Physics 620: Teaching University Physics
Fall, 1998
Previous assignments

Weeks of August 24 & August 31

During the first two weeks formal classes were held August 26. I will be attending a physics education conference. While I am gone, you are assigned to read the National Science Foundation report Shaping the Future and view videotapes related to it. A class discussion will be held during the week of September 7. You should be prepared to discuss the following issues:

Copies of the report are available from Kim Coy in CW 403.

Before class on August 26 you should read, at least, the Executive Summary of Shaping the Future. During the August 26 class you will view videotapes related to Shaping the Future.

September 8

Before coming to class think about how you would teach latent heat of fusion.

Address the following questions:

What are the important ideas for the students to learn?

What concepts would you expect students to have trouble with?

How would you introduce the latent heat of fusion?

Once the students have received an introduction what would you do to help them learn the concept?

Come to class prepared to discuss these questions and how your responses are related to the ideas in Shaping the Future.

First major assignment

Major assignments are equivalent to a examination. So, you should spend as much time on it as you would studying for an exam. The report that you write should reflect that level of work. (e.g. 4-5 pages at least.)

Because we are 1/2 week behind, the due date is changed to September 23.

The first major assignment is:
Comparison of your education in science and math with NSF recommendations. (individual)
Due September 23

Think about your college level education in the context of the recommendations in Shaping the Future. Discuss how your science and mathematics courses do or do not meet these recommendations. What are the most important changes which would make your undergraduate education be compatible with the issues raised in Shaping the Future.

You should not try to write a survey of how all of the recommendations are related to you undergraduate education. Instead pick just a few. You may choose any that are appropriate. However, I expect that you will concentrate on the recommendations to faculty and departments.

For example, you could choose recommendation F for SME&T faculty.

F. Start with the student's experience; understand that the student may come with significantly incorrect notions; and relate the subject matter to things the student already knows.

You would then go to the appropriate sections of the report and reread the comments about today's situation (p .55) and the past (pp. 17-21). You may also need to refer tot the references given in the document. Using this information as background you should write a description of parts of your education which fit with the recommendation and other parts which did not. Then, compare the two different situations in terms of their effects on your learning and on your attitudes toward science and mathematics. Finally, you should discuss how the learning-teaching situation could have been improved so that you could have learned better and how those improvements are related to Shaping the Future.

September 29

Before class on September 29 look at and analyze the on-line materials listed below. Consider the effectiveness for concrete and formal operational students. Answer the questions about them in Module 5.

A Web site which presents aspects of the Theory of Relativity

A Web site which is part of a calculus-based physics course, Cockpit Physics, which has been offered at the Air Force Academy

October 8 Read the articles distributed in class on Wednesday, September 30. Come to class prepared to address the questions in the handout.

For the journal on Tuesday, October 6, include a description of one time in the past two weeks that you used concrete reasoning.

October 13

Read at least two articles from the list distributed in class on Wednesday, October 7. Come to class prepared to summarize for the class the teaching methods described in the article and to describe how they are related to the Learning Cycle.

October 20

Analysis of a teaching technique or tool in terms of development of reasoning. (collaborative)
  • Select a teaching tool such as a textbook, lab manual, videodisc, or CD-ROM. Use the ideas which are presented in the Workshop on Physics Teaching and the Development of Reasoning to analyze the effectiveness of this tool for teaching introductory physics at the undergraduate level.
    • October 27 Be prepared to discuss the research methods as described in McDermott's Millikan Lecture. Begin reading the Force Concept Inventory papers.

    November 3 Be prepared to debate the issue "What does the FCI measure?" You should come to class prepared to take either side on the debate. On Tuesday we will have a debate about the FCI and what it measures. The debate will use the articles by Huffman and Heller and Halloun and Hestenes has background. At the beginning of the class I will assign (randomly) each person to one of two groups. You will be assigned to take the point of view of either of Huffman and Heller or of Halloun and Hestenes. Each group will then get about ten minutes to prepare its case and to select its spokespersons. Then we will have a debate in which each group presents the case about why the FCI does or does not measure what the original authors stated. (10 minutes for each group). After the cases are presented, each group will have five minutes to prepare a rebuttal to the others argument and 7 minutes to present that rebuttal. (A different spokesperson must present the rebuttal.)
    November 16 The following is due at noon (before class)
    Class will be organized around your responses, so they must be on time.

