New PER-Central collection resources

Epistemic complexity and the journeyman-expert transition

Tue, 28 May 2013 14:57:02 EST

Physics students can encounter difficulties in physics problem solving as a result of failing to use knowledge that they have but do not perceive as relevant or appropriate. In previous work we have demonstrated that some of these difficulties may be epistemological. Students may limit the kinds of knowledge that they use. For example, they may use formal manipulations and ignore physical sense making or vice versa. Both beginning (novice) and intermediate (journeymen) students demonstrate these difficulties. Learning both to switch one’s epistemological lens on a problem and to integrate different kinds of knowledge is a critical component of learning to solve problems in physics effectively. In this paper, we present two case studies in which journeyman students (upper-division physics majors) demonstrate switching between epistemological resources in approaching a complex problem. We conjecture that mastering these epistemological skills is an essential component of learning complex problem solving in physics.

How do they solve it? An insight into the learner’s approach to the mechanism of physics problem solving

Tue, 28 May 2013 14:55:43 EST

A perceived difficulty is associated with physics problem solving from a learner’s viewpoint, arising out of a multitude of reasons. In this paper, we have examined the microstructure of students’ thought processes during physics problem solving by combining the analysis of responses to multiple-choice questions and semistructured student interviews. Design of appropriate scaffoldings serves as pointers to the identification of student problem solving difficulties. An analysis of the results suggests the necessity of identification of the skill sets required for developing better problem solving abilities.

Role of beliefs and emotions in numerical problem solving in university physics education

Tue, 28 May 2013 14:54:52 EST

Numerical problem solving in classical mechanics in university physics education offers a learning situation where students have many possibilities of control and creativity. In this study, expertlike beliefs about physics and learning physics together with prior knowledge were the most important predictors of the quality of performance of a task with many degrees of freedom. Feelings corresponding to control and concentration, i.e., emotions that are expected to trigger students’ intrinsic motivation, were also important in predicting performance. Unexpectedly, intrinsic motivation, as indicated by enjoyment and interest, together with students’ personal interest and utility value beliefs did not predict performance. This indicates that although a certain degree of enjoyment is probably necessary, motivated behavior is rather regulated by integration and identification of expertlike beliefs about learning and are more strongly associated with concentration and control during learning and, ultimately, with high performance. The results suggest that the development of students’ epistemological beliefs is important for students’ ability to learn from realistic problem-solving situations with many degrees of freedom in physics education.

A Comparison of Inquiry and Worked Example Web-Based Instruction Using Physlets

Tue, 28 May 2013 14:53:22 EST

This paper compares two protocols for web-based instruction using simulations in an introductory physics class. The Inquiry protocol allowed students to control input parameters while the Worked Example protocol did not. Students in the Worked Example group performed significantly higher on a common assessment. The ramifications of this study are discussed in relation to Scientific Discovery Learning and Cognitive Load Theory.

Mapping university students’ epistemic framing of computational physics using network analysis

Tue, 28 May 2013 14:51:52 EST

Solving physics problem in university physics education using a computational approach requires knowledge and skills in several domains, for example, physics, mathematics, programming, and modeling. These competences are in turn related to students’ beliefs about the domains as well as about learning. These knowledge and beliefs components are referred to here as epistemic elements, which together represent the students’ epistemic framing of the situation. The purpose of this study was to investigate university physics students’ epistemic framing when solving and visualizing a physics problem using a particle-spring model system. Students’ epistemic framings are analyzed before and after the task using a network analysis approach on interview transcripts, producing visual representations as epistemic networks. The results show that students change their epistemic framing from a modeling task, with expectancies about learning programming, to a physics task, in which they are challenged to use physics principles and conservation laws in order to troubleshoot and understand their simulations. This implies that the task, even though it is not introducing any new physics, helps the students to develop a more coherent view of the importance of using physics principles in problem solving. The network analysis method used in this study is shown to give intelligible representations of the students’ epistemic framing and is proposed as a useful method of analysis of textual data.

