Effectiveness of Tutorials for Introductory Physics in Argentinean high schools (original) (raw)
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Effectiveness of Tutorials for Introductory Physics in Argentinean high schools
Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research, 2014
This longitudinal study reports the results of a replication of Tutorials in Introductory Physics in high schools of a Latin-American country. The main objective of this study was to examine the suitability of Tutorials for local science education reform. Conceptual learning of simple resistive electric circuits was determined by the application of the single-response multiple-choice test "Determining and Interpreting Resistive Electric Circuits Concepts Test" (DIRECT) to high school classes taught with Tutorials and traditional instruction. The study included state and privately run schools of different socioeconomic profiles, without formal laboratory space and equipment, in classes of mixed-gender and female-only students, taught by novice and experienced instructors. Results systematically show that student learning is significantly higher in the Tutorials classes compared with traditional teaching for all of the studied conditions. The results also show that long-term learning (one year after instruction) in the Tutorials classes is highly satisfactory, very similar to the performance of the samples of college students used to develop the test DIRECT. On the contrary, students following traditional instruction returned one year after instruction to the poor performance (< 20%) shown before instruction, a result compatible with the very low level of conceptual knowledge of basic physics recently determined by a systematic study of first-year students attending seven universities in Spain and four Latin-American countries. Some replication and adaptation problems and difficulties of this experience are noted, as well as recommendations for successful use of Tutorials in high schools of similar educational systems.
Socioeconomic and Gender Differences in Students’ Perceptions of Physics in Mexican Schools
2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access Proceedings
He collaborates with the Faculty of Engineering of the Universidad Andres Bello in Santiago, Chile. Professor Zavala is National Researcher Level 1 of the National System of Researchers of Mexico. He works with the following research lines: conceptual understanding, active learning, development of assessment tools, faculty development and studies in STEM. Genaro Zavala was appointed to the editorial board of the
Physical Review Special Topics Physics Education Research, 2011
This paper examines the educational impact of the implementation of the tutorial activity ``Changes in Energy and Momentum'' from The Tutorials in Introductory Physics in five different instructional settings. These settings include (1) a completely computer-based learning environment and (2) use of cooperative learning groups with varying levels of instructor support. Pre- and post-tests provide evidence that a computer-based implementation falls significantly short of classroom implementations which involve both collaborative learning groups and interactions with a teaching assistance. Other findings provide insight into the importance of certain elements of instructor training and the appropriate use of the tutorial as an initial introduction to a new concept.
Sustaining educational reforms in introductory physics
Physical Review Special Topics-physics Education Research, 2008
While it is well known which curricular practices can improve student performance on measures of conceptual understanding, the sustaining of these practices and the role of faculty members in implementing these practices are less well understood. We present a study of the hand-off of Tutorials in Introductory Physics from initial adopters to other instructors at the University of Colorado, including traditional faculty not involved in physics education research. The study examines the impact of implementation of Tutorials on student conceptual learning across eight first-semester, and seven second-semester courses, for fifteen faculty over twelve semesters, and includes roughly 4000 students. It is possible to demonstrate consistently high, and statistically indistinguishable, student learning gains for different faculty members; however, such results are not the norm, and appear to rely on a variety of factors. Student performance varies by faculty background - faculty involved in, or informed by physics education research, consistently post higher student learning gains than less-informed faculty. Student performance in these courses also varies by curricula used - all semesters in which the research-based Tutorials and Learning Assistants are used have higher student learning gains than those semesters that rely on non-research based materials and do not employ Learning Assistants.
Revista do Professor de Física, 2022
This work is part PhD thesis whose objective is that pre-service physics teachers can build or strengthen (at least part of) a Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) in an electromagnetic course. For this purpose, an electromagnetic course was reconstructed based on science education research results that promotes the productive disciplinary involvement of students. We characterize PCK about electric circuits of two students who have taken this reconstructed electromagnetic course. At the same time, the PCK of another student who has taken the electromagnetic course but before it was reconstructed is characterized as well. For the characterization of the PCK, each of the three students involved in this study is asked to elaborate a sequence of activities of two classes on electric circuits and each component of the PCK is analyzed on the basis of a rubric designed for this purpose. The analysis shows that the PCK corresponds to teachers in training, although there are differences among them. The students who took the reconstructed course have a more developed PCK on electric circuits compared to those who took the same course before its reconstruction.
