Models of physical systems are used to explain and predict experimental results and observations. The Modeling Framework for Experimental Physics describes the process by which physicists revise their models to account for the newly acquired observations, or change their apparatus to better represent their models when they encounter discrepancies between actual and expected behavior of a system. While modeling is a nationally recognized learning outcome for undergraduate physics lab courses, no assessments of students' model-based reasoning exist for upper-division labs. As part of a larger effort to create two assessments of students' modeling abilities, we used the Modeling Framework to develop and code think-aloud problem-solving activities centered on investigating an inverting amplifier circuit. This study is the second phase of a multiphase assessment instrument development process. Here, we focus on characterizing the range of modeling pathways students employ while interpreting the output signal of a circuit functioning far outside its recommended operation range. We end by discussing four outcomes of this work: (1) Students engaged in all modeling subtasks, and they spent the most time making measurements, making comparisons, and enacting revisions; (2) Each subtask occurred in close temporal proximity to all over subtasks; (3) Sometimes, students propose causes that do not follow logically from observed discrepancies; (4) Similarly, students often rely on their experiential knowledge and enact revisions that do not follow logically from articulated proposed causes.
Although an important goal of introductory physics labs is to train students in scientific reasoning and critical thinking, currently there are no standard tests in physics designed to assess such skills. We are in the process of developing and validating the Physics Lab Inventory of Critical thinking (PLIC), an assessment to probe students' critical thinking abilities in physics lab courses. The instrument asks students to critique a set of experimental methods and data and use them to evaluate a particular physical model (the period of a mass on a spring). Currently, we are validating the cl…
Model-Based Reasoning in the Upper-Division Physics Laboratory: Framework and Initial Results
我们回顾和扩展现有的框架建模，开发一个新的框架，描述了基于模型的推理在上师物理实验室。构建和使用模型是核心科学实践，在K-12和高等教育中获得了极大的关注。虽然建模是一个广泛适用的过程，但在物理教育中，它已优先应用于广泛适用原理的迭代开发（例如，牛顿运动定律（Newton's laws of motion in introduction mechanics）新框架的一个重要特征是，测量工具（除了正在研究的物理系统）进行建模的过程。有声思维访谈被用来完善的框架，并证明其实用性，通过记录的例子，基于模型的推理在实验室。当应用于有声思维访谈时，该框架捕捉和区分学生的基于模型的推理，并有助于确定未来的研究领域。访谈显示了学生如何有效地将建模的相似方面应用于物理系统和测量工具：构建，预测，数据解释，模型限制的识别和修订。最后，我们记录了学生在构建实验系统模型时明确阐述假设的挑战，以及由于学生先前概念理解不足而在模型构建中面临的进一步挑战。建模的角度重新构建了测量工具和仪器的许多看似任意的技术细节，作为真实和引人入胜的科学意义的机会。
Introductory physics lab instruction is undergoing a transformation, with increasing emphasis on developing experimentation and critical thinking skills. These changes present a need for standardized assessment instruments to determine the degree to which students develop these skills through instructional labs. In this article, we present the development and validation of the Physics Lab Inventory of Critical thinking (PLIC). We define critical thinking as the ability to use data and evidence to decide what to trust and what to do. The PLIC is a 10-question, closed-response assessment that pr…
Student learning in upper division thermal physics has not been studied to the same extent as in other courses like electromagnetism and quantum mechanics. Studies addressing reasoning and learning at the graduate level are even more limited. In this study, we conducted think-aloud interviews with eight graduate students involving questions centered around a set of entropy related conceptual tasks, two of which are similar to tasks presented to undergraduates in other studies. We discuss patterns in student reasoning on each question then discuss themes that appeared across questions. We ident…
Assessments are usually thought of as ways for instructors to get information from students. In this work, we flip this perspective and explore how assessments communicate information to students. Specifically, we consider how assessments may provide information about what faculty and/or researchers think it means to know and do physics, i.e. their epistemologies. Using data from students completing assessment questions during one-on-one think aloud interviews, we explore how assessment features impact (or did not impact) student engagement with the assessment problems. We analyze video record…
We investigated the difficulties that physics students in upper-level undergraduate quantum mechanics and graduate students after quantum and statistical mechanics core courses have with the Fermi energy, the Fermi-Dirac distribution and total electronic energy of a free electron gas after they had learned relevant concepts in their respective courses. These difficulties were probed by administering written conceptual and quantitative questions to undergraduate students and asking some undergraduate and graduate students to answer those questions while thinking aloud in one-on-one individual i…
