New Physics TA Library collection resources

The Role of Models in Physics Instruction

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 07:27:22 EST

The word modeling is becoming more and more common in physics, chemistry, and general science instruction. In physics, students learn models of the solar system, light, and atom. In biology courses they encounter models of joints, the circulatory system, and metabolic processes. The benefits of engaging students in model building are described in the literature. “Modeling instruction” is an example of a whole curriculum based on the idea of modeling. However, in a traditional physics class students do not have a clear understanding of what the word model means, and thus do not appreciate the role of this notion in physics. Physics teachers also have difficulties defining this word. The purposes of this paper are (a) to reexamine the word model as it is used in science, and (b) to suggest several types of tasks that engage students in the construction of models in a regular-format introductory physics course.

Social Research Methods Knowledge Base

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:34:33 EST

The Research Methods Knowledge Base is a comprehensive web-based textbook that addresses the topics covered by a typical introductory undergraduate or graduate course in social research methods. The Knowledge Base covers the entire research process including: formulating research questions; sampling (probability and nonprobability); measurement (surveys, scaling, qualitative, unobtrusive); research design (experimental and quasi-experimental); data analysis; and, writing the research paper. It also addresses the major theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of research including: the idea of validity in research; reliability of measures; and ethics. The Knowledge Base was designed to be different from the many typical commercially-available research methods texts. It uses an informal, conversational style to engage both the newcomer and the more experienced student of research. It is a fully hyperlinked text that can be integrated easily into an existing course structure or used as a sourcebook for the experienced researcher who simply wants to browse.

New Teacher Resource Book: Getting Started

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 08:38:24 EST

This chapter of the Resource Book for the Beginning Physics Teacher provides four example activities that can be used on the first days of class. The activities are designed to get students started in taking an active role in their learning and to provide an introduction to a learning cycle approach to science.

SEI Clicker and Education Videos

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 05:46:11 EST

The page houses a suite of short videos giving an inside look at the use of clickers in the classroom and student opinions about their use. The videos are each 5-15 minutes long and are intended to demonstrate effective use of personal response systems ("clickers"). Videos include: - Clickers: Students and Teachers Speak - How to Use Clickers Effectively - The Anatomy of a Clicker Question - The Research: Do Clickers Help Students Learn? - Explain to Your Students Why You're Using Clickers

Using Qualitative Methods to Make and Support Claims in Physics Education Research

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 05:42:46 EST

This document summarizes a session, held at the 2002 Physics Education research conference, that was designed to stimulate conversations about the use of qualitative methods in physics education research. The session began with a general overview of qualitative research. Then, to provide a context for discussion, facilitators conducted a mini research activity; in which they introduced data (interview, video transcripts, and student work) from a university physics course for preservice teachers. Participants were given the task of examining the data and deciding whether a particular claim was sufficiently supported by the data. A rich discussion ensued, in which many research-related issues were raised. These issues, which might serve as topics of discussion for future sessions, are listed and briefly editorialized at the end of this paper.

A Literary Canon in Physics Education Research

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 05:41:23 EST

At the 2005 Foundations and Frontiers of Physics Education Research (FFPER) conference, a subgroup of conferees met to generate a list of recommended articles in PER. The desired outcome was a concise list addressing the fundamental interests and issues of PER as articulated in works by the PER community. The canon is intended as a resource for new graduate students, faculty members entering the field, and physics educators who wish to familiarize themselves with seminal and exemplary research and curriculum development in PER.

Investigating and Accounting for Physics Graduate Students' Tutorial Classroom Practice

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 04:39:13 EST

Although TAs are responsible for a significant portion of students' instruction at many universities, science TAs and their teaching have not been the focus of a significant amount of study. This dissertation begins to fill this gap by examining physics graduate students who teach discussion sections for introductory courses using tutorials, which are guided worksheets completed by groups of students. This analysis contends that considering the broader influences on TAs can account for TA behavior. Observations from two institutions (University of Colorado, Boulder and University of Maryland, College Park) show that TAs have different valuations (or buy-in) of the tutorials they teach, which have specific, identifiable consequences in the classroom. These differences can be explained by differences in the TAs’ teaching environments. Next, I examine cases of a behavior shared by three TAs, in which they focus on relatively superficial indicators of knowledge. Because the beliefs that underlie their teaching decisions vary, I argue that understanding and addressing the TAs individual beliefs will lead to more effective professional development. Lastly, this analysis advocates a new perspective on TA professional development: one in which TAs' ideas about teaching are taken to be interesting, plausible, and potentially productive.

