New Physics Teaching and Assessment: Laboratory and Technology-Enhanced Active Learning (original) (raw)
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Canadian Journal of Physics, 2009
This paper examines the effects of computer-based Interactive Lecture Experiments (ILEs) in a large introductory physics course on student academic achievement and attitudes towards physics. ILEs build on interactive lecture demonstrations by requiring students to analyze data during and after lecture demonstrations. Academic achievement was measured using the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and final examinations' grades; and student attitudes were measured using a Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS). FCI results showed a general positive shift (about average for an interactive course) but could not detect improvements in student understanding of specific topics addressed by ILEs. However, open-ended questions on the final exam showed differences between sections on topics that were addressed by ILEs. Attitude survey results showed a negative shift in student attitudes over the semester, which is a typical result for an introductory physics course. This finding suggests that ILE pedagogy alone is insufficient to significantly improve student attitudes toward science. The study also revealed possible improvements to implementing ILEs such as working in groups, ongoing feedback for students, and linking assessment to pedagogical practices. PACS Nos: 01.40.gb, 01.40.Ha Résumé : Nous examinons ici les effets d'une Expérience de Cours Interactif avec ordinateur (ILEs) sur les résultats académiques et l'attitude envers la physique d'un grand groupe d'étudiants qui suivent un cours d'introduction à la physique. ILE utilise des démonstrations interactives en classe et requiert que les étudiants analysent les données pendant et après la classe. Nous avons mesuré la performance académique en utilisant une technique connue sous le nom de « Force Concept Inventory » (FCI) ou Fonds des Concepts de Force (comment les étudiants conçoivent, visualisent la force mécanique) et sur les résultat de l'examen final. L'attitude des étudiants a été mesurée en utilisant l'outil CLASS développé au Colorado. Les résultats FCI ont montré un déplacement général positif (normal pour un cours interactif), mais n'ont détecté aucune amélioration dans la compréhension que les étudiants ont des différents sujets discutés dans les cours avec pédagogie ILEs. Cependant, les questions ouvertes dans l'examen final ont montré des différences entre les différentes sections pour les sujets étudiés par ILEs. L'analyse des attitudes a montré un déplacement négatif dans les attitudes des étudiants sur la durée de la session, un résultat typique pour un cours d'introduction en physique. Ces résultats indiquent que la pédagogie ILE à elle seule est incapable d'améliorer significativement l'attitude des étudiants envers la science. L'étude révèle également des pistes pour une amélioration possible de ILE, comme le travail en groupe, la contre-réaction en continu et un meilleur lien entre l'évaluation et les pratiques pédagogiques.
Lumat: International Journal of Math, Science and Technology Education
One of the most commonly explored technologies in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education is Classroom Response Systems (clickers). Clickers help instructors generate in-class discussion by soliciting student responses to multiple-choice conceptual questions and sharing the distribution of these responses with the class. The potential benefits of clicker-enhanced pedagogy include: increased student engagement, reduced anxiety, continuous formative assessment, and enhanced conceptual understanding. Most studies, however, investigate the effects of clicker-enhanced instruction in large undergraduate STEM courses. The impact of this pedagogy on learning in small secondary or post-secondary classrooms is still relatively unexplored. The context of this study is a secondary physics methods course in a Teacher Education Program at a large Canadian university. One of the course assignments required future teachers to develop multiple-choice conceptual questions r...
In Search of Student Engagement in High School Physics Through Contextual Teaching
IHPST Conference Procedings, 2013
This action research study compared student intellectual engagement between two different instructional delivery methods. The first instructional method was a non-contextual teaching approach using a textbook approach to teach the work-energy concepts. The second instructional method was a contextual teaching approach where students built an electric guitar pickup and a simple electric guitar in order to provide a context for the teaching of the electromagnetism. To measure the intellectual engagement of students, data was collected from personal student journals and from questions generated by students following different instructional activities. The student generated questions were categorized and ranked to judge the degree of student intellectual engagement and depth of thought using a framework where numerical values were assigned to the questions. Each question was categorized as peripheral, factual, conceptual, or philosophical where the peripheral questions had the lowest intellectual ranking and the philosophical questions had the highest intellectual ranking. Data was also collected from student journals. The research revealed that students were more intellectually engaged and exhibited much more positive attitudes during the contextual lessons. The questions generated by students during the contextual lessons were of the higher order types while the questions generated during the non-contextual lessons were predominantly of the lowest order peripheral type.
