http://www.compadre.org/PER/ The latest material additions to the PER-Central. en-US Copyright 2012, ComPADRE.org editor@per-central.org editor@per-central.org Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:31:58 EST http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://www.compadre.org/portal/services/images/LogoSmallPER.gif http://www.compadre.org/PER/ 125 35 http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=11699 Physics students are expected to apply the mathematics learned in their mathematics courses to physics concepts and problems. Few PER studies have distinguished between difficulties students have with physics concepts and those with either mathematics concepts and their application or the representations used to connect the math and the physics. We are conducting empirical studies of student responses to mathematics questions dealing with graphical representations of (single-variable) integration. Reasoning in written responses could roughly be put into three major categories related to particular features of the graphs: area under the curve, position of the function, and shape of the curve. In subsequent individual interviews, we varied representational features to explore the depth and breadth of the contextual nature of student reasoning, with an emphasis on negative integrals. Results suggest an incomplete understanding of the criteria that determine the sign of a definite integral. Mathematical Tools/Calculus http://www.compadre.org/PER/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=11699 Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:31:58 EST http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=11699 http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=11698 The University of Colorado's LA-Test K-12 research team investigated the classroom practices of former Learning Assistants' who went on to become K-12 teachers. One of the tools used for this analysis of classroom practice was the Scoop Notebook, an instructional artifact package developed to assess teachers' use of reform-oriented practices. In this paper, the authors characterize differences in classroom practices between former Learning Assistants teaching at the secondary level and their colleagues through the collection and analysis of teaching artifacts. Analyses of these artifacts indicate significant differences between LA and non-LA groups. A description of the methodology and implications of using artifact packages to study classroom practice will be discussed, detailing the role of the LA experience in teacher preparation. Education Practices/Teacher Preparation/Induction and Mentoring http://www.compadre.org/PER/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=11698 Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:20:36 EST http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=11698 http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=11697 The nature of energy is not typically an explicit topic of physics instruction. Nonetheless, participants in physics courses that involve energy are frequently saying what kind of thing they think energy is, both verbally and nonverbally. Physics textbooks also provide discourse suggesting the nature of energy as conceptualized by disciplinary experts. The premise of an embodied cognition theoretical perspective is that we understand the kinds of things that may exist in the world (ontology) in terms of sensorimotor experiences such as object permanence and movement. We offer examples of intuitive ontologies for energy that we have observed in classroom contexts and physics texts, including energy as a quasi-material substance; as a stimulus to action; and as a vertical location. Each of the intuitive ontologies we observe has features that contribute to a valid understanding of energy. The quasi-material substance metaphor best supports understanding energy as a conserved quantity. Education Foundations/Cognition http://www.compadre.org/PER/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=11697 Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:11:08 EST http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=11697 http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=11696 As a result of dissatisfaction with the traditional lecture-based model of education a large number of reform-oriented instructional innovations have been developed, enacted, and studied in undergraduate physics courses. While previous work has shown that the impact of instructional innovations on student learning has been overwhelmingly positive, it has also been highly variable. The purpose of this analysis is to investigate this variability. For this analysis, 79 published studies on undergraduate physics instructional innovations were analyzed with respect to the types of innovations used and the methodological characteristics of the studies themselves. The findings of this analysis have indicated that nearly half of the variability in effect size can be accounted for by study design characteristics rather than by the characteristics of the innovations used. However, a subsequent analysis illustrated that one specific innovation, Workshop/Studio Physics, appears to be particularly effective within the observed sample of studies. Education Foundations/Assessment http://www.compadre.org/PER/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=11696 Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:04:14 EST http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=11696 http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=11695 It is commonly known that students have difficulty connecting the techniques they learn in math classes with necessary steps for solving physics problems. In this study, introductory-level physics students were given a set of pure math problems and a set of physics problems that required them to use the exact same mathematical processes. The students were then asked to pair the analogous problems and explain the pairings. Presented here are the results of that study, which support previous findings that students have difficulty determining how the two are connected and give some insight into what can be done to help scaffold that connection in the future. Education Foundations/Student Characteristics/Skills http://www.compadre.org/PER/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=11695 Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:57:42 EST http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=11695 http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=11694 Conventional wisdom is that teachers have a model of teaching that they enact in the classroom. We studied middle school science teachers and found that the conventional wisdom does not explain large variations in practices for the same teachers in different contexts. During a study of PhET simulations, we observed two teachers in their regular (non-sim) classes and then in after-school classes in which they used PhET sims and activities developed by the PhET group. These activities were designed to be student-centered and inquiry-based. We find that one teacher led student-centered, inquiry-based activity in their regular classes but, in the after-school classes, controlled the classroom so that the sim activities were teacher-centered. The other teacher led teacher-centered regular classes, while enacting the sim activities in student-centered ways. We observe that teachers’ practices can be