Characteristics of problem solving success in physics

Skills in problem solving, including finding and applying the appropriate knowledge to a problem, are important learning outcomes from the completion of a Physics degree at University. This thesis investigates the characteristics of successful and unsuccessful novice University students solving problems in Physics in various contexts. Gaining an insight into student behaviour can clarify areas of weakness and potentially provide research based instructional strategies in these contexts. Access to external information during problem solving, such as the Internet, is becoming an increasingly relevant research area, as students use resources for homework questions and then in employment after University. Three chapters (Chapters 3-5) investigate individual novice problem solving with and without resources, such as a textbook. Participants were from introductory years one and two of Undergraduate study at University. The results from this chapter show successful and unsuccessful approaches by students to multi-step problems. One notable result is that unsuccessful students demonstrated an inability to apply the appropriate physics concepts, with or without the availability of resources. These results have implications for the skills required in closed and open-book exams. Three chapters of the thesis focus on the analysis of Peer Instruction (Chapters 6-8), an instructional method designed to improve conceptual understanding. Peer Instruction was used with a first year Introductory University class. Technical word use was not associated with success on Peer Instruction questions. Conversations were also analysed qualitatively. The results reflect diversity in reasoning regardless of correctness on the question. Some recommendations for the implementation of Peer Instruction are presented. The thesis is organised as follows. A literature review was conducted in relevant areas of study and is presented to set the context of the work. Three chapters report the study with novice individuals solving multi-step problems with and without resources. Three further chapters investigate successful and unsuccessful Peer Instruction discussions in Physics. The final results chapter (Chapter 9) presents a study of a group of experts solving physics problems. Overall successful and unsuccessful problem solving strategies were compared, as well as preliminary comparisons between expert and novice behaviour when solving physics problems

Peer Instruction observed in the wild

\u27Flipped\u27 or \u27inverted classroom\u27 approaches have been shown to enhance the effectiveness of teaching contact time. We have adopted this pedagogy in our introductory physics classes, in which we teach a mixed cohort of around 300 major and non-major students at a large, research-intensive university. A crucial element of class activity is the Peer Instruction methodology, in which students discuss and defend their conceptions of topics, with levels of student understanding gauged using clicker questions. We have studied student behavior during these Peer Instruction sessions using \u27smart pen\u27 technology, which allows us to match audio-recorded student conversations and pen strokes with their clicker votes in an unobtrusive way. We find that the large majority of student conversations result in students settling on the correct answer to the post-discussion clicker questions, and that the success of these conversations does not depend on the technical fluency of the students\u27 vocabulary. The smart pen recordings also allow us to assess any problems or ambiguities in the clicker questions themselves, thus affording the opportunity for informed revision of pathological clicker questions. Over two iterations of the class we have successfully modified a number of clicker questions in light of this feedback and find them to have correspondingly increased learning gains. Thus, this authentically-situated \u27in the wild\u27 study of student behavior has benefits both in terms of increased theoretical understanding of the instructional approach and also in direct refinement of the classroom resources, i.e. more learning with less confusion

Fostering Learning Improvements in Physics (FLIP): A status report

The Fostering Learning Improvements in Physics project is examining the international status of subject-based educational research in physics and the potential for work in this field to impact the teaching and learning of undergraduate physics in UK universities. While focused specifically on physics, outcomes of the project may be relevant to subject-based educational research and to teaching and learning within the physical sciences more generally. We report on the aims, approaches and current status at the mid-point of this one-year study