible with educational research than with their self-described instructional practices. Instructors often blamed this discrepancy on situational factors that favor traditional instruction. A theoretical model is introduced to explain these findings.

We present and describe the development of a framework for assessing or categorizing instructional practices and related conceptions in the context of introductory physics instruction. The purpose of the framework is for articulating practices and conceptions of individual instructors or of curricula. It was developed based on the research literature and interviews with physics faculty and contains ideas with widespread acceptance as well as some outside mainstream rhetoric. We provide an example of how this framework can be applied by using it to categorize aspects of three well-known research-based curricula. The results of this categorization highlight areas that are common in research-based curricular designs and other areas that are less embraced but worthy of consideration.

Women currently outnumber men in obtaining undergraduate degrees but are underrepresented within STEM fields. However, women’s representation varies by STEM field, and even further by STEM subfield. One field that has held a persistent low representation of women is physics. This paper seeks to uncover the truth behind an anecdotal claim that the subfield of physics education research (PER) has a higher representation of women than physics as a whole. Graduate students in PER completed an online survey to assess their demographics, trajectory in PER, climate experiences, and goals for their research. The response rate for the survey was 68%, yielding 125 total respondents. This paper will focus on the 91 respondents enrolled in U.S. graduate programs. It was found that women make up 51% of the U.S. PER graduate students in this sample, as compared to only 19% of physics graduate students overall. Survey findings also revealed that both women and men in PER graduate programs experience similarly positive working relationships with faculty and fellow students. Last, both men and women reported building a stronger scientific workforce and becoming better teachers as goals for their PER research.

Physics education research (PER) is a rapidly growing area of PhD specialization. In this article we examine the trajectories that led respondents into a PER graduate program as well as their expected future trajectories. Data were collected in the form of an online survey sent to graduate students in PER. Our findings show a lack of visibility of PER as a field of study, a dominance of work at the undergraduate level, and a mismatch of future desires and expectations. We suggest that greater exposure is needed so PER is known as a field of inquiry for graduates, that more emphasis should be placed on research beyond the undergraduate level, and that there needs to be stronger communication to graduate students about potential careers.

Ideally, instructors and their institutions would have a shared set of metrics by which they determine teaching effectiveness. And, ideally, these metrics would overlap with research findings on measuring teaching effectiveness. Unfortunately, the current situation at most institutions is far from this ideal. As part of a larger interview study, 72 physics instructors were asked to describe how they and their institutions assess teaching effectiveness. Results suggest that institutions typically base most or all of their assessment of teaching effectiveness on student evaluations of teaching. Instructors, on the other hand, base most or all of their assessment of teaching effectiveness on student exam performance and nonsystematic formative assessments. Few institutions and instructors use assessment practices suggested by the research literature. In general, instructors are much more positive about the methods they use to evaluate their teaching than the methods their institutions use to evaluate their teaching. Both instructors and institutions could benefit from broadening the assessment sources they use to evaluate teaching effectiveness through increased use of standardized measures based on student learning and greater reliance on systematic formative assessment.

Physics education research (PER) is a relatively new and rapidly growing area of Ph.D. specialization. To sustain the field of PER, a steady pipeline of talented scholars needs to be developed and supported. One aspect of building this pipeline is understanding how students come to graduate and postdoctoral work in PER and what their career goals are. This paper presents the first study on the experiences and career pathways of students in PER. Data were collected through open-ended interviews with 13 graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in PER. Results show that many of these PER graduate students and postdoctoral scholars were not aware of PER as undergraduates. PER graduate students that were aware of PER as undergraduates chose to study PER as they were applying to graduate schools. The graduate school experiences of the interviewees were overwhelmingly positive, with participants reporting a positive climate that was facilitated by communicative and productive relationships with their advisors. However, some participants reported concerns about the acceptance of PER within some departments, including open hostility towards the field. The majority of participants were interested in pursuing a career as a university faculty member, with more participants preferring a position at a research-intensive university. These results suggest that a further large-scale study of graduate students in PER may be able to highlight the field as being a leader in student mentoring and community development while collecting important demographic information that could show PER to have more gender diversity than other subfields of physics.

As part of a larger study to understand instructors’ considerations regarding the learning and teaching of problem solving in an introductory physics course, we investigated beliefs of first-year graduate teaching assistants (TAs) regarding the use of example solutions in introductory physics. In particular, we examine how the goal of promoting expertlike problem solving is manifested in the considerations of graduate TAs’ choices of example solutions. Twenty-four first-year graduate TAs were asked to discuss their goals for presenting example solutions to students. They were also provided with different example solutions and asked to discuss their preferences for prominent solution features. TAs’ awareness, preferences, and actual practices related to solution features were examined in light of recommendations from the literature for the modeling of expertlike problem-solving approaches. The study concludes that the goal of helping students develop an expertlike problem-solving approach underlies many TAs’ considerations for the use of example solutions. TAs, however, do not notice and do not use many features described in the research literature as supportive of this goal. A possible explanation for this gap between their belief and practices is that these features conflict with another powerful set of values concerned with keeping students engaged, setting adequate standards, as well as pragmatic considerations such as time requirements and the assignment of grades.