significantly different across contexts, suggesting a sophisticated view of teacher practice is needed. Education Foundations/Teacher Characteristics http://www.compadre.org/PER/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=11694 Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:48:29 EST http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=11694 http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=11693 In a climate where teachers feel de-professionalized at the hands of regulations, testing, and politics, it is vital that teachers become empowered both in their own teaching and as agents of change. This physics education research study investigates the “Streamline to Mastery” professional development program, in which the teachers design professional development opportunities for themselves and for fellow teachers. The research reported here describes the process of teacher professional growth through changes in roles and identities. Videos, emails, and interviews were analyzed to glean insight into practice and participation shifts as these physical science teachers formed a community and engaged in their own classroom research. Implications for the role of PER in teacher professional development and teacher preparation will be discussed. Education Practices/Teacher Preparation/Research http://www.compadre.org/PER/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=11693 Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:40:27 EST http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=11693 http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=11004 Prior research in both education and cognitive science has identified analogy making as a powerful tool for explanation as well as a fundamental mechanism for facilitating an individual's construction of knowledge. While a considerable body of research exists focusing on the role analogy plays in learning science concepts, relatively little is known about how instruction in the use of analogies might influence the teaching performance of preservice teachers. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between pedagogical analogy use and pedagogical reasoning ability in a sample of preservice elementary teachers (PTs), a group that has been identified for their particular difficulties in teaching science. The study utilized a treatment/contrast group design in which the treatment group was provided instruction that guided them in the generation of analogies to aid in the explanation phase of learning cycle lessons. A relationship between analogy use and positive indicants of teaching performance was observed and a case study of a low performing preservice teacher who drastically improved teaching performance using analogy-based pedagogy is presented. A notable effect on conceptual understanding of Newton's Third Law as a result of two brief analogy-based demonstration lessons was also observed. Education Practices/Pedagogy http://www.compadre.org/PER/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=11004 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:52:31 EST http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=11004 http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=11003 We compare the effectiveness of a first implementation of peer instruction (PI) in a two-year college with the first PI implementation at a top-tier four-year research institution. We show how effective PI is for students with less background knowledge and what the impact of PI methodology is on student attrition in the course. Results concerning the effectiveness of PI in the college setting replicate earlier findings: PI-taught students demonstrate better conceptual learning and similar problem-solving abilities than traditionally taught students. However, not previously reported are the following two findings: First, although students with more background knowledge benefit most from either type of instruction, PI students with less background knowledge gain as much as students with more background knowledge in traditional instruction. Second, PI methodology is found to decrease student attrition in introductory physics courses at both four-year and two-year institutions. Education Practices/Active Learning/Peer Instruction http://www.compadre.org/PER/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=11003 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:51:04 EST http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=11003 http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=11001 The use of Peer Instruction to enhance lectures in large enrollment introductory college science courses has become widespread. In this technique, learner responses to multiple choice questions posed by the instructor during lecture are recorded and displayed in real time by an electronic classroom response system (CRS). Peer Instruction takes place when learners are given time to discuss ideas with their neighbors before registering individual responses. Although much research has been done to study the impact of Peer Instruction on student learning and engagement, little is known about the dynamics of the peer discussions that occur just before students register responses to questions. The results of this study suggest that the grading incentive instructors adopt for incorrect question responses impacts the nature and quality of the peer discussions that take place. Two large enrollment college astronomy classes employing contrasting assessment strategies for CRS scores were observed. In the high stakes classroom where students received little credit for incorrect CRS responses, it was found that conversation partners with greater knowledge tended to dominate peer discussions and partners with less knowledge were more passive. In the low stakes classroom where students received full credit for incorrect responses, it was found that students engaged in a more even examination of ideas from both partners. Conversation partners in the low stakes classroom were also far more likely to register dissimilar responses, suggesting that question response statistics in low stakes classrooms more accurately reflect current student understanding and therefore act as a better diagnostic tool for instructors. Education Practices/Active Learning/Peer Instruction http://www.compadre.org/PER/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=11001 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:50:09 EST http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=11001 http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=10975 Given the success of self-efficacy theory for predicting student success in scientific study, and the demonstrated effect that teaching approaches have on student self-efficacy in majors courses, the purpose of this study is to ask if similar relationships between pedagogy and self-efficacy exist in introductory science courses for non-physical science majors. In particular, this study proposes to identify which, if any, teaching approaches affect student self-efficacy in physics, and to identify the sources of efficacy through which those pedagogies have their effect. An additional goal of the study is to probe the relationship among teaching approaches, course climate, and student confidence. A three-part student survey instrument was developed to gather information about the course, physics self-efficacy, and demographics. Demographic information included math background, ACT