Supported by the US Dept. of Education and The University of Alabama

 Flexible  Adapts to instructor’s tastes, styles  Adapts to students’ needs  Only a structure

 Foundation Coalition (NSF: Engineering)  Active Learning  Technology in the classroom  Teaming  More technology in labs

 Schedule: 2hrs, 2 days a week; 1 hr recitation per week  Short lectures  Labs and activities for most of the 2-hr sessions  students per section  Technology driven

The University of Alabama Department of Physics and Astronomy Studio Physics Classroom

The University of Alabama Department of Physics and Astronomy Students in Studio Physics Classroom doing optics experiment

 Take data electronically  Analyze data numerically  …But also do paper/pencil analysis

 Some lecture  Problem-solving examples  Clicker questions  Exercises  Simulations  Labs once a week

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 No  Must pick and choose  Cover main items well  Students responsible for rest  This is a 4-hour course!

 Students have preconceived ideas  These are hard to dislodge  People can hold conflicting concepts simultaneously  Students must be confronted by a conflict in order to abandon a misconception  More than once

 Consider a boat loaded with scrap iron in a swimming pool. If the iron is thrown overboard into the pool, will the water level at the edge of the pool A. rise, B. fall, or C. remain unchanged?

 Interactive engagement techniques outstrip “traditional” in conceptual learning (Hake,1997)  Conceptual learning in mechanics often measured with Force Concept Inventory (Hestenes et al., 1992, 1995)  Hake gain: g = (post – pre)/(100% - pre)

 Cummings et al. (1999): Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (Sokoloff and Thornton, 1997) and Cooperative Group Problem Solving (Heller et al., 1992) are effective in a studio context.  Many of Hake’s examples of interactive engagement were lecture courses

 Hake (1998): Students won’t take seriously tasks they don’t get credit for.  Students are not necessarily actively (or even inactively) engaged when we think they are.

 Quiz?  Help with homework  Exercises  Simulations  Structured problem-solving  e.g.

 Active learning  Considerable student/teacher interaction  Integration of labs and lecture material  Collaborative learning  Effective use of technology