Activities on Funded Projects
N. SANJAY REBELLO
Department of Physics, 116
Cardwell Hall, Kansas State University
Email: srebello@ksu.edu Phone: (785)
532-1539
Kansas
State University 2001 -
FIRE: Exploring Visual Cueing to Facilitate Problem Solving in
Physics (2011 -- 2014, P.I. N.
Sanjay Rebello, Co-P.I. Lester C. Loschky):
This project strengthens an existing partnership between a cognitive
psychologist mentor and physics education researcher mentee tests the
hypothesis that appropriately designed visual cues provided on physics problems
can improve students physics problem solving by exploring and exploiting the
link between cognition and eye movements in the context of physics problem
solving. Although this project focuses on problem solving in physics, the
results of the research have implications for learning in other STEM
disciplines where the use of images is important. Beyond its immediate scope, the project will
benefit the field of physics education research by infusing ideas from
cognitive psychology regarding visual cueing into physics education research,
It will also potentially change the ways visual media are used in physics and
other STEM instruction to more effectively facilitate students' learning.
Enhancing Literacy in Science through Digital Text,
Simulations, and Design Challenges (2011 – 2012, P.I. Sadhana Puntambekar, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, Co-P.I.s N.
Sanjay Rebello, N. Hari Narayanan, Auburn University, Roland Hubscher,
Bentley University): This is a collaborative project with faculty in
Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. This project aims to implement a
technology-rich, interactive learning environment consisting of multiple modes
and representations, in the form of digital text, simulations, and design
challenges. The overall goal of this project is to enhance digital and science
literacy and deep understanding of science content by providing students with
multiple opportunities to read, write, experiment, and explain science
phenomena. Project materials address Common Core Standards in reading and
writing, while at the same time providing opportunities for deepening science
learning
GK-12: Evidence-based Inquiry into the Distant,
Remote, or Past (EIDRoP): Linking
Evidence to Inference in the Kansas Science Classroom (2009 – 2014, P.I. Carolyn Ferguson, Co-P.I. N. Sanjay
Rebello, Scott Tanona and others):
In this project Kansas State University (KSU) graduate fellows in the
biological sciences, geosciences and physics work with mentor teachers at
Junction City High School (USD 475) to develop and teach both
discipline-specific and interdisciplinary lessons responsive to state standards
in science as inquiry and the nature of science in order to enhance young
scientists' abilities as effective communicators and as educational
collaborators; improve science education for grade 9-12 students through the
infusion of contemporary science research, an integrated emphasis on nature of
science, interdisciplinary teaching modules and provision of scientist role
models; enhance the knowledge of grade 9-12 teachers through teacher training,
interaction with KSU students and faculty, and curriculum enrichment;
strengthen USD 475’s partnerships with STEM departments at KSU; and expand
collaborative partnerships within KSU and between KSU and K-12 education.
K-State TEACH Program -- Robert Noyce Scholarship (2009 – 2014, P.I. Christopher Culbertson,
Co-P.I. N. Sanjay Rebello, Jacquelyn D. Spears, Carolyn Ferguson and
others): This project is increasing the
supply of highly qualified middle and high school teachers (Grades 6-12) in
biology, chemistry, earth and space science, and physics by providing
opportunities for 20 freshmen and sophomores to work in informal STEM education
settings both on and off campus; is increasing by 17 the number of
undergraduates in the targeted STEM disciplines receiving licensure; and
enabling 12 graduates in the targeted STEM disciplines to gain licensure
through a newly established Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning. The
evaluation plan includes the development of a database for maintaining
demographic data; the Scholars' academic progress and perceptions of the
usefulness of the program elements; the effectiveness of program elements,
especially new teacher support; and subsequent teaching challenges in high need
schools.
Trajectories of Learning & Transfer of Problem Solving
Expertise from Mathematics to Physics to Engineering (2008 – 2012, P.I. N. Sanjay Rebello,
Co-P.I. Andrew Bennett, Steve Warren, Dean Zollman): This project is a step in creating a knowledge
base on the evolution of students’ problem solving skills over the span of
three years of STEM courses. We
investigate the development and transfer of problem solving skills in
undergraduate mathematics, physics and engineering courses. First we use individual semi-structured
interviews to capture fine grained data about individual student’s problem
solving. Based on these insights we
enhance an adaptive online system to collect data from large numbers of students
and map students’ learning trajectories as they build toward problem solving
expertise. In each phase, we conduct
longitudinal as well as cross-sectional studies in multiple courses in
mathematics, physics and engineering.
Over three years we will investigate problem solving by over 3000
students in seven different courses in mathematics, physics and engineering.
