Probing physics students' conceptual knowledge structures through term association

Traditional tests are not effective tools for diagnosing the content and structure of students' knowledge of physics. As a possible alternative, a set of term-association tasks (the "ConMap" tasks) was developed to probe the interconnections within students' store of conceptual knowledge. The tasks have students respond spontaneously to a term or problem or topic area with a sequence of associated terms; the response terms and timeof- entry data are captured. The tasks were tried on introductory physics students, and preliminary investigations show that the tasks are capable of eliciting information about the stucture of their knowledge. Specifically, data gathered through the tasks is similar to that produced by a hand-drawn concept map task, has measures that correlate with inclass exam performance, and is sensitive to learning produced by topic coverage in class. Although the results are preliminary and only suggestive, the tasks warrant further study as student-knowledge assessment instruments and sources of experimental data for cognitive modeling efforts.Comment: 31 pages plus 2 tables and 8 figure

Pwning Level Bosses in MATLAB: Student Reactions to a Game-Inspired Computational Physics Course

We investigated student reactions to two computational physics courses incorporating several videogame-like aspects. These included use of gaming terminology such as "levels," "weapons," and "bosses"; a game-style point system linked to course grades; a self-paced schedule with no deadlines; a mastery design in which only entirely correct attempts earn credit, but students can retry until they succeed; immediate feedback via self-test code; an assignment progression from "minions" (small, focused tasks) to "level bosses" (integrative tasks); and believable, authentic assignment scenarios. Through semi-structured interviews and course evaluations, we found that a majority of students considered the courses effective and the game-like aspects beneficial. In particular, many claimed that the point system increased their motivation; the self-paced nature caused them to reflect on their self-discipline; the possibility and necessity of repeating assignments until perfect aided learning; and the authentic tasks helped them envision using course skills in their professional futures.Comment: Accepted for publication in the proceedings of the 2014 Physics Education Research Conference (PERC

Standards-based grading in introductory university physics

Standards-based grading (SBG) is an approach to assessment and reporting in which scores are attached to the specific learning objectives of a course, rather than to assignments or tests. Each score represents a student’s mastery of that learning objective, and may change over time in response to evidence that her level of understanding has changed. SBG is increasingly popular in K-12 education, but has been poorly documented and studied in a university context. I explored the practicality and effects of using SBG in a moderately large university class by incorporating it into the two successive courses of an introductory physics sequence. Although design flaws and logistical difficulties plagued these attempts, most students responded positively to the basic intent and elements of the approach. Our experiences revealed likely implementation errors and suggested some wise design choices. More interestingly, I found that SBG foregrounds and forces us to confront some fundamental tensions present but latent within most or all teaching

Designing Effective Questions for Classroom Response System Teaching

Classroom response systems (CRSs) can be potent tools for teaching physics. Their efficacy, however, depends strongly on the quality of the questions used. Creating effective questions is difficult, and differs from creating exam and homework problems. Every CRS question should have an explicit pedagogic purpose consisting of a content goal, a process goal, and a metacognitive goal. Questions can be engineered to fulfil their purpose through four complementary mechanisms: directing students' attention, stimulating specific cognitive processes, communicating information to instructor and students via CRS-tabulated answer counts, and facilitating the articulation and confrontation of ideas. We identify several tactics that help in the design of potent questions, and present four "makeovers" showing how these tactics can be used to convert traditional physics questions into more powerful CRS questions.Comment: 11 pages, including 6 figures and 2 tables. Submitted (and mostly approved) to the American Journal of Physics. Based on invited talk BL05 at the 2005 Winter Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers (Albuquerque, NM

Extreme Learning Assistants: The Impact of an Authentic Teaching Experience on Undergraduate Physics Majors

UNCG has an innovative Learning Assistant (LA) program, in which upper-class undergraduate physics majors teach laboratory sections of the introductory calculus-based physics sequence. The lecture section’s professor provides supervision and determines the overall learning objectives and structure of the labs, but the team of LAs develop the detailed lesson plans, write up all handouts and quizzes, conduct the lab sessions, and evaluate student work. This gives the LAs a genuine voice in planning and teaching, and increases the authenticity of the teaching experience. In order to investigate the impact of this teaching experience upon physics majors, we interviewed five current and former LAs. We analyzed the interview transcripts via emergent thematic analysis to identify the most prevalent impacts, and then viewed the results through the lens of professional identity development. We claim that the LA experience helps grow three aspects of physics majors’ professional identity: their sense of themselves as a physics teacher, as a physics student, and as a member of a community of practice

Four-Tiered Question Goals (TEFA Note #04)

Questions for students to digest, wrestle with, answer, discuss, and reflect upon are central to the Technology-Enhanced Formative Assessment (TEFA) pedagogical approach; one of TEFA’s core tenets is question-driven instruction (QDI). The nature and quality of the questions used has a dramatic impact on student learning