Search

Classroom interactions provide learning opportunities for understanding others and developing agency in a community of learners. Student learning identities were measured using a survey instrument targeting physics learning self-efficacy, expectations of classroom roles, and attitude toward social learning as components of physics learning identity. From a selection of students who scored relatively high or low on the survey sub scales, an academically successful student in an introductory physics course using an active engagement curriculum was selected to examine identity development. Findings indicate he didn't develop a sense of agency, nor did he feel a need to alter his participation, although there were ample opportunities to do so in the learning community. These results suggest that being a successful physics student in the traditional sense doesn't necessarily mean the student is successful at adopting meta-goals which are the non-content course goals of learning to think like a physicist. This student was prompted to engage meaningfully but didn't feel it was required for success which suggests that structural alignment is required to motivate students to achieve meta-goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Instructors often give prompts that encourage students to articulate their beliefs and conceptions, as well as encourage students to understand the thoughts of their peers. This reflective discourse is used in a calculus-based introductory physics class at Lane Community College, where the instructor explicitly has discourse goals integrated into his course structure. We investigate whether students utilize this discourse when solving problems outside of the classroom context. We interviewed groups of students after the end of spring term, 2012. The students were asked to solve open-ended problems, with analysis focused on whether students applied this reflective discourse. Students were asked a series of follow-up questions to reflect upon their experiences in the course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the spring term of 2010, Oregon State University (OSU) began using a SCALE-UP style classroom in the instruction of the introductory calculus-based physics series. Instruction in this classroom was conducted in weekly two-hour sessions facilitated by the primary professor and either two graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) or a graduate teaching assistant and an undergraduate learning assistant (LA). During the course of instruction, two of the eight tables in the room were audio and video recorded. We examine the practices of the GTAs in interacting with the students through both qualitative and quantitative analyses of these recordings. Quantitatively, significant differences are seen between the most experienced GTA and the rest. A major difference in confidence is also observed in the qualitative analysis of this GTA compared to a less experienced GTA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovative curricula aim to improve content knowledge and the goal of helping students develop practices and skills of authentic scientist through active engagement learning. To students, these classroom practices often seem very different from their previous learning experiences in terms of behavioral expectations, learning attitude, and what learning means. We propose that productive participation in these learning environments require students to modify their identity as learners in addition to refining their science conceptual understanding. In order to measure changes in learning identity, we developed a 49-item survey to assess students' 1) expectations of student and teacher roles, 2) self efficacy towards skills supported in the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) and 3) attitudes towards social learning. Using principle components exploratory factor analysis, we have established two reliable factors with subscales that measure these student characteristics. This paper presents the survey development, validation and pilot study results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experimentation appears to be an ideal context in which several key aspects of scientific thinking can be addressed. However, the traditional freshman laboratory does not appear to be successful in doing so. This paper argues that this has much to do with the way in which tasks are formulated. We propose a simple descriptive model based on the notion of the 'idea space' that can be used to analyze task formulation that can promote meaningful critical thinking. A number of factors that affect the size of the idea space are discussed, such as conceptual metaphor and the perceived nature of questioning from a socio-cultural perspective, described in terms of knowledge and information flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oregon State University's (OSU) upper-division physics courses rearrange the traditional content to center around conceptual and mathematical ideas, with the aim of having students engage in authentic practices of physics in an interactive environment. The physics majors' introduction to Quantum Mechanics is the Quantum Measurements and Spin Paradigm (Spins). I taught this course using the existing activities in my first year at OSU. I am heavily influenced by the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) curriculum model that mirrors the goals of these upper-division courses. Having since spent two years implementing ISLE in the lower-division courses, when I taught the Spins course this year I modified some activities to align with ISLE methodology. I will discuss how the constructivist, scientific-abilities approach of ISLE helped me personalize the Spins course by providing connectivity between activities and a stronger emphasis on the goals surrounding preparing our students to think like physicists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At Oregon State University, the introductory