Utilizing public scientific web lectures to teach contemporary physics at the high school level: A case study of learning

Tue, 28 May 2013 14:50:46 EST

This paper describes a teaching experiment designed to examine the learning (i.e., retention of content and conceptual development) that takes place when public scientific web lectures delivered by scientists are utilized to present advanced ideas in physics to students with a high school background in physics. The students watched an exemplary public physics web lecture that was followed by a collaborative generic activity session. The collaborative session involved a guided critical reconstruction of the main arguments in the lecture, and a processing of the key analogical explanations. Then the students watched another exemplary web lecture on a different topic. The participants (N=14) were divided into two groups differing only in the order in which the lectures were presented. The students’ discussions during the activities show that they were able to reason and demonstrate conceptual progress, although the physics ideas in the lectures were far beyond their level in physics. The discussions during the collaborative session contributed significantly to the students’ understanding. We illustrate this point through an analysis of one of these discussions between two students on an analogical explanation of the Aharonov-Bohm effect that was presented in one of the lectures. The results from the tests that were administered to the participants several times during the intervention further support this contention.

Prospective elementary teachers’ perceptions of the processes of modeling: A case study

Tue, 28 May 2013 14:48:56 EST

In this paper we discuss a study on the approaches to modeling of students of the 4-year elementary school teacher program at the University of Palermo, Italy. The answers to a specially designed questionnaire are analyzed on the basis of an a priori analysis made using a general scheme of reference on the epistemology of mathematics and physics. The study is performed by using quantitative data analysis methods, i.e. factorial analysis of the correspondences and implicative analysis. A qualitative analysis of key words and terms used by students during interviews is also used to examine some aspects that emerged from the quantitative analysis. The students have been classified on the basis of their different epistemological approaches to knowledge construction, and implications between different conceptual strategies used to answer the questionnaire have been highlighted. The study’s conclusions are consistent with previous research, but the use of quantitative data analysis allowed us to classify the students into three “profiles” related to different epistemological approaches to knowledge construction, and to show the implications of the different conceptual strategies used to answer the questionnaire, giving an estimation of the classification or implication “strength.” Some hints on how a course for elementary school physics and mathematics education can be planned to orient the future teachers to the construction of models of explanation are reported.

Comparative study of the effectiveness of three learning environments: Hyper-realistic virtual simulations, traditional schematic simulations and traditional laboratory

Tue, 28 May 2013 14:47:55 EST

This study compared the educational effects of computer simulations developed in a hyper-realistic virtual environment with the educational effects of either traditional schematic simulations or a traditional optics laboratory. The virtual environment was constructed on the basis of Java applets complemented with a photorealistic visual output. This new virtual environment concept, which we call hyper-realistic, transcends basic schematic simulation; it provides the user with a more realistic perception of a physical phenomenon being simulated. We compared the learning achievements of three equivalent, homogeneous groups of undergraduates—an experimental group who used only the hyper-realistic virtual laboratory, a first control group who used a schematic simulation, and a second control group who used the traditional laboratory. The three groups received the same theoretical preparation and carried out equivalent practicals in their respective learning environments. The topic chosen for the experiment was optical aberrations. An analysis of variance applied to the data of the study demonstrated a statistically significant difference (p value <0.05) between the three groups. The learning achievements attained by the group using the hyper-realistic virtual environment were 6.1 percentage points higher than those for the group using the traditional schematic simulations and 9.5 percentage points higher than those for the group using the traditional laboratory.

The changing role of physics departments in modern universities: Proceedings of the ICUPE

Tue, 28 May 2013 14:46:35 EST

The proceedings of the August 1996 conference, The Changing Role of Physics Departments in Modern Universities, is arranged in two volumes. Volume 1 contains the conference presentations and papers. Volume 2 contains extended, detailed descriptions of some of the most influential active-learning physics curricula of the past 20 years.

Applying beliefs and resources frameworks to the psychometric analyses of an epistemology survey

Tue, 28 May 2013 14:45:47 EST

This study explored how researchers’ views about the form of students’ epistemologies influence how the researchers develop and refine surveys and how they interpret survey results. After running standard statistical analyses on 505 physics students’ responses to the Turkish version of the Maryland Physics Expectations-II survey, probing students’ epistemologies and expectations, we interpreted the results through two different theoretical lenses, the beliefs perspective and the resources perspective. We showed that the beliefs and resources frameworks provided different interpretations of the psychometric analyses, leading to different conclusions about how the survey results should be interpreted and how the survey should be improved.

