11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference1 Research-Based Pedagogies: Beyond Content A. Elby, E. F. Redish, and R. E. Scherr Department of Physics University of Maryland

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference2 Plan of Presentation  Epistemology: Overview, Background, and Goals (Elby)  Reconciling: An Example (Scherr)  Building Intuition: Helping Students Reconcile (Redish)

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference3 Epistemology: Overview, Background, and Goals Andy Elby

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference4 Goal of this workshop  Focus attention on a key pedagogical issue (rather than a particular curriculum)  Make explicit a “hidden” reform-oriented goal other than improved conceptual understanding

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference5 An opening example  Issue: Why is student 3 having trouble learning this material? Students 23 14

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference6 Background info for video clip  Class: Discussion sections, introductory college physics  Activity: Guided inquiry about light and shadows. What happens to bright spot on screen if bulb is moved up? What if we add a second bulb above the first?

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference7 Background info - continued  Question under consideration: “What do your observations suggest about the path taken from the light to the screen.”  Right before we tune in: Discussing the two-bulb case. Student 1: How do we get two images from one hole? Student 2: Light goes through hole from 2 directions.

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference8 Students Why is student 3 having trouble?

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference9 Introduction to epistemology  Epistemology = Views about the nature of knowledge and learning.  Examples (Lising, Hammer): Jan seems to be seeking formalism rather than a common-sense explanation. Doesn’t expect coherence between them. Daniel: “I feel that proving the formula is not really necessary for me, it doesn't matter if I can prove it or not, as long as I know that someone has proven it before... there's a concept, and... here I am paying $15,000 a year.... I'm not going to derive this thing for them; they're going to derive it for me and explain to me how it works.”

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference10 Epistemology: What do you see? - 1  After solving for KE of rotating wheel using rotational kinetic energy, Ken is asked whether you could also solve it using linear kinetic energy, as explained in the book: “[You] could do it that way. Just different ways of thinking about it... because... all rotation is is just... at any time, it's just a bunch of particles, with velocities going off tangentially.”

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference11 Epistemology: What do you see? - 2  Roger solves Atwood-type problem incorrectly: The 2 tethered blocks have different accelerations. “From what I put, I guess that's right.... Oh geez, how could one be accelerating faster than the other.... That would mean the velocities would have to be different.... Yeah, I guess so.... Well, I don't know; I'd check and see if I got the right answer. I'm 90% sure.”

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference12 Epistemology: What do you see? - 3  Tony finds angular velocity of an airplane flying in a straight line. Interviewer asks how it can have an angular velocity. “Here they're talking about instantaneously.... That's like when you sit there and watch a train come, you'll see it come, and it kind of sits there, and as it goes by, it zooms by.... The faster you turn your head that's what the angular velocity is.”

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference13 Tony “reconciles”  Tony “reconciles” his intuitive ideas and everyday experiences with formal physics concepts.  Doing so relies upon… The epistemological expectation of coherence. Background knowledge and thinking skills needed to find that coherence. (Most students need more scaffolding.)

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference14 Remainder of this workshop  Experiencing a reconciliation: Putting yourselves in your students’ shoes.  Example of curriculum designed to promote not just reconciliation, but also the underlying epistemological expectation of coherence.

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference15 Reconciling: An Example Rachel Scherr

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference16 A “reconciling” task Block on frictionless ramp Identical block in frictionless bowl; Slope same as ramp Task: Draw the free-body diagram for each block, and compare.

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference17 Building Intuition: Helping Students Reconcile E. F. (Joe) Redish

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference18 Goals: What do we want our students to learn?  Content facts, equations, principles  Concepts What’s it “about”?  How to “think physics” coherence, intuition

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference19 Instruction works!  Traditional instruction focuses on content students can successfully learn vocabulary, algorithms, and quantitative exercise solving  Reformed-1 instruction focuses on concepts students can successfully learn concepts and qualitative problem solving  The next step: learning to “think physics” Can we help students successfully learn coherence, intuition building, and complex problem solving?

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference20 Modes of instruction  Traditional passive observation, active repetition of simple tasks  Reformed-1 active learning, qualitative reasoning cognitive conflict (elicit / confront / resolve)

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference21 Cognitive conflict may undermine intuition building  “Here’s another quiz to show me how stupid I am about physics.”  “Math doesn’t lie.”  “Doing science well means suppressing my intuition.”

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference22 Reform-2  Physics as a “refinement” of everyday thinking.  Reconciliation rather than replacement.  “Learning bifurcation” (LB) pairs promote expectation of reconciliation promote expectation of seeking coherence promote respect for and development of intuition

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference23 A (Reformed) 2 Tutorial

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference24 Does it work? 1

11/1/03Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference25 Does it work? 2