Scaffolding Student Use of Multiple Representations
for Science Learning (2008 – 2012,
P. I. Sadhana Puntambekar, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Co-P.I.s N.
Sanjay Rebello, N. Hari Narayanan, Auburn University, and Roland Hubscher,
Bentley University): The central premise of this project is that a careful
integration of multiple representations within an instructional unit, and the
design of scaffolding that enables translation between representations, will
lead to a deeper conceptual understanding. Our main objective therefore is to
develop and evaluate a novel approach to science instruction that engages
multiple representations – text, hands-on experimentation and interactive
computer simulations, which incorporates scaffolding both by the teacher and
the computer, in order to immerse middle school students in these practices of
science. Specific goals of the proposed research are to: (i) promote deeper
conceptual learning by integrating multiple representations and activities that
engage students in scientific practices; (ii) investigate how scaffolding built
into (a) instructional materials and (b) the design of representations will
lead to deeper science understanding and representational competence; and (iii)
explore how teacher facilitation can help students connect and translate
between representations. Our focus is on
integration of representations within an instructional unit and on helping
students to translate between representations with the aim of developing deeper
conceptual understanding and representational competence. Our approach involves
both classroom studies in middle schools as well as teaching interviews with
middle school students, pre-service science teachers and undergraduate science
students.
Case Reuse
in Problem Solving (2006
– 2009, P.I. David H. Jonassen,
University of Missouri – Columbia, Co-P.I. N. Sanjay Rebello): This
collaborative project with faculty in Educational Psychology at the University
of Missouri – Columbia, will conduct design-based research on methods for
supporting case reuse when learning to solve problems in physics; develop more
and scalable comprehensive methods for assessing different dimensions of problem-solving
performance; and design, develop, and disseminate instructional materials for
supporting problem solving in various levels of introductory physics; and
contribute to a developing theory of problem solving in physics. Our research builds on existing research
efforts in analogical transfer, case-based reasoning, questioning strategies,
verbal protocol analysis, and structural mapping that contribute to pedagogy of
case reuse. The strategies and technology-based
materials that we create can be used effectively to facilitate the acquisition
of problem-solving skills among diverse kinds of problems in physics and the
transfer of those skills to solving more complex workplace problems.
Integrating
Digital Text in Design-Based Science Classrooms (2004 – 2009, P.I.
Sadhana Puntambekar, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Co-P.I. N. Sanjay
Rebello, Roland Hubscher, Bentley University): This is a collaborative
project with faculty in Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin –
Madison. The project has two major
goals. First is aim to further the understanding of integrating conceptual
learning from informational text with the experimental and hands-on activities
in a design based classes. The enactment
of the intervention across different contexts will be systematically studied by
examining the variations in teacher practices, student characteristics, project
challenges and aspects of classroom culture that enable students to take
advantage of the affordances of both design activities and the use of multiple
electronic texts. Second is the aim to
understand students’ changing representations as they use multiple texts in
their science explorations. As
electronic texts become ubiquitous in educational settings, there is an
increasing need to understand how students in project-based and design-based
classrooms engage in learning from multiple texts in the context of an inquiry
classroom. This project aims to examine
students’ learning trajectories by taking into consideration the strategies that
students use, student characteristics such as prior knowledge, their group
interactions and the relationships of these to navigation and learning. The methodology includes rigorous analytical
tools systematically studying the enactment of the intervention in a classroom
context starting with a focus on classroom dynamics and sequencing.
Curriculum
Resources for Physics Instruction Using Interactive Technologies and Digital
Formats (2004 – 2005, P.I. N. Sanjay Rebello): This
project developed and delivered instructional materials online to Kansas
physics teachers. The materials included
content and pedagogical strategies for middle and high school teachers in the
area of contemporary physics. The
materials created could potentially form a component of a graduate course taken
by in-service teachers. The materials
included interactive computer programs, written materials for teachers and
students and forums for online discussion and consultation with the course instructors
and other personnel at Kansas State. As
the project progresses, we will study the teacher and student use of these
online materials, their user-friendliness and impact on teaching and learning.
Use of
Feedback Response Systems in Large Lecture Classes (2004 – 2005,
P.I. N. Sanjay Rebello): Using a
technology grant from Hewlett Packard, we obtained state-of-the-art wireless
devices (Pocket PCs) to be used in our large enrollment classes as a classroom
interaction system. We have been using
these devices in the classroom and have study their user-friendliness as well
impact on teaching and student learning.