score, GPA, race/ethnicity, age, sex, and major. Question and answer, collaborative learning, conceptual problems, electronic applications, and inquiry labs were found to make significant, unique contributions to self-efficacy and/or classroom climate. Education Practices/Pedagogy http://www.compadre.org/PER/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=10975 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:49:18 EST http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=10975 http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=10966 Although concept inventories are among the most frequently used tools in the physics and astronomy education communities, they are rarely evaluated using item response theory (IRT). When IRT models fit the data, they offer sample-independent estimates of item and person parameters. IRT may also provide a way to measure students’ learning gains that circumvents some known issues with Hake’s normalized gain. In this paper, we review the essentials of IRT while simultaneously applying it to the Star Properties Concept Inventory. We also use IRT to explore an important psychometrics debate that has received too little attention from physics and astronomy education researchers: What do we mean when we say we “measure” a mental process? This question leads us to use IRT to address the provocative question that constitutes the title of this paper: Do concept inventories actually measure anything? Education Foundations/Research Design & Methodology/Evaluation http://www.compadre.org/PER/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=10966 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:48:12 EST http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=10966 http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=10863 In prior research, the classification of concepts into three types—descriptive, hypothetical and theoretical—has allowed for the association of students' use of different concept types with their level of understanding. Previous studies have also examined the ways in which students link concepts to determine whether students have a meaningful understanding of principles of evolution. In this study, we build on our previous work that seeks to examine how students use prior knowledge in new situations and context, as well as present an adaptation of concept and concept-link categorization previously used in biology education research. In this adaptation, concepts are categorized on the basis of the observability of the concept exemplars and are shown to be dependent upon the knowledge level of the student. We use this categorization method to examine how students use prior knowledge when presented with an opportunity to apply physics in a new context, namely, wavefront aberrometry. Results indicate that students primarily utilize lower-level concepts, which is in agreement with previous research findings. We also found that students are able to create links between different levels of concepts, and that the type of links created can give insight to how deeply they understood the physics of the new context. Education Foundations/Learning Theory http://www.compadre.org/PER/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=10863 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:47:43 EST http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=10863 http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=10739 We measured mastery and retention of conceptual understanding of quantum mechanics in a modern physics course. This was studied for two equivalent cohorts of students taught with different pedagogical approaches using the Quantum Mechanics Conceptual Survey. We measured the impact of pedagogical approach both on the original conceptual learning and on long-term retention. The cohort of students who had a very highly rated traditional lecturer scored 19% lower than the equivalent cohort that was taught using interactive engagement methods. However, the amount of retention was very high for both cohorts, showing only a few percent decrease in scores when retested 6 and 18 months after completion of the course and with no exposure to the material in the interim period. This high level of retention is in striking contrast to the retention measured for more factual learning from university courses and argues for the value of emphasizing conceptual learning. Education Foundations/Assessment/Conceptual Assessment http://www.compadre.org/PER/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=10739 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:46:46 EST http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=10739 http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=10741 Students’ attitudes and approaches to problem solving in physics can profoundly influence their motivation to learn and development of expertise. We developed and validated an Attitudes and Approaches to Problem Solving survey by expanding the Attitudes toward Problem Solving survey of Marx and Cummings and administered it to physics graduate students. Comparison of their responses to the survey questions about problem solving in their own graduate-level courses vs problem solving in the introductory physics courses provides insight into their expertise in introductory and graduate-level physics. The physics graduate students’ responses to the survey questions were also compared with those of introductory physics and astronomy students and physics faculty. We find that, even for problem solving in introductory physics, graduate students’ responses to some survey questions are less expertlike than those of the physics faculty. Comparison of survey responses of graduate students and introductory students for problem solving in introductory physics suggests that graduate students’ responses are in general more expertlike than those of introductory students. However, survey responses suggest that graduate-level problem solving by graduate students on several measures has remarkably similar trends to introductory-level problem solving by introductory students. Education Practices/Active Learning/Problem Solving http://www.compadre.org/PER/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=10741 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:45:30 EST http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=10741 http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=10747 This paper extends prior research on student use of computer simulations (sims) to engage with and explore science topics, in this case wave interference. We describe engaged exploration; a process that involves students actively interacting with educational materials, sense making, and exploring primarily via their own questioning. We analyze interviews with college students using PhET sims in order to demonstrate engaged exploration, and to identify factors that can promote this type of inquiry. With minimal explicit guidance, students explore the topic of wave interference in ways that bear similarity to how scientists explore phenomena. PhET sims are flexible tools which allow students to choose their own learning path, but also provide constraints such that students’ choices are generally productive. This type of inquiry is supported by sim features such as concrete connections to the real world, representations that are not available in the real world, analogies to help students make meaning of and connect across multiple representations and