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Plenary: Les Kirkup Memorial Presentations
This session commemorates Professor Les Kirkup for his influential work on inquiry learning. Inquiry learning has always been a feature of ACSME conferences, with many of us benefitting from Les’ work and guidance. Les was the recipient of a National Teaching Fellowship in 2011 to pursue this on a wider scale with the project Inquiry-oriented learning in science: Transforming practice through forging new partnerships and perspectives. Further national recognition followed in his discipline, with Les winning the Australian Institute of Physics Education Medal in 2014.
Les aimed to make both lectures and labs interactive and inquiry-based, engaging students to think and learn, instead of adopting more traditional “cook book” approaches to science laboratories. He engaged students in groups to design and carry out investigations themselves. In this way, students from first year on experienced the joy of research themselves by learning through inquiry. He recently wrote a defence of the live lecture in Campus Morning Mail, where he argued for the value of live and participatory demonstrations that generated ‘engagement, involvement, exploration and explanation.’
Les was passionate about many aspects of teaching and learning. He was also committed to improving assessment and to supporting tutors and demonstrators. He will be much missed at ACSME for his lively engagement with a range of topics. Les was well known and respected for his ability to ask pertinent questions, maintaining his energy throughout the conference. We hope that this session, with a focus on inquiry learning, and future ACSME conferences will continue to generate such productive and good-humoured debate
Lessons learned from COVID-19: What works for online physics teaching and learning?
Stating that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly interrupted our old-normal of educational institutions worldwide, is a huge understatement. It would be a mistake to assume that all faculties suddenly developed essential skills or an enthusiasm for online teaching as a result of the emergency remote teaching. The post-COVID-19 era offers an opportunity to improve the online teaching experience for faculty and to improve the quality of online learning for students.
While varied strategies are being used in online teaching and learning, this panel will focus on the questions:
What lessons have physics instructors, students, and administrators learned from the pandemic?
Are the lessons worth keeping? What gains were made, and how can physics teaching harness and improve on those gains?
To what extent can online education bridge the gap among our students?
What needs to be taken into account when designing online educational resources?
This panel will comprise of physics educators who have successfully taught physics online and been able to engage students actively.
CHAIR
Jacinta den Besten, The University of Melbourne, Australia
PANELLISTS
Svetlana Postnova, The University of Sydney, Australia
Sukrit (Nick) Sucharitakul, Chiang Mai University, Thailand
Bethany Wilcox, University of Boulder Colorado, US
Increasing gender diversity among students in physics
Getting a good gender representation in physics courses, amongst both high school, university and pre-service teacher students, is a perennial problem. But does this apply to every country? Questions this panel will address are:
Is obtaining a good gender representation more of a problem in developed countries?
Which courses have the largest and smallest gender disparities?
Are there examples of successful initiatives to improve the gender balance?
This panel will explore the country context of gender differences and brainstorm what we can learn from each other.
CHAIR
Manjula D. Sharma, The University of Sydney, Australia
PANELLISTS
Gillian Butcher, University of Leicester, UK
Tegan Clark, Australian National University and IncludeHER, Australia
Margaret Samiji, University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzani
Student panel: How would you like physics education to evolve?
As successful educators we know the value of hearing the student voice. This panel will highlight the thoughts of physics students from around the globe. Questions addressed by the panel will include:
What is one thing you would keep and one thing you would change in your physics education?
What do you see as the advantages and pitfalls of online learning?
Do you feel that your physics education has prepared you well for your future?
This panel will comprise of students at different stages of their education from around the world.
CHAIR
Kate Jackson, The University of New South Wales, Australia
PANELLISTS
Tracy Bu, The University of Melbourne, Australia
Emma Collins, The University of New South Wales, Australia
Anna Klampfer, Technical University of Vienna, Austria
Dwika Sarnia Putri, Sebelas Maret University, Indonesia
Arnoldas Solovjovas, Vilnius University, Lithuani
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