Development and Evaluation of Clicker Methodology for Introductory Physics Courses

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 23:13:49 EST

Many educators understand that lectures are cost effective but not learning efficient, so continue to search for ways to increase active student participation in this traditionally passive learning environment. In-class polling systems, or "clickers", are inexpensive and reliable tools allowing students to actively participate in lectures by answering multiple-choice questions. Students assess their learning in real time by observing instant polling summaries displayed in front of them. This in turn motivates additional discussions which increase the opportunity for active learning. We wanted to develop a comprehensive clicker methodology that creates an active lecture environment for a broad spectrum of students taking introductory physics courses. We wanted our methodology to incorporate many findings of contemporary learning science. It is recognized that learning requires active construction; students need to be actively involved in their own learning process. Learning also depends on preexisting knowledge; students construct new knowledge and understandings based on what they already know and believe. Learning is context dependent; students who have learned to apply a concept in one context may not be able to recognize and apply the same concept in a different context, even when both contexts are considered to be isomorphic by experts. On this basis, we developed question sequences, each involving the same concept but having different contexts. Answer choices are designed to address students preexisting knowledge. These sequences are used with the clickers to promote active discussions and multiple assessments.

Respecting tutorial instructors' beliefs and experiences: A case study of a physics teaching assistant

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 23:12:14 EST

Effective physics instruction benefits from respecting the physics ideas that introductory students bring into the classroom. We argue that it is similarly beneficial to respect the teaching ideas that novice physics instructors bring to their classrooms. We present a case study of a tutorial teaching assistant (TA), Alan. When we first examined Alan’s teaching, we focused our attention on the mismatch between his actions and those advocated by the TA instructors. Further study showed us that Alan cared about helping his students and that his teaching was well integrated with his beliefs about how students learn physics and how teachers can best assist students. Learning about Alan’s beliefs and motivations changed our thinking about what might constitute effective professional development for Alan and other TAs. We advocate a new perspective on TA professional development: one in which TAs are seen as partners in the endeavor of educating students and one that seeks to find and build upon productive elements in their beliefs.

Research-Based Reform of University Physics

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:17:43 EST

This online volume contains articles outlining introductory physics curricula based on the results of physics education research. Written by leading curriculum developers and researchers, these articles provide background information about the curricula, practical advice on how classroom methods may be adopted, and impact on student learning. The goal is to continue to expand this online volume by adding more examples each year.

An Introduction to Physics Education Research

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:12:57 EST

This article aims to introduce the reader to the field of Physics Education Research (PER). Topics include the difference between Physics Education Research and Physics Education/curriculum development, a brief history of PER in the US, and some of the research traditions within PER (current types of PER, types of questions asked, research methods used, etc.). By necessity, many important aspects of the field have been omitted in an effort to produce a short, readable overview.

An Introduction to Classical Test Theory as Applied to Conceptual Multiple-choice Tests

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:09:03 EST

A number of conceptual multiple-choice tests have been developed addressing many different areas of physics. These tests are typically used to determine what difficulties students have with specific content and to evaluate teaching practices and curriculum. The purpose of this paper is to provide the reader with a general overview of the key aspects of the development process from the perspective of classical test theory and critical issues that distinguish high-quality conceptual multiple-choice tests from those that are not.

Physics Graduate Students’ Attitudes and Approaches to Problem Solving

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:07:54 EST

Students' attitudes and approaches to problem solving in physics can profoundly influence their motivation to learn and their development of expertise. We administered an Attitudes and Approaches to Problem Solving (AAPS) survey to physics graduate students and analyzed their responses about problem solving in their own graduate level courses vs. problem solving in introductory physics. The physics graduate students' responses to the survey questions were also compared with those of introductory students and physics faculty. Survey responses suggest that graduate students' attitudes about graduate level problem solving sometimes has similar patterns to introductory-level problem solving by introductory students.

Getting Started with Research on Epistemologies and Expectations

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:06:59 EST

In this chapter, I introduce the notion of student epistemologies and expectations, their views about what counts as knowledge and learning in a given physics class and in physics more generally. I then review some of the ways in which researchers have studied these constructs and make suggestions about getting started on your own research. A major theme is that important theoretical questions about the cognitive structures and processes underlying student epistemologies — and how best to study them — are not yet settled. Researchers therefore need to try to uncover and articulate the theoretical assumptions implicit in their research methods.