During the fall of 2008 a web survey, designed to collect information about pedagogical knowledge and practices, was completed by a representative sample of 722 physics faculty across the United States (50.3% response rate). This paper presents partial results to describe how 20 potential predictor variables correlate with faculty knowledge about and use of research-based instructional strategies (RBIS). The innovation-decision process was conceived of in terms of four stages: knowledge versus no knowledge, trial versus no trial, continuation versus discontinuation, and high versus low use. The largest losses occur at the continuation stage, with approximately 1/3 of faculty discontinuing use of all RBIS after trying one or more of these strategies. Nine of the predictor variables were statistically significant for at least one of these stages when controlling for other variables. Knowledge and/or use of RBIS are significantly correlated with reading teaching-related journals, attending talks and workshops related to teaching, attending the physics and astronomy new faculty workshop, having an interest in using more RBIS, being female, being satisfied with meeting instructional goals, and having a permanent, full-time position. The types of variables that are significant at each stage vary substantially. These results suggest that common dissemination strategies are good at creating knowledge about RBIS and motivation to try a RBIS, but more work is needed to support faculty during implementation and continued use of RBIS. Also, contrary to common assumptions, faculty age, institutional type, and percentage of job related to teaching were not found to be barriers to knowledge or use at any stage. High research productivity and large class sizes were not found to be barriers to use of at least some RBIS.

This study investigates how the beliefs and values of physics faculty influence their choice of physics problems for their students in an introductory physics course. The study identifies the goals these instructors have for their students, the problem features they believe facilitate those goals, and how those features correspond to problems they choose to use in their classes. This analysis comes from an artifact-based interview of 30 physics faculty teaching introductory calculus-based physics at a wide variety of institutions. The study concludes that instructors’ goals and the problem features they believe support those goals align with research-based curricular materials intended to develop competent problem solvers. However, many of these instructors do not use the beneficial problem features because they believe these features conflict with a more powerful set of values concerned with clarity of presentation and minimizing student stress, especially on exams.

During the Fall of 2008 we designed and administered a web survey to collect information about pedagogical knowledge and practices of physics faculty. The survey was completed by a representative sample of 722 physics faculty across the United States (a 50.3% response rate). This paper presents results of one part of the survey where faculty were asked to rate their level of knowledge and use of 24 Research-Based Instructional Strategies (RBIS) that are applicable to an introductory quantitative physics course. Almost all faculty (87.1%) indicated familiarity with one or more RBIS and approximately half of faculty (48.1%) said that they currently use at least one RBIS. Results also indicate that faculty rarely use RBIS as recommended by the developer, but instead commonly make significant modifications.

To identify and describe the basis upon which instructors make curricular and pedagogical decisions, we have developed an artifact-based interview and an analysis technique based on multilayered concept maps. The policy capturing technique used in the interview asks instructors to make judgments about concrete instructional artifacts similar to those they likely encounter in their teaching environment. The analysis procedure alternatively employs both an a priori systems view analysis and an emergent categorization to construct a multilayered concept map, which is a hierarchically arranged set of concept maps where child maps include more details than parent maps. Although our goal was to develop a model of physics faculty beliefs about the teaching and learning of problem solving in the context of an introductory calculus-based physics course, the techniques described here are applicable to a variety of situations in which instructors make decisions that influence teaching and learning.

Many proven research-based instructional strategies have been developed for introductory college-level physics. Significant efforts to disseminate these strategies have focused on convincing individual instructors to give up their traditional practices in favor of particular research-based practices. Yet evidence suggests that the findings of educational research are, at best, only marginally incorporated into typical introductory physics courses. In this paper we present partial results of an interview study designed to generate new ideas about why proven strategies are slow to integrate in mainstream instruction. Specifically we describe the results of open-ended interviews with five physics instructors who represent likely users of educational research. We found that these instructors have conceptions about teaching and learning that are more compatible with educational research than with their self-described instructional practices. Instructors often blamed this discrepancy on situational factors that favor traditional instruction. A theoretical model is introduced to explain these findings.

We present and describe the development of a framework for assessing or categorizing instructional practices and related conceptions in the context of introductory physics instruction. The purpose of the framework is for articulating practices and conceptions of individual instructors or of curricula. It was developed based on the research literature and interviews with physics faculty and contains ideas with widespread acceptance as well as some outside mainstream rhetoric. We provide an example of how this framework can be applied by using it to categorize aspects of three well-known research-based curricula. The results of this categorization highlight areas that are common in research-based curricular designs and other areas that are less embraced but worthy of consideration.