Using Theory to Inform Practice in the Advanced Physics Classroom

Physics education research has focused much more on lower-level, introductory courses as compared to upper division and graduate physics education. However, there are general principles and findings that extend across all areas of learning, such as the strong evidence in favor of active learning environments. But taking the theoretical basis and pedagogical strategies generated by research at one level of education and applying it to create a learning environment appropriate to upper division and graduate physics courses requires careful consideration of the issues facing students, and the instructor, in such courses. For example, the motivations of students in an introductory course are very different from the motivations of students in a graduate course. The number of students in a classroom is often quite different. The size of the research base on student difficulties and the amount of research-based instructional resources available to an instructor will be different. In this paper, we discuss several examples of the application of research-based techniques to classroom instruction in upper division and graduate physics courses, how the specifics of the student audience have resulted in modifications of the pedagogical approach, and the student response to these instructional strategies.