Effects of two different types of physics learning on the results of CLASS test

Tue, 28 May 2013 14:44:32 EST

During a one-semester-long research project with high school students, we deployed and gauged efficiency of two different reform teaching methods: reading, presenting, and questioning (RPQ) and experimenting and discussion (ED). In this paper we report on changes in students’ attitudes and beliefs about physics and learning physics. We used the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS v3) to assess the relative effectiveness of the two methods. The data show that both methods improved student attitudes and beliefs but to different extents. The RPQ group (91 students) achieved an overall improvement of +5.8% in attitudes and beliefs, while the ED group (85 students) attained an improvement of +25.6%. These results suggest that both methods may have a substantial potential for improving students’ attitudes and beliefs about physics and physics learning, with the ED method being more promising than the RPQ method.

Spring 2007 Newsletter of the Physics Education Research Topical Group

Tue, 28 May 2013 14:43:05 EST

This inaugural issue of the Newsletter of the Physics Education Research Topical Group (PERTG) explains the PERLOC election policies, gives an overview of the group's history, and provides a comparison between PERLOC and RIPE.

Connecting three pivotal concepts in K-12 science state standards and maps of conceptual growth to research in physics education

Tue, 28 May 2013 14:42:14 EST

This paper describes three conceptual areas in physics that are particularly important targets for educational interventions in K-12 science. These conceptual areas are force and motion, conservation of energy, and geometrical optics, which were prominent in the US national and four US state standards that we examined. The four US state standards that were analyzed to explore the extent to which the K-12 science standards differ in different states were selected to include states in different geographic regions and of different sizes. The three conceptual areas that were common to all the four state standards are conceptual building blocks for other science concepts covered in the K-12 curriculum. Since these three areas have been found to be ripe with deep student misconceptions that are resilient to conventional physics instruction, the nature of difficulties in these areas is described in some depth, along with pointers towards approaches that have met with some success in each conceptual area.

An Investigation of Factors Affecting the Degree of Naïve Impetus Theory Application

Tue, 28 May 2013 14:40:06 EST

This study investigates factors affecting the degree of novice physics students application of the naïve impetus theory. Six hundred and fourteen first-year university engineering physics students answered the Force Concept Inventory as a pre-test for their calculus-based course. We examined the degree to which students consistently applied the naïve impetus theory across different items. We used a 2-way repeated measures ANOVA and linear regression to analyze data coded from incorrect student responses. It was found that there were statistically significant main effects for item familiarity and item requirement for explanation vs. prediction on the measured degree of impetus theory application. Student course grades had no significant effect on impetus theory application. When faced with items that were unfamiliar and predictive, students appeared to rely on non-theoretical, knowledge-in-pieces reasoning. Reasoning characteristic of naïve theories was more frequently applied when students were completing familiar problem tasks that required explanation. When considering all the above factors simultaneously, we found that the degree of naïve impetus theory application by students is attributable to variables in the following order: familiarity, prediction, and explanation.

Teacher Education in Physics

Tue, 28 May 2013 14:38:38 EST

This compendium of research articles on the preparation of physics and physical-science teachers is published by the Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC). This book came about due to a need for improved preparation of physics and physical science teachers. This resulting book includes new reports that reflect cutting-edge research and practice, as well as reprints of previously published seminal papers from the body of research and research-based practice in physics teacher education. PhysTEC is a a project of the American Physical Society (APS) and American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT).

Can an analysis of the contrast between pre-Galilean and Newtonian theoretical frameworks help students develop a scientific mindset?

Tue, 28 May 2013 14:36:42 EST

This study examines a course in which students use two writing activities and collaborative group activities to examine the conceptual structure of the calculus-based introductory Physics course. Students are presented with two alternative frameworks; pre-Galilean Physics and Newtonian Physics. The idea of the course design is that students would at first view the frameworks almost in a theatrical sense as a view of a drama involving a conflict of actors;Aristotle, Galileo, Newton and others occurring a long time ago. As participants passing through a series of interventions, the students become aware that the frameworks relate concepts from different parts of the course and learn to evaluate the two alternative frameworks. They develop a scientific mindset changing their outlook on the course material from the viewpoint that it consists of a tool kit of assorted practices, classified according to problem type, to the viewpoint that it comprises a connected structure of concepts.

