Tuminaro & Redish, PER Conference Proceedings (2003)

Understanding Students' Poor Performance on Mathematical Problem Solving in Physics

J. Tuminaro & E. F. Redish, Proceedings of the Physics Education Research Conference, Madison, WI (Aug 6-7, 2003).

Abstract: Many introductory, algebra-based physics students perform poorly on mathematical problem solving tasks in physics. There are at least two possible, distinct reasons for this poor performance: (1) Students lack the mathematical skills needed to solve problems in physics, or (2) students do not know how to apply the mathematical skills they have to particular problem situations in physics. Many physics faculty assume that the lack of mathematical skills is the problem. We present evidence suggesting that the major source of students’ errors is their failure to apply the mathematical knowledge they have or to interpret that knowledge in a physical context. Additionally, we present an instructional strategy that can help students employ the mathematical knowledge they already possess.

Wittmann, Steinberg & Redish, Int J Sci Ed (2003)

Understanding and Affecting Student Reasoning about Sound Waves

M. C. Wittmann, R. N. Steinberg & E. F. Redish, International Journal of Science Education, 25(8), p 991-1013 (2003).

Abstract:Student learning of sound waves can be helped through the creation of group-learning classroom materials whose development and design rely on explicit investigations into student understanding. We describe reasoning in terms of sets of resources, i.e. grouped building blocks of thinking that are commonly used in many different settings. Students in our university physics classes often used sets of resources that were different from the ones we wish them to use. By designing curriculum materials that ask students to think about the physics from a different view, we bring about improvement in student understanding of sound waves. Our curriculum modifications are specific to our own classes, but our description of student learning is more generally useful for teachers. We describe how students can use multiple sets of resources in their thinking, and raise questions that should be considered by both instructors and researchers.

Redish, Talk: Physics Colloquium (2003)

Rethinking College Physics: What do we have to offer biology students?

E. F. Redish, talk given as the UMD Physics Department Colloquium, College Park, MD (February 11, 2003). (frame html version)

Redish, Talk: APS-AAPT Joint Regional Meeting (2003)

The Future of Physics Education: Building an Applied Science?

E. F. Redish, Talk given at the APS-AAPT Joint Regional Meeting, Berkeley, CA (November 15, 2003). (frame html version)

Lippmann, PhD Dissertation (2003)

Students' understanding of measurement and uncertainty in the physics laboratory: Social construction, underlying concepts, and quantitative analysis

R. F. Lippmann, Ph.D. Dissertation, E. F. Redish (advisor), (2003). (html TOC and abstract)(appendices)

Abstract: In the physical sciences and other fields, conclusions are made from experimental data. To succeed in such fields, people must know how to gather, analyze, and draw conclusions from data: not just following steps, but understanding the concepts of measurement and uncertainty. We design the Scientific Community Laboratory (SCL) to teach students to utilize their everyday skills of argument and decision-making for data gathering and analysis. We then develop research tools for studying students’ understanding of measurement and uncertainty and use these tools to investigate students in the traditional laboratory and in the SCL.

For students to apply their everyday skills of argument and decision-making, they must be in a state of mind (a frame) where they consider these skills productive. The laboratory design should create an environment which encourages such a frame. We determine student’s frames through information reported by students in interviews and surveys and through analyzing students’ behavior. We find that the time students spend sense-making in the SCL is five times more than in traditional labs. Students in both labs frequently evaluate their level of understanding but only in the SCL does that evaluation cause a change to more productive behavior.

We analyze lab videotapes to determine underlying concepts commonly used by students when gathering and analyzing data. Our final goal is for students to use these concepts to analyze data in an appropriate manner. We develop a multiple-choice survey which asks students to analyze data from a hypothetical lab context. With this survey we find more students using range to compare data sets after the SCL (from 12% before to 43% after).

For students to understand measurement and uncertainty, we argue that the laboratory must be designed to encourage students to be in a frame where they view resources used to argue and evaluate as appropriate, engage in productive behavior and monitor their behavior, use productive resources to build an understanding of the underlying concepts, and use those concepts to analyze data. We make use of interviews, surveys, and video data to study each of these requirements and to evaluate the SCL curriculum.

Scherr, The Physics Teacher (2003)

An implementation of Physics by Inquiry in a large-enrollment class

R. E. Scherr, The Physics Teacher, 41(2), p 113-118 (2003). 

Abstract: As physics instructors, we enjoy access to a variety of powerful instructional materials. Among them are classroom-tested inquiry-based laboratory curricula such as Physics by Inquiry [1] and Workshop Physics.[2] Unfortunately, such materials are often tested in conditions unattainable in introductory physics courses. In particular, the recommended instructor-student ratio tends to be larger than we can afford. This article describes a implementation of Physics by Inquiry in a liberal-arts physics class with 70 students and one instructor. I discuss the choices I made with the materials under these circumstances, describe the challenges that arose, and offer evidence that the course was fairly successful. Examples such as this one show that proven instructional materials can be put to good use even in circumstances that fall outside the tested conditions.

Scherr, AIP Conf Proceedings (2003)

Gestures as evidence of student thinking in physics

R. E. Scherr, in AIP Conference Proceedings 720, 2003 Physics Education Research Conference, J. Marx, K. Cummings & S. Franklin (Eds.), p 61-64 (2003)

Abstract: Student gestures are part of how students articulate their ideas, and can be of use to us in diagnosing student thinking and forming effective pedagogical responses. This paper presents examples of gestures that occur in a conversation between students and a TA about a mechanics homework problem, and analyzes one gesture that was particularly significant to the conversation.

Hammer & Elby, J of the Learning Sciences (2003)

Tapping students' epistemological resources

D. Hammer & A. Elby, Journal of the Learning Sciences, 12(1), p 53-91 (2003). 

Abstract: Research on personal epistemologies has begun to consider ontology: Do naive epistemologies take the form of stable, unitary beliefs or of fine-grained, context-sensitive resources? Debates such as this regarding subtleties of cognitive theory, however, may be difficult to connect to everyday instructional practice. Our purpose in this article is to make that connection. We first review reasons for supporting the latter account, of naive epistemologies as made up of fine-grained, context-sensitive resources; as part of this argument we note that familiar strategies and curricula tacitly ascribe epistemological resources to students. We then present several strategies designed more explicitly to help students tap those resources for learning introductory physics. Finally, we reflect on this work as an example of interplay between two modes of inquiry into student thinking, that of instruction and that of formal research on learning.