phenomena, and a high level of interactivity with real-time, dynamic feedback from the sim. These features of PhET sims enable students to pose questions and answer them in ways that may not be supported by more traditional educational materials. Education Practices/Instructional Material Design/Simulation http://www.compadre.org/PER/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=10747 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:44:41 EST http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=10747 http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=10748 The learning outcome of a physics laboratory course for medical students was examined in an interdisciplinary field study and discussed for the electrical physiology ("Propagation of Excitation and Nerve Cells"). At the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich (LMU) at a time about 300 medicine students were assessed in two successive years. Students from the control group worked with standard experiments, while students from the treatment group performed newly developed "addressee-specific" experiments, designed to guide students to transfer physics knowledge to physiological problems. The assessment took place within the laboratory course on physiology, after the students had finished their laboratory classes in physics, and consisted of the construction of a concept map with additional multiple choice questions. The results showed that standard physics experiments are not adequate for teaching students to transfer physical principles to physiology. Introducing new addressee-specific experiments enriched the physics laboratory course by improving student attitudes toward physics and demonstrating better ability of students to relate concepts of physics and medicine, and overall to improve their understanding of the physics taught in the course. Education Practices/Curriculum Development/Laboratory http://www.compadre.org/PER/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=10748 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:43:30 EST http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=10748 http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=10750 We investigated introductory physics students’ mental models of sound propagation. We used a phenomenographic method to analyze the data in the study. In addition to the scientifically accepted Wave model, students used the “Entity” model to describe the propagation of sound. In this latter model sound is a self-standing entity, different from the medium through which it propagates. All other observed alternative models contain elements of both Entity and Wave models, but at the same time are distinct from each of the constituent models. We called these models “hybrid” or “blend” models. We discuss how students use these models in various contexts before and after instruction and how our findings contribute to the understanding of conceptual change. Implications of our findings for teaching are summarized. Education Foundations/Cognition http://www.compadre.org/PER/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=10750 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:41:48 EST http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=10750 http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=10751 The perspectives of introductory classical physics students can often negatively influence how those students later interpret quantum phenomena when taking an introductory course in modern physics. A detailed exploration of student perspectives on the interpretation of quantum physics is needed, both to characterize student understanding of physics concepts, and to inform how we might teach traditional content. Our previous investigations of student perspectives on quantum physics have indicated they can be highly nuanced, and may vary both within and across contexts. In order to better understand the contextual and often seemingly contradictory stances of students on matters of interpretation, we interviewed 19 students from four introductory modern physics courses taught at the University of Colorado. We find that students have attitudes and opinions that often parallel the stances of expert physicists when arguing for their favored interpretations of quantum mechanics, allowing for more nuanced characterizations of student perspectives in terms of three key interpretive themes. We present a framework for characterizing student perspectives on quantum mechanics, and demonstrate its utility in interpreting the sometimes contradictory nature of student responses to previous surveys. We further find that students most often vacillate in their responses when what makes intuitive sense to them is not in agreement with what they consider to be a correct response, underscoring the need to distinguish between the personal and the public perspectives of introductory modern physics students. Education Foundations/Student Characteristics/Affect http://www.compadre.org/PER/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=10751 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:40:33 EST http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=10751 http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=10752 Our previous research examined gender differences in introductory physics classes at the University of Colorado at Boulder. We found: (1) gender differences in several aspects of the course, including conceptual survey performance, (2) these differences persisted despite the use of interactive engagement techniques, and (3) the post-test gender differences could largely be attributed to differences in students’ prior physics and math performance and their incoming attitudes and beliefs. In the current study, we continue to characterize gender differences in our physics courses by examining the second-semester, electricity and magnetism course. We analyze student retention from Physics 1 to 2, student performance, and students’ attitudes and beliefs about physics, and find gender differences in all three areas. Specifically, females are less likely to stay in the physics major than males. Despite students performing about equally on the conceptual pretest, we find that females score about 6 percentage points lower than males on the conceptual post-test. In most semesters, females outperform males on homework and participation, and males outperform females on exams, resulting in course grades of males and females that are not significantly different. In terms of students’ attitudes and beliefs, we find that both males and females shift toward less expertlike beliefs over the course of Physics 2. Shifts are statistically equal for all categories except for the Personal Interest category, where females have more negative shifts than males. A large fraction of the conceptual post-test gender gap (up to 60%) can be accounted for by differences in students’ prior physics and math performance and their pre-Physics 2 attitudes and beliefs. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that it is an accumulation of small gender differences over time that may be responsible for the large differences that we observe in physics participation of males and females. Education Foundations/Societal Issues/Gender Issues http://www.compadre.org/PER/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=10752 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:39:03 EST http://www.compadre.org/PER/items/detail.cfm?ID=10752