2009
The aim of this study was firstly to evaluate the impact of two interactive-engagement models of instruction, namely Whole Class Discussions (WCD) and Computer Simulations (CS) on first year physics student-teachers' conceptual understanding of Newtonian mechanics, and on their epistemological beliefs about physics. The force concept inventory was used to evaluate the impact on conceptual understanding while the Epistemological Beliefs About Physical Science questionnaire was used to evaluate the impact on their epistemological beliefs. The findings suggest that interactive engagement models had a positive impact on students' conceptual understanding of Newtonian mechanics, and on their epistemological beliefs about physics. The study also contributed WCD and CS activities that can be used or adapted with an aim of enhancing conceptual understanding in physics. The study did not show any direct relationship between students' conceptual understanding of Newtonian mechanics and their epistemological beliefs about physics.
Impacts of curricular change: Implications from 8 years of data in introductory physics
2013
Introductory calculus-based physics classes at the University of Colorado Boulder were significantly transformed beginning in 2004. They now regularly include: interactive engagement using clickers in large lecture settings, Tutorials in Introductory Physics with use of undergraduate Learning Assistants in recitation sections, and a staffed help-room setting where students work on personalized CAPA homework. We compile and summarize conceptual (FMCE and BEMA) pre-and post-data from over 9,000 unique students after 16 semesters of both Physics 1 and 2. Within a single institution with stable pre-test scores, we reproduce results of Hake's 1998 study that demonstrate the positive impacts of interactive engagement on student performance. We link the degree of faculty's use of interactive engagement techniques and their experience levels on student outcomes, and argue for the role of such systematic data collection in sustained course and institutional transformations.
In Search of Student Engagement in High School Physics Through Contextual Teaching M.Ed. Thesis 2012
This action research study compared student intellectual engagement between two different instructional delivery methods. The first instructional method was a non-contextual teaching approach using a textbook to teach the work outcomes for the S4 physics mechanics unit. The second instructional method was a contextual teaching approach where students built an electric guitar pickup and a simple electric guitar in order to provide a context for the teaching of the electromagnetism outcomes for the S4 physics electricity unit. To measure the intellectual engagement of students, data was collected from personal student journals and from questions generated by students following different instructional activities. The student generated questions were categorized and ranked to judge the degree of student intellectual engagement and depth of thought using a framework where numerical values were assigned to the questions. Each question was categorized as peripheral, factual, conceptual, or philosophical where the peripheral questions had the lowest intellectual ranking and the philosophical questions had the highest intellectual ranking. Data was also collected from cumulative unit tests, short exit slips and a personal teacher journal. The research revealed that students were more intellectually engaged and exhibited much more positive attitudes during the contextual lessons. The questions generated by students during the contextual lessons were of the higher order factual and conceptual types while the questions generated during the non-contextual lessons were predominantly of the lowest order peripheral type. By using the electric guitar and electric guitar pickup as a context, this action research study demonstrated that these contextual activities intellectually engaged students and helped to facilitate their deeper understanding of electromagnetism.
2004
EMIT: Explicit Modeling of Interactive-Engagement Techniques for Physics Graduate Teaching Assistants and the Impact on Instruction and Student Performance in Calculus-based Physics. This study measures the effect of a model of explicit instruction (EMIT) on the: 1) physics graduate teaching assistants' adherence to reformed teaching methods, 2) impact of the instructional model on GTAs' beliefs about the nature of physics and physics problem solving and 3) undergraduate physics students' understanding and performance in an introductory calculus-based physics course. Methods included explicit modeling for the treatment group GTAs of the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) and assessment of treatment and control GTAs and their students throughout the semester. Students' understanding was measured using the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and Flash-mediated Force and Motion Concept Inventory (FM 2 CA). Students were surveyed about performance of GTAs using the Student Survey (SS). Results indicated changes were tied to individual GTAs' beliefs about the nature of physics. Student conceptual understanding reflected a two-fold Hake gain compared to the control group. General application of the EMIT model presupposes explicit instruction of the model for GTAs. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Active learning of physics: Synergy of teaching strategies
We report on the application of Tutorial for Introductory Physics and Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (ILD's) in the Mechanics course taken by engineering students at the Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Argentina. A pre/post test quasi experimental design was implemented to compare the learning gains of two previously formed complete groups of engineering students. One of the groups continued with the traditional instruction, while in the experimental group active learning strategies were introduced in two steps: the first experiment included only Tutorials, while in the second experiment ILD's were added. Conceptual knowledge was measured with the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) test, while the institutional evaluation included three rather traditional problem solving written exams. A normalized gain of g=0.27 was obtained in the control course, well above the average for traditional instruction, as indicated by the wide study of Hake. The experimental instruction yielded g=0.56 in the first application and g=0.62 in the second experiment, indicating the synergy of using together coherent teaching strategies. The most striking result is the high degree of student success in the institutional evaluation, which increased the fraction of retained (successful) student to more than double that obtained by the traditional instruction. Implications for educational reform in similar educational systems are discussed.