Addressing Student Models of Energy Loss in Quantum Physics

Tue, 28 May 2013 14:35:39 EST

We report on a multi-year, multi-institution study to investigate students' reasoning about energy in the context of quantum tunnelling. We use ungraded surveys, graded examination questions, individual clinical interviews and multiple-choice exams to build a picture of the types of responses that students typically give. We find that two descriptions of tunnelling through a square barrier are particularly common. Students often state that tunnelling particles lose energy while tunnelling. When sketching wavefunctions, students also show a shift in the axis of oscillation, as if the height of the axis of oscillation indicated the energy of the particle. We find inconsistencies between students' conceptual, mathematical and graphical models of quantum tunnelling. As part of a curriculum in quantum physics, we have developed instructional materials designed to help students develop a more robust and less inconsistent picture of tunnelling, and present data suggesting that we have succeeded in doing so.

Seeing the Science in Children's Thinking: Case Studies of Student Inquiry and Physical Science.

Tue, 28 May 2013 14:12:32 EST

Observing and listening to children while they inquire into the physical sciences is difficult. There’s lots to see and hear, but unless you know what to look and listen for, you might only see a noisy blur of activity. Seeing the Science in Children’s Thinking is a field guide to the science classroom with authentic examples presented in written and video form. It’s a great way for staff developers to train teachers’ eyes and ears to pick up the analysis and ideas of students as they occur in the wild of classroom conversations. David Hammer and Emily Van Zee explain the scientific process, describe how research suggests students conceptualize inquiry, and offer ways to encourage scientific investigation in the elementary and middle grades. Then they offer six in-depth case studies of class discussion from grades 1 through 8, each keyed to clips of minimally edited in-the-classroom footage on the companion DVD-ROM. The case studies include not only a thorough description by each teacher, but also detailed facilitator’s notes for running effective staff-development workshops using the footage. The clips present up to thirty minutes of authentic, uninterrupted class discussions with optional subtitles. Additionally, full transcripts of the video clips are available as printable files on the DVD-ROM. Evidence of children’s scientific thinking is all around the classroom, but it takes a skilled teacher to locate it. With Seeing the Science in Children’s Thinking your teachers can sharpen their senses, discover a wealth of information about how their students approach science, and create instruction that’s individualized and responsive.

Enhancing College Students' Understanding of Lunar Phases

Tue, 28 May 2013 14:12:18 EST

Astronomy education researchers now know that college students do not enter the introductory astronomy classroom as blank slates, but rather with a pre-existing understanding of many introductory astronomy concepts, including lunar phases. Sometimes this understanding is scientifically correct, but often students' understanding is incomplete, inadequate or simply incorrect and cannot explain observed phenomenon. Unfortunately, students' pre-existing understandings are often deeply rooted, and many students leave the classroom without a scientifically correct understanding of lunar phases. The purpose of this research study was to design instruction that enhances college students' understanding of lunar phases. This multi-phase study utilized qualitative and quantitative research methods to fulfill this purpose by identifying students' prior understanding of lunar phases, developing the Lunar Phases Concept Inventory (LPCI) to measure conceptual change, designing and evaluating an in-class group activity designed to teach the concept of lunar phases. Using a qualitative phenomenology, fourteen college students' conceptual understanding of lunar phases was uncovered and organized into a conceptual framework with eight dimensions of student understanding, each with alternative facets. Based upon this conceptual framework, the LPCI was developed. This instrument consists of fourteen multiple-choice items designed to assess student understanding of lunar phases. Based on a modified Karplus Learning Cycle, an in-class group activity was developed to teach the concept of lunar phases. During the fall of 1999, this activity was implemented at a midwestern university as part of a restructured astronomy course during two fifty-minute class periods. Administered prior to and after instruction, the LPCI shows the instruction was effective. A statistical analysis of the results shows that the instruction produced an effect size of 2.99 and a normalized gain of 0.63.

A research-based approach to improving student understanding of the vector nature of kinematical concepts

Tue, 28 May 2013 14:12:01 EST

In this paper we describe a long-term, large-scale investigation of the ability of university students to treat velocity and acceleration as vectors in one and two dimensions. Some serious conceptual and reasoning difficulties identified among introductory students also were common among pre-college teachers and physics graduate students. Insights gained from this research guided the development of instructional materials that help improve student learning at the introductory level and beyond. The results have strong implications for the teaching of undergraduate physics, the professional development of teachers, and the preparation of teaching assistants.