Transforming High School Physics with Modeling and Computation
Engage to Excel（PCAST）报告，国家研究委员会的K-12科学教育框架以及下一代科学标准都呼吁将物理课堂转变为教学生真正科学实践的环境。这项工作描述了一个这样的尝试，以改变高中物理课堂的早期阶段。具体而言，一系列的模型构建和计算建模练习试点在九年级物理第一教室。学生使用的计算进行了评估，使用监考编程作业，学生通过高级编程环境（VPython）制作并讨论了运动中的棒球的计算模型。学生对计算及其与力学的联系的看法是通过一篇书面文章和一系列有声思维访谈来评估的。这项初步研究显示了计算的能力，连接科学实践的高中科学课堂。
Geometri is one of branch of the branch of mathematics that plays a major role in the development of science and technology. Thus, knowing the geometry concept is needed for students from their early basic level of thinking. A preliminary study showed that the elementary students have difficulty in perceiving parallelogram shape in a 2-dimension of a cube drawing as a square shape. This difficulty makes the students can not solve geometrical problems correctly. This problem is related to the internal thinking process in geometry. We conducted the exploration of students internal thinking proce…
Calls to transform introductory college physics courses to include scientific practices require assessments that can measure the extent to which these transformations are effective. Such assessments should be able to measure students' abilities to blend conceptually important concepts with practices scientists engage in. To design assessment tasks that can measure these abilities, we leveraged Evidence-Centered Design and the Three-Dimensional Learning Assessment Protocol with the focal scientific practice of "Using Mathematics." We conducted video recorded one-on-one think-aloud interviews to…
Relating two quantities to describe a physical system or process is at the heart of "doing physics" for novices and experts alike. In this paper, we explore the ways in which experts use covariational reasoning when solving introductory physics graphing problems. Here, graduate students are considered experts for the introductory level material, as they often take the role of instructor at large research universities. Drawing on work from Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (RUME), we replicated a study of mathematics experts' covariational reasoning done by Hobson and Moore with p…
An appropriate diagram is a required element of a solution building process in physics problem solving and it can transform a given problem into a representation that is easier to exploit for solving the problem. A major focus while helping introductory physics students learn problem solving is to help them appreciate that drawing diagrams facilitates problem solving. We conducted an investigation in which two different interventions were implemented during recitation quizzes throughout the semester in a large enrollment, algebra-based introductory physics course. Students were either (1) aske…
Researchers in physics education have advocated both for including modeling in science classrooms as well as promoting student engagement with sensemaking. These two processes facilitate the generation of new knowledge by connecting to one's existing ideas. Despite being two distinct processes, modeling is often described as sensemaking of the physical world. In the current work, we provide an explicit, framework-based analysis of the intertwining between modeling and sensemaking by analyzing think-aloud interviews of two students solving a physics problem. While one student completes the task…
We present a case study featuring a first-year bio-science university student using computation to solve a radioactive decay problem and interpret the results. In a semi-structured cognitive interview, we use this case to examine the process of sensemaking in a computational science context. We observe the student entering the sensemaking process by inspecting and comparing computational outputs. She then makes several attempts to resolve the perceived inconsistency, foregrounding knowledge from different domains. The key to making sense of the model for this student proves to be thinking abou…
Models of physical systems are used to explain and predict experimental results and observations. When students encounter discrepancies between the actual and expected behavior of a system, they revise their models to include the newly acquired observations, or change their apparatus to better represent their models. The Modeling Framework for Experimental Physics describes the process of matching measurements and observations to models by making revisions to resolve discrepancies. As part of a larger effort to create assessments of students' modeling abilities in the context of upper-division…
Performance of Graduate Students at Identifying Introductory Physics Students' Difficulties Related to Kinematics Graphs
运动学图形理解测试（英语：Test of Understanding Graphs in Kinetics，缩写：TUG-K）是一个由Beichner开发的多项选择测试，用于评估学生对运动学图形的理解。TUG-K上的许多项目都有很强的干扰项选择，这与入门学生在运动学图形方面的常见困难相对应。如果教师不了解这些常见的困难，并在教学设计中考虑到这些困难，教学就不可能有效。我们评估一年级物理研究生的表现，在确定入门学生的共同困难有关的运动学图。特别是，对于TUG-K上的每个项目，研究生被要求识别他们认为最常被物理学入门学生选择的错误答案，如果他们在相关概念的指导后不知道正确答案。我们使用Beichner原始论文中的入门学生数据来评估研究生对入门学生困难的了解。此外，我们选择了四个问题上的TUG-K上的研究生的表现是最差的一个更详细的分析，其中包括有声思维访谈。我们目前的结果，可以部分解释这些问题上的研究生表现不佳，也通知教学专业发展课程。