    Consider the ALPS kit pages for Modified Atwood's machine Answer following questions in writing.
    Send the responses to Dean Zollman by next 12:00 noon Monday, November 16

    How does this method of solving problems address the issues that van Heuvelan raises?
    Look back at the difficulties that McDermott discusses in her Millikan Lecture concerning the modified Atwood's machine
    Do the ALPS Kit pages address the difficulties that her group discovered? If so, how? If not, what changes would need to be made in the ALPS Kit to make them consistent with her findings?

    Assignment for Wednesday, November 18, 1998:

    Tomorrow during class you will work in the same groups that you did yesterday. Each group will prepare a plan for a learning cycle on the modified Atwood's Machine. The learning cycle should take into account each of the following research results that we have discussed in class.

    1. The Learning Cycle itself,
    2. McDermott's discussion of difficulties that students have with the Modified Atwood's machine,
    3. Van Heuvelan's ideas on multiple representations and interactivity,
    4. The responses to any questions on the FCI which are related to the Atwood's machine (e.g. Number 18 on the original FCI which is number 17 on the newest version).

     You will have about 45 minutes to work on this activity as a group. This time is not sufficient to complete the task. Therefore, you should be thinking about it and discussing it with other members of your group today and tomorrow.

    The last 30 minutes of class time will be used so that each group can present it ideas to the class. This time will be organized as 6 minutes for presentation and 4 minutes for discussion for each group.

    Major Assignment 3 (Due November 24)

    Option 1
    Complete a detailed analysis of a physics education research project

    Select a physics education research paper which involves college level physics and which has been published in one of the following journals

     American Journal of Physics
    Journal of Research in Science Teaching
    International Journal of Science Education
    Science Education
    European Journal of Physics

    If you wish to use a paper from another journal you much \have it approved in advance of completing the assignment. Articles in refereed journal are acceptable. Papers given at meetings are not.

    Complete an analysis of the research project by considering the research that was completed and including all of the different approaches to research that we have discussed in class. In your analysis you should include:

     A description of the research, the methods and the results (Do not assume that DZ has read the article.)
    A critical analysis of the reliability and validity of the methods for completing the research. Answer the questions

    Why do the authors believe that the study was reliable and valid?
    Do you agree with that assessment

     A synthesis of where this research fits in the broader picture of physics education research. How does it relate to other research in the field? What future research does it imply or indicate?
    What are the most important outcomes of the research and why?
    If you were to do this study yourself, what would you do in the same way? What would you do differently? Why?
    What is the implication of this research for the future of physics teaching?

    Option 2
    Design, but do not carry out, a physics education research project. (For those who are doing research for the final project, this effort cannot be the same one as the final project.)

    The project that you design should be one which could be completed in a college level physics class. It needs to involve some method of interacting with students and to test some hypotheses about

    students' knowledge of a physics topic,
    students' attitudes toward physics or some part of physics teaching,
    a test of a method of teaching a topic in physics, or
    an analysis of how students interact in a given situation.

    Other ideas may be considered, but you should check them out with DZ before completing your assignment.

    The description of your proposed project should include the following features

     Purpose of the project and what you would expect to learn from it (i.e. the hypotheses).
    A description of the research, the methods and the expected type of results. (include reference to how it is similar to and/or different from the various research efforts that we have studied in class.)
    Descriptions of the research techniques. (Include references to the literature where the technique is described or used.)
    How your project fits into the existing knowledge base about how students learn physics.
    How you will assure validity and reliability for your research.
    What is the implication of your research for the future of physics teaching?
    November 30 Read the two papers by Elaine Seymour and come to class preapred to discuss the research methods used in her study. After we finish the research methods' discussion we will discuss the findings of her study.

    December 2 Continue the discuss of Seymour and Hewitt's results. We will focus on the general conclusions and the issues related to the gender.
    December 7 Read and be prepared to discuss the paper on Classroom Research.

     

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