87,635 research outputs found
Developing the Next Generation of Physics Assessments
Science education at all levels is currently undergoing dramatic changes to
its curricula and developing assessments for these new curricula is paramount.
We have used the basis of many of these new changes (scientific practices,
crosscutting concepts, and core ideas) to develop sets of criteria that can be
used to guide assessment development for this new curriculum. We present a case
study that uses the criteria we have developed to revise a traditional physics
assessment item into an assessment item that is much more aligned with the
goals of current transformation efforts. Assessment items developed using this
criteria can be used to assess student learning of both the concepts and
process of science.Comment: Revised version for PERC 2015 Conference Proceeding
The malleability of disciplinary identity
Master's Project (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017This paper tracks the progress of a beginning undergraduate writer's disciplinary becoming. Much research in disciplinary identity focuses on graduate students and advanced undergraduate writers; however, sites of disciplinary identity formation also occur early on during the required first-year writing course. These sites are crucial because they inform the student writer's entrance into the academic conversation, and reveal the extent to which early assumptions about disciplinary roles affects further disciplinary identity formation. Drawing from IvanicĚŚ's framework of writer identity, this case study reveals the ever-shifting tensions of "disciplinary becoming." The analysis captures how a writer's discursive self shifts from a static disciplinary identity to a more malleable disciplinary identity through a cross-analysis of two separate writing assignments in order to learn how the student's petroleum engineer identity is performed, contradicted and re-negotiated. I argue that this shift will enable writing knowledge transfer and overall identity formation
Development and Uses of Upper-division Conceptual Assessment
The use of validated conceptual assessments alongside more standard course
exams has become standard practice for the introductory courses in many physics
departments. These assessments provide a more standard measure of certain
learning goals, allowing for comparisons of student learning across
instructors, semesters, and institutions. Researchers at the University of
Colorado Boulder have developed several similar assessments designed to target
the more advanced physics content of upper-division classical mechanics,
electrostatics, quantum mechanics, and electrodynamics. Here, we synthesize the
existing research on our upper-division assessments and discuss some of the
barriers and challenges associated with developing, validating, and
implementing these assessments as well as some of the strategies we have used
to overcome these barriers.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, submitted to the Phys. Rev. ST - PER Focused
collection on Upper-division PE
Secondary implementation of interactive engagement teaching techniques: Choices and challenges in a Gulf Arab context
We report on a "Collaborative Workshop Physics" instructional strategy to
deliver the first IE calculus-based physics course at Khalifa University, UAE.
To these authors' knowledge, this is the first such course on the Arabian
Peninsula using PER-based instruction. A brief history of general university
and STEM teaching in the UAE is given. We present this secondary implementation
(SI) as a case study of a novel context and use it to determine if PER-based
instruction can be successfully implemented far from the cultural context of
the primary developer and, if so, how might such SIs differ from SIs within the
US. With these questions in view, a pre-reform baseline of MPEX, FCI, course
exam and English language proficiency data are used to design a hybrid
implementation of Cooperative Group Problem Solving. We find that for students
with high English proficiency, normalized gain on FCI improves from =
0.16+/-0.10 pre- to = 0.47+/-0.08 post-reform, indicating successful SI. We
also find that is strongly modulated by language proficiency and discuss
likely causes. Regardless of language skill, problem-solving skill is also
improved and course DFW rates drop from 50% to 24%. In particular, we find
evidence in post-reform student interviews that prior classroom experiences,
and not broader cultural expectations about education, are the more significant
cause of expectations at odds with the classroom norms of well-functioning
PER-based instruction. This result is evidence that PER-based innovations can
be implemented across great changes in cultural context, provided that the
method is thoughtfully adapted in anticipation of context and culture-specific
student expectations. This case study should be valuable for future reforms at
other institutions, both in the Gulf Region and developing world, facing
similar challenges involving SI of PER-based instruction outside the US.Comment: v1: 28 pages, 9 figures. v2: 19 pages, 6 figures, includes major
reorganization and revisions based on anonymous peer review. v3: 19 pages, 6
figures, minor revisions based on anonymous peer revie
Modeling student pathways in a physics bachelor's degree program
Physics education research has used quantitative modeling techniques to
explore learning, affect, and other aspects of physics education. However,
these studies have rarely examined the predictive output of the models, instead
focusing on the inferences or causal relationships observed in various data
sets. This research introduces a modern predictive modeling approach to the PER
community using transcript data for students declaring physics majors at
Michigan State University (MSU). Using a machine learning model, this analysis
demonstrates that students who switch from a physics degree program to an
engineering degree program do not take the third semester course in
thermodynamics and modern physics, and may take engineering courses while
registered as a physics major. Performance in introductory physics and calculus
courses, measured by grade as well as a students' declared gender and ethnicity
play a much smaller role relative to the other features included the model.
These results are used to compare traditional statistical analysis to a more
modern modeling approach.Comment: submitted to Physical Review Physics Education Researc
Co-Constructing Writing Knowledge: Students’ Collaborative Talk Across Contexts
Although compositionists recognize that student talk plays an important role in learning to write, there is limited understanding of how students use conversational moves to collaboratively build knowledge about writing across contexts. This article reports on a study of focus group conversations involving first-year students in a cohort program. Our analysis identified two patterns of group conversation among students: “co-telling” and “co-constructing,” with the latter leading to more complex writing knowledge. We also used Beaufort’s domains of writing knowledge to examine how co-constructing conversations supported students in abstracting knowledge beyond a single classroom context and in negotiating local constraints. Our findings suggest that co-constructing is a valuable process that invites students to do the necessary work of remaking their knowledge for local use. Ultimately, our analysis of the role of student conversation in the construction of writing knowledge contributes to our understanding of the myriad activities that surround transfer of learning
Integrating Technology With Student-Centered Learning
Reviews research on technology's role in personalizing learning, its integration into curriculum-based and school- or district-wide initiatives, and the potential of emerging digital technologies to expand student-centered learning. Outlines implications
Gender Fairness within the Force Concept Inventory
Research on the test structure of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) has
largely ignored gender, and research on FCI gender effects (often reported as
"gender gaps") has seldom interrogated the structure of the test. These
rarely-crossed streams of research leave open the possibility that the FCI may
not be structurally valid across genders, particularly since many reported
results come from calculus-based courses where 75% or more of the students are
men. We examine the FCI considering both psychometrics and gender
disaggregation (while acknowledging this as a binary simplification), and find
several problematic questions whose removal decreases the apparent gender gap.
We analyze three samples (total , ) looking for
gender asymmetries using Classical Test Theory, Item Response Theory, and
Differential Item Functioning. The combination of these methods highlights six
items that appear substantially unfair to women and two items biased in favor
of women. No single physical concept or prior experience unifies these
questions, but they are broadly consistent with problematic items identified in
previous research. Removing all significantly gender-unfair items halves the
gender gap in the main sample in this study. We recommend that instructors
using the FCI report the reduced-instrument score as well as the 30-item score,
and that credit or other benefits to students not be assigned using the biased
items.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures, 5 tables; submitted to Phys. Rev. PE
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