calculus-based physics sequence utilizes social engagement as a learning tool. The reformed curriculum is modeled after the Interactive Science Learning Environment from Rutgers University, and makes use of Peer Instruction as a pedagogical tool to facilitate interactions. Over the past two years we have utilized a number of techniques to understand how to facilitate activities that promote productive discussion within the large lecture classroom. We specifically seek student discussion that goes beyond agreement on conceptual questions, encouraging deeper discussions such as what assumptions are appropriate, or how different assumptions would change the chosen answer to a given question. We have quantitative analysis of engagement based on video data, qualitative analysis of dialogue from audio data, and classroom observations by an external researcher. In this paper we share a subset of what we have learned about how to engage students in deep-level discussions during lecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At Oregon State University, we are reforming our large-enrollment introductory calculus-based physics sequence. We are integrating course goals and materials borrowed from ISLE (Investigative Science Learning Environment) which promotes student practice of processes of authentic scientists, and Peer Instruction which helps them engage in these practices. To help our students be able to justify their own knowledge, and develop ownership of that knowledge the instructor works to develop a productive community of practice [1] enabling students to participate in social interactions and make meaning of their experiences to build a shared repertoire of knowledge. This paper reports on strategies the instructor uses, challenges faced, and present evidence of both successes and failures in terms of achieving this aim. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of “special access” students at the University of Cape Town are second language English speakers for whom reading the physics textbook is daunting. As a strategy to encourage meaningful engagement with the text, students wrote textbook summaries due the day material was covered in class. The summaries were returned, and they could bring them or re-write them for use during their examinations. A framework was developed to analyze the summaries based on Waywood, defining three cognitive levels seen in mathematics journaling: recounting, summarizing, and dialoging. This framework was refined, expanded, and tested. Interviews with students were conducted for their views on summary writing and survey questions were included on their final exams. The study was carried out in the 2007 spring semester of the “Foundation Physics Course,” a component of the special access program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students who enroll for the special access course in physics at the University of Cape Town generally do not speak English as first language and have experienced poor science teaching. As a consequence students experience a large range of difficulties in trying to learn physics. We discuss research carried out in two such areas (a) understanding of measurement and (b) engagement with the textbook. With regard to (a) an overview of the methodology, analysis framework and findings of previous work will be presented together with more recent preliminary findings regarding audience dependence when conveying measurement results. With regard to (b) the idea of writing chapter summaries was used to guide students through the book with the aim that the textbook would come to be valued an accessible resource. Findings from the analysis of the student summaries are presented [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Members of the Physics and English departments at The Ohio State University (OSU) and Rochester Institute of Technology are involved in an ongoing study addressing issues related to writing activities in the physics classroom. Students in the physics 103 and 104 course sequence at OSU “The World of Energy” view weekly videos then turn in summaries as part of their homework grade. These summaries are given one point if turned in; they are not graded for the quality of their content. In winter quarter, 2006, some students were given substantial feedback on these summaries with comments aimed to improve their writing. Feedback-induced improvement in their video summaries is demonstrated in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Members of the Physics and English departments at The Ohio State University and Rochester Institute of Technology are involved in an ongoing study addressing issues related to writing activities in the physics classroom. In summer quarter, 2005, the introductory calculus-based physics lab students wrote essays, some sections with and some without explicit writing instruction. We found a student’s essay grade for English correlated strongly with that assigned for physics. In addition, we have studied the location and type of comments made by both physics and English instructors on individual student essays, and the statements students made within their essays. The results from the analysis of our data will be presented. © 2007 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will introduce a previously developed Q-sort instrument, called the Laboratory Program Variables Inventory (LPVI). We will also report on a case study using a modified version of the LPVI to investigate students’ perceptions about the implementation of a new lab type and further to compare characteristics of the new lab with those perceived by students in other PER-based learning environments. Our preliminary results show that the LPVI is a valuable instrument for assessing hands-on learning environments and related curriculum development and implementation in PER. © 2006 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the Ohio State University (OSU), some laboratory sections were replaced with Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) labs during the 3-quarter calculus-based introductory physics sequence this past academic year. The ISLE labs have been developed by the PAER Group at Rutgers University; implementation at OSU is discussed, making a direct comparison of OSU students participating in ISLE labs with students in pre-existing labs under the same large-lecture instruction. Assessment included diagnostic tests and feedback from a Q-type instrument. The ISLE environment focuses on helping students develop scientific abilities, so we also administered a voluntary lab ‘practical exam’ aimed at testing if these abilities were gained by the students in the ISLE labs. © 2006 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physicists consider laboratories to be a vital part of any introductory course, yet The Ohio State University’s existing labs are not meeting their educational goals and students consistently rate them as having low value. This paper explores some of the reasons that standard introductory physics laboratories are not having the expected impact, and describes the implementation of Virtual Reality based experiments to improve upon lab effectiveness. Student response to these experiments and preliminary results regarding their impact on student learning will be discussed. © 2005 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black South African students who transfer from 'Historically Black Universities' to the National Graduate Program in Astrophysics and Space Science at the University of Cape Town often struggle academically. While our previous studies focused on student epistemology and went some way towards understanding student under-performance it became clear that broader socio-cultural and systemic issues were playing critical roles. Using Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) as a theoretical perspective we (a) characterized the broader context as an Activity System and (b) identified the four main types of systemic contradictions as proposed by the theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Density is an important, multifaceted concept that occurs at many levels of physics education. Previous research has shown that a primary instantiation of the concept, mass density, is not well understood by high school or university students. This study seeks to determine how students understand the broad concept of density, and whether particular aspects of their understanding are helpful in structuring the concept of charge density. Qualitative data were gathered in the form of questionnaires distributed to 172 freshmen comprising three different academic groups. Broad, open ended questions prompted for responses involving free writing and drawn diagrams. The data were analysed by an approach suggested by Grounded Theory. Using the theoretical lens of Conceptual Metaphor Theory, six underlying (foothold) concepts were identified in terms of which density was conceptualised: 'filled container'; 'packing'; 'weight/heaviness'; 'intensive property'; 'floating/sinking'; 'impenetrability/solidity'. The foothold concept of 'packing' proved to be the most productive for conceptualising 'charge density'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovative STEM curricula such as the ISLE (Investigative Science Learning Environment) curriculum [1] are centered on active engagement in social learning processes as a means to achieve curricular goals. Classroom practices are highly interactive to facilitate students' development of authentic scientist abilities. To the students, these classroom practices often seem very different from their previous learning experiences in terms of behavioral expectations, attitude, and what it means to learn. Consequently, students must modify their identity as learners in addition to physics conceptual understanding in order to participate productively in this learning environment. Using a survey we developed, we want to assess their 1) expectations of student and teacher roles, 2) self efficacy towards skills supported in ISLE and 3) attitudes towards social learning as well as how these change as a result of their experience in this curriculum. We will discuss the development, validation and preliminary findings of the survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physics by Inquiry (PbI) has been adopted and taught at the Ohio State University for more than a decade. A Q-type instrument, the LPVI, was used to assess students’ perceptions of this teaching method and measure the consonance between these and instructors’ goals. We present methods of analysis to make use of all the information collected with this survey. In applying the LPVI to different sections of the PbI course, we found many similarities in students’ perceptions and also some interesting differences. We also found similarities and differences between students’ perceptions and the goals of PbI. © 2006 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Spring 2010, the Oregon State University physics department instituted a SCALE-UP (Student-Centered Active Learning Environment for Undergraduate Programs) style studio classroom in the introductory, calculus-based physics series. In our initial implementation, comprised of two hours lecture, two hours of studio, and two hours lab work, the studio session was lead by a faculty member and either 2 GTAs or 1 GTA and 1 LA. We plan to move to a model where senior GTAs can lead studio sections after co-teaching with the faculty member. It is critical that we know how to prepare and support the instructional team in facilitating student learning in this setting. We examine GTA and LA pedagogical beliefs through reflective journaling, interviews, and personal experience of the authors. In particular, we examine how these beliefs changed over their first quarter of instruction, as well as the resources used to adapt to the new classroom environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]