Dr. Leslie Atkins Elliott

Boise State University

Teaching for Transfer

102 Cardwell Hall

The overall goals of physics instruction are not gains on concept inventories or improved scores on surveys of epistemological beliefs — the bread-and-butter metrics for much of physics education research. While these measures provide evidence of science learning, they are proxies for the broader goal of developing scientifically literate citizens and scientists who transfer their physics knowledge outside of classroom settings. This talk describes a course with high incidence of transfer, explores what we mean by transfer, and why it can be so hard to achieve in traditional courses.