Incorporating microlearning videos, online exercises and assessments into introductory physics
Ché Netzer, Alexander Mittelstädt
备注：
Preprint in production as conference article in "Blended Learning in Engineering Education: challenging, enlightening - and lasting?, Poceedings SEFI 2021, Berlin, 13-16 September, 2021."
We report on the evolution of the largest physics course at the Technical University Berlin during the COVID-19 pandemic, which boosted the development of online learning content, electronic assessments, and, not at least, the reconceptualization of our teaching methods. By shifting to distance education, we created features that can be easily implemented and combined with any physics-type course at a university level. Thereby, we incidentally made introductory physics sustainably accessible to students having difficulties visiting the university. Besides our experiences gained on blended learning methods, we provide a guide to online exercises, microlearning videos, and e-assessments, including exams realized in a virtual setting via the university's Moodle. Since the course is attended annually by more than 800 students enrolled in at least twelve bachelor degree engineering and all STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields, our reformations greatly impact the student's learning style. The teaching concepts presented here are supported by results from the Force Concept Inventory, student feedback, and exam results. The Force Concept Inventory shows that our online teaching did not negatively affect the student's learning process compared with a traditional face-to-face lecture. Student's feedback shows that the new format and material being available online are received very well. Finally, the exam results show that virtual exams conducted in a remote setting can be designed to minimize cheating possibilities. In addition, the test was able to yield a similar distribution of points as in the previous traditional ones.
Great physics breakthroughs are rarely included in the introductory physics or astronomy course. General relativity and binary black hole coalescence are no different, and can be included in the introductory course only in a very limited sense. However, we can design activities that directly involve the detection of GW150914, the designation of the Gravitation Wave signal detected on September 14, 2015, thereby engage the students in this exciting discovery directly. The activities naturally do not include the construction of a detector or the detection of gravitational waves. Instead, we desi…
In a previous study, students' self-expressed learning orientations towards an exercise centered on self-monitoring one's ability to solve a pre-lab physics problem were identified from a post-test feedback survey given to an introductory algebra-based physics student population spanning six measured semesters, and examined as a potential variable in course performance, force and motion conceptual understanding, and attitudes towards learning physics. The sampled population, which primarily consists of life science majors, was also asked in the same feedback survey to discuss what portion or p…
In a previous study, students' self-expressed learning orientations towards an exercise centered on self-monitoring one's ability to solve a pre-lab physics problem were identified from a post-test feedback survey given to an introductory algebra-based physics student population spanning six measured semesters, and examined as a potential variable in course performance, force and motion conceptual understanding, and attitudes towards learning physics. The sampled population, which primarily consists of life science majors, was also asked in the same feedback survey to discuss what portion or p…
An empirical approach to interpreting card-sorting data
自30年前首次发表以来，Chi et al.的开创性的论文专家和新手分类的介绍性问题，导致了过多的后续研究领域内外的物理[池等认知科学5，121 - 152（1981）]。这些研究通常包括“卡片分类”练习，参与者将问题分组。虽然这种技术确实可以洞察解决问题的方法，但简单的描述性统计往往无法找到专家和新手之间的显着差异。在超越描述性统计，我们描述了一种新的微观方法，考虑到卡的个人身份，并使用图论和模型来可视化，分析和解释问题分类实验。我们将这些方法应用到一个介绍性的物理（力学）问题分类实验中，发现分类结果的大部分变化不是由于分类器是专家还是新手，而是由于一个独立的特征，我们称之为“堆叠器”与“散布器”。“专家-新手的区别只占较小的变化量，这一事实可以解释在进行这些实验时频繁出现的零结果。
An introductory Astronomy survey course is often taken to satisfy a college graduation requirement for non-science majors at colleges around the United States. In this course, material that can be broadly categorized into topics related to "the sky", "the Solar System", "the Galaxy", and "cosmology" is discussed. Even with the wide variety of topics in these categories, though, students may not be 100% interested in the course content, and it is almost certain that a specific topic about which a student wishes to learn is not covered. To at least partly address these issues, to appeal to all o…
The Force Concept Inventory Across Continents: Testing Q-Matrix Transferability and Cross-Cultural Differences in Mechanics Reasoning
Australian Catholic University（澳大利亚天主教大学）；Technolyceum (Ministry of Education School)（技术学院（教育部学校））；University of Johannesburg（约翰内斯堡大学）；City University Macau（澳门城市大学）；De La Salle University（德拉萨大学）
Recent releases of open-source research codes and solvers for numerically solving partial differential equations in Python present a great opportunity for educators to integrate these codes into the classroom in a variety of ways. The ease with which a problem can be implemented and solved using these codes reduce the barrier to entry for users. We demonstrate how one of these codes,FiPy, can be introduced to students through a short course using progression as the guiding philosophy. Four exercises of increasing complexity were developed. Basic concepts from more advanced numerical methods co…
