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In this talk we present data collected in two introductory physics courses (algebra-based and calculus-based) using the ISLE approach at Rutgers, Newark. The data come from students’ solutions of traditional physics problems evaluated using a rubric that assesses student reasoning abilities, such as ability to communicate, to use different representations consistently, and to evaluate their answer. We track students through one semester and analyze their progress using weekly assessments and course exams.

AAPT SM 20

Studying student reasoning in an ISLE-based classroom

urban

rutgers

isle

reform

introductory

assessment

physics

The 2020 AAPT Virtual Summer Meeting brought together physics educators from around the globe to learn about the latest in physics theory, research methodology and education from leaders in their field. The program featured plenary speakers, sessions, workshops and many special activities.

For more information please visit the 2020 AAPT Virtual Summer Meeting page at: https://www.aapt.org/Conferences/SM2020/index.cfm.


The 2020 AAPT Virtual Summer Meeting brought together physics educators from around the globe to learn about the latest in physics theory, research methodology and education from leaders in their field. 

technical paper

Teaching in an active, student-centered environment is very different from teaching in a traditional environment, requiring a different set of dispositions, knowledge and skills. This environment can be particularly challenging for new instructors with no classroom experience. During the 2019-2020 academic year, we reformed the introductory physics courses at Rutgers, Newark using the ISLE approach. The laboratory portion of this reform included eight instructors, including one ISLE expert and four graduate teaching assistants with no previous teaching experience. In this talk we will discuss the professional development conducted and the changes we observed in lab instruction that occurred during the fall semester. Specifically, we will present the observation protocols we used, our measurements of instructor improvement, and the relationship between the instructor scores and student learning and attitudes about experimental physics.

Facilitating Instructor Change in an ISLE-Based Course

The STEMcoding project (http://youtube.com/c/STEMcoding) has developed a number of high school level “Physics of Video Games” coding activities that are fusion of PhET-like web interactives and traditional coding activities. A crucial question is whether these activities have an impact on student conceptual physics knowledge. The curriculum was tested in an intensive two-week course at a STEM high school in Columbus, Ohio in January 2020. I briefly overview assessment results from that effort, including what we learned, how the assessments will be improved, and how teachers can participate in the research side of the STEMcoding project. I will also give an update on efforts to develop coding activities that allow students to simulate objects in direct motion videos, and other improvements to our suite of activities.

Testing the STEMcoding Curriculum in an Intense Two Week Course

It is known that flow theory [1] can be a powerful tool investigating people's mental states during different activities. Previous research has shown that using the flow theory as a framework we can create a Likert scale survey measuring students’ mental state during the laboratories [2]. We used this survey to investigate students’ attitudes towards ISLE-based labs. Students answered the survey after regular ISLE-based labs, where they used real equipment, and after vISLE labs, where students worked with video recorded experiments. We analyzed students’ answers to the flow survey to observe how these different lab settings affect students’ mental states. [1] M. Csikszentmihalyi, "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience", (Harper and Row, New York, NY, 1990). [2] A. Karelina, “Flow Theory: Students’ Mental State During Physics Labs”, AAPT Summer Meeting, Provo UT, 2019.

Students’ attitudes during ISLE-based apparatus labs and video labs

Prior research has shown that students can develop scientific reasoning abilities by engaging in authentic scientific investigations in a course following the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) approach. In our current project, we set out to answer two questions: a. Can students develop scientific reasoning abilities through video-based experiments in place of experiments with physical apparatus? b. What are the affordances and constraints of each environment (video experiments versus real experiments)? To answer those, we created and implemented five video-based ISLE learning cycles (v-ISLEs) and used a quasi-experimental design in a class of 96 students. We randomly assigned 2 lab sections to the vISLE condition and another two lab sections to an apparatus condition. Both engaged in the identical experiment sequence. We will present how students developed and displayed scientific reasoning abilities in their lab reports and in exam questions that were created to specifically examine scientific reasoning.

