Lippmann-Kung, AREA Meeting (2002)

Analyzing Students' Use of Metacognition During Laboratory Activities

R. Lippmann-Kung, AREA Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2002). 

Abstract: In this paper we use a discourse analysis tool to investigate student behavior in different types of laboratories, from more traditional to free inquiry labs. We also correlate students’ behavior with their explicit metacognitive statements, which allows us to differentiate between productive and unproductive metacognition.

Wittmann, International J of Science Ed (2002)

The Object Coordination Class Applied to Wavepulses: Analysing Student Reasoning in Wave Physics

M. C. Wittmann, International Journal of Science Education, 24(1), p 97-118 (2002). (link to journal article)

Abstract: Detailed investigations of student reasoning show that students approach the topic of wave physics using both event-like and object-like descriptions of wavepulses, but primarily focus on object properties in their reasoning. Student responses to interview and written questions are analysed using diSessa and Sherin's coordination class model which suggests that student use of specific reasoning resources is guided by possibly unconscious cues. Here, the term reasoning resources is used in a general fashion to describe any of the smaller grain size models of reasoning (p-prims, facets of knowledge, intuitive rules, etc) rather than theoretically ambiguous (mis)conceptions. Student applications of reasoning resources, including one previously undocumented, are described. Though the coordination class model is extremely helpful in organising the research data, problematic aspects of the model are also discussed.

Bao, Hogg & Zollman, Am J Phys (2002)

Model analysis of fine structures of student models: An Example with Newton's Third Law

L. Bao, K. Hogg & D. Zollman, American Journal of Physics, 70(7), p 766 778 (July 2002). (link to journal article)

Abstract: In problem-solving situations, the contextual features of the problems affect student reasoning. Using Newton's third law as an example, we study the role of context in students' uses of alternative conceptual models. We have identified four contextual features that are frequently used by students in their reasoning. Using these results, a multiple-choice survey was developed to probe the effects of the specific contextual features on student reasoning. Measurements with this instrument show that different contextual features can affect students' conceptual learning in different ways. We compare student data from different populations and instructions and discuss the implications.

Redish, Talk: Conf on Integrating Math and Science Ed Research (2002)

Our Model of how a Student "Works": Does it matter for teaching science?

E. F. Redish, talk given at the Conference on Integrating Science and Math Education Research, Orono, Maine (June 23, 2002). 

Scherr, Shaffer & Vokos, Am J Phys (2002)

The challenge of changing deeply-held student beliefs about the relativity of simultaneity

R. E. Scherr, P. S. Shaffer & S. Vokos, American Journal of Physics, 70(12), p 1238-1248 (2002). (html version)

Abstract:  Previous research indicates that after standard instruction students at all academic levels often construct a conceptual framework in which the ideas of absolute simultaneity and the relativity of simultaneity co-exist. This article describes the development and assessment of instructional materials intended to improve student understanding of the concept of time in special relativity, the relativity of simultaneity, and the role of observers in inertial reference frames. Results from pretests and post-tests are presented to demonstrate the effect of the curriculum in helping students deepen their understanding of these topics. Excerpts from taped interviews and classroom interactions help illustrate the intense cognitive conflict that students encounter as they are led to confront the incompatibility of their deeply-held beliefs about simultaneity with the results of special relativity.

Scherr & Wittmann, PER Conference Proceedings (2002)

The challenge of listening: The effect of researcher agenda on data collection and interpretation

R. E. Scherr & M. C. Wittmann, in Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings, S. Franklin, K. Cummings & J. Marx (Eds.), (2002). (frame html version)

Abstract: A researcher's interests dictate which student statements in a clinical interview are considered to constitute data. To the extent that our research agendas are unexamined, they may control our attention inappropriately, limiting the effectiveness of both data collection and data interpretation. We describe an interview in which the interviewer paid nearly exclusive attention to the student's conceptual understanding of charge flow, thereby missing information about her epistemological stance that might have made the interview itself more productive. We also present our initial collaborative analysis of the same interview, in which we judged a particular interview excerpt to contain relatively little information, and show that our judgment reveals more about our implicit research agenda than about the quality of the interview data itself. The data presented in this talk is analyzed from two other perspectives in the other two talks in this session.

Wittmann & Scherr, PER Conference Proceedings (2002)

Student epistemological stance constraining researcher access to student thinking: An example from an interview on charge flow

M. C. Wittmann & R. E. Scherr, in Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings, S. Franklin, K. Cummings & J. Marx (Eds.), (2002).

Abstract: A student's guiding epistemological mode (be it knowledge as memorized information, knowledge from authority, or knowledge as fabricated stuff) may constrain that student from reasoning in productive ways while also shaping the inferences a researcher can make about how that student reasons about a particular phenomenon. We discuss both cases in the context of an individual student interview on charge flow in wires. In the first part of the interview, her focus on memorized knowledge prevents the researcher from learning about her detailed reasoning about current. In the second part of the interview, her focus on constructed knowledge provides the researcher with a picture of her reasoning about the physical mechanisms of charge flow.

diSessa, Elby & Hammer, Intentional Conceptual Change (2002)

J's epistemological stance and strategies

A. diSessa, A. Elby & D. Hammer, in Intentional Conceptual Change, G. M. Sinatra & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), p 237-290, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum (2002).

Hammer & Elby, Personal Epistemology (2002)

On the form of a personal epistemology

D. Hammer & A. Elby, in Personal Epistemology: The Psychology of Beliefs about Knowledge and Knowing, B. K. Hofer & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), p 169-190, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. 

Redish, Steinberg & Wittmann, Am J Phys (2002)

Investigating student understanding of quantum physics: Spontaneous models of conductivity

E. F. Redish, R. N. Steinberg & M. C. Wittmann, Am J Phys, 70(3), p 218-226 (2002). (html version)

Abstract: Students are taught several models of conductivity, both at the introductory and the advanced level. From early macroscopic models of current flow in circuits, through the discussion of microscopic particle descriptions of electrons flowing in an atomic lattice, to the development of microscopic nonlocalized band diagram descriptions in advanced physics courses, they need to be able to distinguish between commonly used, though sometimes contradictory, physical models. In investigations of student reasoning about models of conduction, we find that students often are unable to account for the existence of free electrons in a conductor and create models that lead to incorrect predictions and responses contradictory to expert descriptions of the physics. We have used these findings as a guide to creating curriculum materials that we show can be effective helping students to apply the different conduction models more effectively.

Bao & Redish, Am J Phys (2002)

Understanding probabilistic interpretations of physical systems: A prerequisite to learning quantum physics

L. Bao & E. F. Redish, Am J Phys, 70(3), p 210-217 (2002). (html version)

Abstract: Probability plays a critical role in making sense of quantum physics, but most science and engineering undergraduates have very little experience with the topic. A probabilistic interpretation of a physical system, even at a classical level, is often completely new to them, and the relevant fundamental concepts such as the probability distribution and probability density are rarely understood. To address these difficulties and to help students build a model of how to think about probability in physical systems, we have developed a set of hands-on tutorial activities appropriate for use in a modern physics course for engineers. We discuss some student difficulties with probability concepts and an instructional approach that uses a random picture metaphor and digital video technology.