Getting Started in PER

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:06:30 EST

Physics Education Research (PER) is a rapidly growing field. Some researchers entering the field are interested in pursuing a graduate degree in PER. Others are physicists who obtained a Ph.D. in a more traditional field of research and are now looking to explore the teaching and learning of physics in a scholarly manner. Still others may be practicing classroom teachers who are intrigued by this pursuit and want to conduct research in their classrooms. We have striven to collect a set of articles that will be of benefit to each of these populations, or to anyone who is simply interested in knowing more about this multifaceted field. Of course, we also expect this volume to be a useful reference for current PER practitioners, as no one is an expert in every aspect of this broad field. All articles have been carefully peer reviewed. This first volume will ultimately contain 4 fairly broad articles, 2 of which are now available. Future volumes will contain articles that are somewhat more specific in nature. The first article, “An Introduction to Physics Education Research,” by Robert J. Beichner, gives the reader exactly what the name implies, a good overview of the field of physics education research, along with a short history of the field. In the second, “ An Introduction to Classical Test Theory,” Paula V. Engelhardt describes the issues involved in designing a valid and reliable multiple-choice assessment instrument. We will soon be adding articles detailing qualitative and quantitative research methods in PER. We hope that this collection of articles, as well as those that follow in future volumes, will be a useful resource for the PER community. We welcome comments about this volume, as well as suggestions for topics to be addressed by future volumes.

Getting Started in Qualitative Physics Education Research

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:05:44 EST

In this article, we introduce strategies and procedures for collecting and analyzing qualitative data and discuss other aspects of qualitative research such as the role of theory. There are multiple traditions of qualitative research, each with its own methods and terminology. Here, we provide a generic approach to qualitative research that is consistent with most qualitative research traditions. This article consists of nine sections: 1) Introduction, 2) Research Questions and Study Design, 3) Collecting Data, 4) Processing Data, 5) Coding and Analyzing Data, 6) Multiple Representations and Making Inferences, 7) Theoretical perspectives, 8) An Illustration of the Research Process and 9) Validity and Reliability in Qualitative Research. Throughout this article, strategies and examples are provided to help researchers that are both new and veterans to Physics Education Research (PER) to get started in qualitative PER.

Physics Education Research and Human Subjects: The PER Community and Institutional Review Boards

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 17:58:14 EST

This workshop was a discussion among participants about human subjects and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and dealt with the following questions: (1) What are the important human subjects issues facing physics education researchers? Do few, many, or most PER projects raise issues of confidentiality, liability, withholding of learning, differences in grading policy, impact of the student lack of informed consent, or other ethical issues? (2) Should PER physicists at each institution create a common IRB form to be used by all PER researchers at that institution? (3) Should the PER community as a group address the IRB issues as a community? If so, what might the outcome be? (4) Should all PER research be exempt from IRB approval, given the extreme unlikelihood of student physical or emotional damage? How could such global exemption be achieved?

Tutorial teaching assistants in the classroom: Similar teaching behaviors are supported by varied beliefs about teaching and learning

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 17:50:53 EST

As part of a long-term program to develop effective, research-based professional development programs for physics graduate student teaching assistants (TAs), we first identify their current classroom practices and why they engage in these practices. In this paper, we identify a set of teaching practices we call "focusing on indicators," which occurs when TAs use signs such as key words or diagrams as evidence that students understand the target idea; these indicators are more superficial than a detailed explanation. Our primary finding is that although the three TAs discussed here share a common behavior, the beliefs and motivations that underlie this behavior vary. We argue that TA professional development focused on changing these TAs’ focus-on-indicator behavior is unlikely to be effective. Instead, responsive TA professional development will need to address the TAs’ beliefs that guide the observed classroom behavior.

CWSEI: Clicker Resources

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 10:04:32 EST

This resource website on effective use of personal response systems or "clickers" contains many helpful links, including quality clicker question banks, articles, an instructor resource guide, handouts for workshops, and links to videos. These resources part of the education and professional development work of the Science Education Initiative at the University of Colorado and the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative at the University of British Columbia.

Graduate and Undergraduate Students' Views on Learning and Teaching Physics

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 10:03:50 EST

This study describes graduate and undergraduate students’ views on learning and teaching physics. We conducted this research with thirteen junior-level graduate students and four undergraduate students using web-based surveys and interviews. The results indicate that most graduate students use themselves as ‘templates’ for good learning methods and implemented them in their teaching practice expecting that the undergraduate students could do the same. On the other hand, undergraduate students have difficulties in learning physics and they need different teaching approaches from traditional methods.