Developing scientific abilities while learning physics through the ISLE approach

We developed a guided-inquiry tutorial to foster connections between mathematics and physics in the context of undergraduate thermodynamics, specifically the heat equation. Based on literature and empirical reasons, we formulated design principles that guided the development, including promoting graphical reasoning, stimulating thinking about physical meaning first, and paying explicit attention to the mathematical and physical aspects of concepts and ideas, and as such promote interdisciplinary connections. We determined the effectiveness of the design principles by testing the tutorial in teaching-learning interviews with three groups of three students each. In this session, we present the design principles and how they impacted the students’ reasoning process. We aim to inform practitioners in the field who teach this subject, but furthermore anyone who wants to strengthen the connections between mathematics and physics in the topic they are teaching.

Tutorial to connect mathematics and physics of the heat equation

We present a study of a large-scale intervention designed to shift lab instruction away from "cookbook" lab norms. The intervention was implemented in a network of Professional Learning Communities of Israeli high-school physics teachers (N=250; ~20% of the national workforce). The intervention was tailored to respond to findings on teachers' dissatisfaction with the limited scope of experimental design employed in traditional labs, as well as the highly constrained setting in which these teachers work: a high-stakes exam setting, limited resources, and diverse groups of students. The intervention followed two design guidelines: a) restructuring traditional labs, by encouraging students to reflect on the considerations underlying the experimental design; b) an evidence-based learning process involving teachers in collaborative reflection on classroom enactments of the restructured labs. We found that most teachers chose to carry out the restructured labs, even though they expressed concerns about the demands, as compared to the standardized exams.

Re-defining Lab Norms via Professional Learning Communities: Meeting the Constraints

Secondary physics curricula predominantly focus on physics content established prior to the 20th century (e.g., Newtonian mechanics, conservation of energy). Rarely are students exposed to modern physics topics (e.g., quantum mechanics, special relativity) in their formal education. Even so, students inevitably encounter terms such as “quantum” and “quantum physics” in their everyday lives. The aim of this study is to provide insight on secondary student perspectives of the terms “quantum” and “quantum physics”. While there is a body of research available that analyzes university physics majors’ perspectives of quantum physics topics, little research has been done at the secondary level. Clinical interviews of students at a Midwestern high school are conducted to establish commonalities among perspective of quantum physics topics.

Students' Pre-Instructional Perspectives of Quantum Physics

For twelve years I have been using NYTimes articles on Global Warming to assist teaching fluids and heat concepts. NYTimes articles are pasted into word and edited to fit one page. Added are: graphics,introduction,questions,hints and answers to the standard printable word page. This presentation is at: http://CisePhysics.homestead.com/files/NYTOceanWarmingAAPTs2020.pdf 1000 NYTimes Physics concept applications are located at AAPT's ComPADRE site at: http://CisePhysics.homestead.com/files/NYTCisePhysics.pdf This physics and physical science resource site is listed at AAPT's ComPADRE and the AAPT's Physical Science Resource Center.

New York Times Warm Earth Physics Applications 2008-2020

Weyl's problem deals with the distribution of eigenvalues of the wave equation in a bounded domain. The integrated density of states counts the number of states up to a certain wavenumber and has important applications in nuclear physics, degenerate Fermi gases, blackbody radiation, and Bose-Einstein condensation. In the limit of large wavenumbers, the integrated density of states depends only on the volume of the domain and not on its shape. Corrections to this behaviour are well-known and depend on the surface area of the domain, its curvature and other features. We describe several computational projects that allow students to investigate this dependence for three different bounding domains – a rectangular box, a sphere and a circular cylinder. Quasi one- and two-dimensional systems can be analyzed by considering various limits. These projects could be incorporated into courses in quantum mechanics or statistical mechanics, or could stand alone in a computational physics course.

Computational Physics Projects Related to Weyl’s Problem

Students with disabilities make up between 10-20% of postsecondary students, however instructors lack knowledge about how to support this population and little research has investigated how courses can be designed to support students with disabilities. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is one framework we can use to identify barriers to learning in our courses and identify strategies that reduce these barriers. UDL supports the reduction of barriers to learning by providing guidelines and checkpoints which provide considerations and recommendations for supporting the variability of students’ interests, needs, and abilities. We will present how the UDL framework was used in observations of postsecondary, introductory physics courses to identify barriers to learning. We will then exhibit inclusive practices that the instructors for the observed courses chose to implement in response to feedback from the observations, along with how students responded to the implemented practices.

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Studying student reasoning in an ISLE-based classroom

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