Assessing Student Transfer and Retention of Learning in Mathematics, Physics and Engineering
Courses (2002 – 2007, P.I. Andrew Bennett, Co-P.I. N.
Sanjay Rebello): This
study was in collaboration with faculty members in the Mathematics Dept. and
the College of Engineering. We have focused
our efforts on investigating student transfer and retention from Engineering
Physics and courses in the College of Engineering. We began by surveying engineering faculty
members about the topics and concepts that they feel students should be
familiar with after they have taken a physics course and just as they enter the
engineering courses mentioned above. Based
on these responses, we constructed surveys that addressed these topics. We drew from research-based instruments that
were already being used elsewhere, but found that no one instrument would
address the topics listed by the engineering faculty members. Our research instruments included open-ended
questionnaires to faculty members in engineering as well as multiple-choice
surveys followed by more in-depth, semi-structured interviews. We have
also focused our efforts on understanding how students transfer their knowledge from trigonometry to algebra-based
physics and calculus to calculus-based physics.
We utilized data from online
homework, in-class surveys and clinical interviews to understand how students
transferred their learning from mathematics to physics courses.
Research on
Students' Mental Models, Learning and Transfer as a Guide to Application-Based
Curriculum Development and Instruction in Physics (2002 – 2007,
P.I. N. Sanjay Rebello -- CAREER/PECASE Award): The overarching goal is to investigate the
students’ mental models of everyday devices
and phenomena and how they apply these mental models in various contexts. Based on this research we developed
application-oriented curricular materials for introductory undergraduates. We pilot-tested these curricular materials
and instructional strategies and investigated their impact on students’ mental
models and how students transfer these models from one context to another. We explored students’ ideas of everyday
devices such as bicycles, light bulbs, musical instruments and electrical appliances. In addition, we explored student
understanding of friction at the microscopic level, which has implications for
nanoscience education. We have also
developed instructional materials that address students’ models of these
devices and phenomena. To better
understand the cognitive processes and mediating factors, we have adapted a new
research methodology – the teaching/learning interview (or experiment) that
gives us the opportunity to learn how students construct knowledge when
provided with certain resources such as hands-on experiences, information from
the instructor, etc. Therefore, it provides a rich context in which to explore
students’ knowledge construction and transfer. Thus, it forms a useful bridge
between clinical research and curriculum development. Synergy with the project below includes
developing a framework to analyze student reasoning.
Technology & Model-Based Conceptual Assessment: Research in Students’
Applications of Models in Physics & Mathematics
(2001 – 2004, P.I. Dean Zollman): The
overarching goal of the project was to understand the ways in which students
construct models of physical phenomena and the extent to which they transfer
and transform these models in different contexts as they proceed through
instruction. One area of focus was
student use of Newton’s II Law across a two-semester introductory course
sequence. We found that students use two
principal mental models (Newtonian and Aristotelian) in contexts spanning
topical areas of mechanics, electrostatics and magnetism. Some students might use conceptions from both
models depending upon the context, i.e. they are in a mixed model state. Another
focus of research in this project was to investigate the effect of question
order on student responses on a survey.
Our research shows that the order of questions and the inclusion of an
unrelated question have a statistically significant effect on student responses
to both survey as well as interview questions.
Clarion University 1998
-
2001
Implementing the Workshop model and other research-based strategies in the algebra-based physics course (1999 – 2002, P.I. N. Sanjay Rebello) Collaborated with faculty in Physics and Mathematics departments and led an effort to completely overhaul the General Physics sequence of courses from a traditional lecture with a separate lab, to an integrated Workshop model, incorporating various research-based pedagogy and conducting research on the learning and affective impact on students.
Incorporating modern physics into a conceptual physical science course (1998 – 1999, P.I. N. Sanjay Rebello) Modified the curriculum in a Physical Science course for Elementary Education majors by adapting and implementing instructional materials and strategies developed in an earlier project (Visual Quantum Mechanics) at Kansas State.
Kansas State University 1995 - 1998
Visual Quantum Mechanics: (P.I. Dean A. Zollman, Post-doc N. Sanjay Rebello). Collaborated with undergraduate, graduate, post-doctoral and faculty researchers in creating, testing and evaluation of curricular material consisting of computer programs, experiments, and documentation, aimed at teaching quantum physics to high school and introductory college students who do not have any background in higher level mathematics or quantum physics. These materials emphasize interactive visualization and hands-on learning in an activity-based environment where students create their own knowledge. Responsibilities included design, development and pilot-testing of the instructional materials – written materials, experiment kits and software; interacting and supporting field-testers and evaluating student understanding as they used these materials, and conducting workshops at local regional and national meetings.