• Open Access

Variation of instructor-student interactions in an introductory interactive physics course

Emily A. West, Cassandra A. Paul, David Webb, and Wendell H. Potter
Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 9, 010109 – Published 22 March 2013

Abstract

The physics instruction at UC Davis for life science majors takes place in a long-standing reformed large-enrollment physics course in which the discussion or laboratory instructors (primarily graduate student teaching assistants) implement the interactive-engagement (IE) elements of the course. Because so many different instructors participate in disseminating the IE course elements, we find it essential to the instructors’ professional development to observe and document the student-instructor interactions within the classroom. Out of this effort, we have developed a computerized real-time instructor observation tool (RIOT) to take data of student-instructor interactions. We use the RIOT to observe 29 different instructors for 5 hours each over the course of one quarter, for a total of about 150 hours of class time, finding that the range of instructor behaviors is more extreme than previously assumed. In this paper, we introduce RIOT and describe how the variation present across 29 different instructors can provide students in the same course with significantly different course experiences.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
1 More
  • Received 4 June 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.9.010109

This article is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Emily A. West2, Cassandra A. Paul1, David Webb2, and Wendell H. Potter2

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, San José State University, One Washington Square, San José, California 95192, USA
  • 2Department of Physics, University of California at Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616, USA

Article Text

Click to Expand

References

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 9, Iss. 1 — January - June 2013

Reuse & Permissions
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review Physics Education Research

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

×

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×