Modular and Traditional Methods of Teaching Selected Topics in High School Physics
2017
This study compared the effectiveness of Modular Method and Traditional Method of teaching the selected Physics topics in Cantilan National High School,Cantilan Surigao del Sur. Findings were the basis for a proposal lesson guide. Age profile of students belongs to the usual age mostly within the bracket of 15-17 years old where most of them are females. The average grade level involved in the study were in scores from 85 to as low as 75 scores. Based on the academic performance level on the topic measurement, modular group had the pre-test mean lower compared to the traditional group achievement but were categorized qualitatively average. Based on the post-test score between traditional and modular groups, it was revealed that the score of the traditional group was higher compared to the modular group thus categorized as average. There is a significant difference of the level of academic performance of the traditional and modular groups in pre-test and post-test. In the measurement...
Longitudinal study of student conceptual understanding in electricity and magnetism
Physical Review Special Topics-physics Education Research, 2009
We have investigated the long-term effect of student-centered instruction at the freshman level on juniors' performance on a conceptual survey of Electricity and Magnetism ͑E&M͒. We measured student performance on a research-based conceptual instrument-the Brief Electricity & Magnetism Assessment ͑BEMA͒-over a period of 8 semesters ͑2004-2007͒. Concurrently, we introduced the University of Washington's Tutorials in Introductory Physics as part of our standard freshman curriculum. Freshmen took the BEMA before and after this Tutorial-based introductory course, and juniors took it after completion of their traditional junior-level E&M I and E&M II courses. We find that, on average, individual BEMA scores do not change significantly after completion of the introductory course-neither from the freshman to the junior year, nor from upperdivision E&M I to E&M II. However, we find that juniors who had completed a non-Tutorial freshman course scored significantly lower on the ͑post-upper-division͒ BEMA than those who had completed the reformed freshman course-indicating a long-term positive impact of freshman Tutorials on conceptual understanding.
The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of using the learning stations technique in teaching about the electrical current on students' physics course achievement. The sample of the experimental study designed with a pretest-posttest model consists of 50 10th grade students studying in a Science High School in Trabzon, in the 2016-2017 academic year. A multiple-choice achievement test with .80 reliability coefficient was used as the data collection tool. The obtained data were analyzed by applying the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test in SPSS 20.00 program and a statistically significant difference was found between the experimental and control group achievement test scores in favor of the experimental group, which indicates that the learning stations technique practices performed to teach about the electrical current are effective in increasing the 10th grade students' physics course achievements.
Teaching physics novices at university: A case for stronger scaffolding
Physical Review Special Topics-physics Education Research, 2011
In 2006 a new type of tutorial, called Map Meeting, was successfully trialled with novice first year physics students at the University of Sydney, Australia. Subsequently, in first semester 2007 a large-scale experiment was carried out with 262 students who were allocated either to the strongly scaffolding Map Meetings or to the less scaffolding Workshop Tutorials, which have been run at the University of Sydney since 1995. In this paper we describe what makes Map Meetings more scaffolding than Workshop Tutorials—where the level of scaffolding represents the main difference between the two tutorial types. Using a mixed methods approach to triangulate results, we compare the success of the two with respect to both student tutorial preference and examination performance. In summary, Map Meetings had a higher retention rate and received more positive feedback from students—students liked the strongly scaffolding environment and felt that it better helped them understand physics. A comparison of final examination performances of students who had attended at least 10 out of 12 tutorials revealed that only 11% of Map Meeting students received less than 30 out of 90 marks compared to 21% of Workshop Tutorial students, whereas there were no differences amongst high-achieving students. Map Meetings was therefore particularly successful in helping low-achieving novices learn physics.