Designing Effective Questions for Classroom Response System Teaching
Ian D. Beatty, William J. Gerace, Robert J. Dufresne
备注：
11 pages, including 6 figures and 2 tables. Submitted (and mostly approved) to the American Journal of Physics. Based on invited talk BL05 at the 2005 Winter Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers (Albuquerque, NM)
Classroom response systems (CRSs) can be potent tools for teaching physics. Their efficacy, however, depends strongly on the quality of the questions used. Creating effective questions is difficult, and differs from creating exam and homework problems. Every CRS question should have an explicit pedagogic purpose consisting of a content goal, a process goal, and a metacognitive goal. Questions can be engineered to fulfil their purpose through four complementary mechanisms: directing students' attention, stimulating specific cognitive processes, communicating information to instructor and students via CRS-tabulated answer counts, and facilitating the articulation and confrontation of ideas. We identify several tactics that help in the design of potent questions, and present four "makeovers" showing how these tactics can be used to convert traditional physics questions into more powerful CRS questions.
A flipped classroom was introduced in pre-service education in order to promote MM and the quality of their use in the teaching and learning process in laboratory. The course, Physics Lab Didactics, promoted active learning through the direct experience of young teachers. The flipped classroom approach was presented and discussed with the aim of clarifying the teaching process and in-training teachers were invited to explore how to implement this methodology in a class after their experience. Different open source or free software were proposed (Audacity, Algodoo, GeoGebra and Tracker) with so…
The twenty-first century is the century of encounter of the different races, nations, cultures, religions and customs. In the twenty-first century, man is more and more exposed to various influences that leave a trace on the entire sphere of his social life, including education. Given that education systems play one of the key roles in the formation of both physically and morally healthy communities, it is of an enormous importance to analyze the phenomenon of a classroom composed of culturally diverse students.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has greatly impacted all forms of social activities globally, including traditional classroom activities across all levels of instruction (kindergarten to universities). While many countries have opted for suspension of lessons, this cannot continue indefinitely and alternative means to continue lessons must be developed. While online and blended learning (including MOOCs) have been an active subject of research and discourse during the pre-pandemic days, onset of the pandemic has suddenly created an immediacy to such means of course delivery, better …
This report discusses our experience in implementing nontraditional teaching approach of General Physics and Calculus courses at Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea. We endeavour to improve the students' learning skills both inside and out-of-classroom. The teaching approach emphasizes active learning and this includes problem-based learning and guided-discovery. We also analyze the effects on and responses of the students on their learning experience.
Teaching physics in real-life contexts continues to be a challenge for teachers at different educational levels. In this article, three Context-Rich Problems are proposed to be implemented in the classroom for higher education, using the explosion that occurred in Beirut as a case study. These problems require the search and analysis of real data, integrating technologies as tools to learn physics. In particular, the analysis of images, videos, maps and audio recordings is suggested. The proposed activities are designed to promote active learning of classical mechanics subjects and the develop…
Since 1993, the University of Massachusetts Physics Education Research Group (UMPERG) has developed curriculum and pedagogic techniques for use with classroom communication systems (CCSs) and has researched the effectiveness of CCS-based teaching. This bulletin describes how CCSs can influence "interactive pedagogy" and fundamentally transform the learning process. It includes advice drawn from lessons learned through a decade of experience.
A.V. Usova (1921-2014) has always been one of the leading figures in Russian physics education. Her theory of physics concept formation was formulated during the 1970s and the 1980s and directly influenced the process of physics education in the 20th and the 21st century. Over the years there have been a lot of theories of concept formation. Her work contributed to our understanding of concept formation (learning, teaching) and the contemporary physics learning process. She formulated her original views on the problem of concept formation independently of Western researchers. She is perhaps th…
Most STEM students experience the introductory physics sequence in large-enrollment (N $\gtrsim$ 100 students) classrooms, led by one lecturer and supported by a few teaching assistants. This work describes methods and principles we used to create an effective "flipped classroom" in large- enrollment introductory physics courses by replacing a majority of traditional lecture time with in-class student-driven activity worksheets. In this work, we compare student learning in courses taught by the authors with the flipped classroom pedagogy versus a more traditional pedagogy. By comparing identic…
PhysPort (www.physport.org) has become the go-to place for physics faculty to learn to apply research-based teaching and assessment in their classrooms. Usage has doubled every two years since the site was released in 2011, and 20% of all U.S. physics faculty are now verified educators on PhysPort. The lead author conceived of PhysPort in 2007 after meeting many physics faculty interested in incorporating results of physics education research (PER) in their classrooms but with no idea where to start. At the time, most PER results were buried in research journals not accessible to ordinary phys…
When does a course count as 'inverted'? When first faced with a new teaching method, deliberate lectures may want to test it without abandoning the advantages of the established method. Aftes the experiment they have to evaluate additional benefits of the new system for teacher and student. Considering the high workload of lecturers, the help of a third party may be useful to obtain an objective assessment of the results during such a transition. At the University of Applied Sciences 'Hochschule Karlsruhe - Technik und Wirtschaft' in Germany, the SKATING project, funded by the German Federal M…
Quantum physics is considered as one of the most remarkable discoveries of contemporary physics grown during previous century and gradually manifested to the scientific world such as inventions of laser, the transistor, the electron microscope, and semiconductor. Teaching of physical science has been stressed in the National Science Education Standards (NSES) from level K-12 as well as many state science standards (Gossard, 2000). The objectives of the current study are to investigate prospective elucidation of the most common learning difficulties, insufficient teaching strategies and other s…
This paper is aimed to develop formative actions about Science Technology and Society (STS) relations in the teaching of Physics in order to integrate Act 10.639/2003, which includes African, and Afro-Brazilian history and culture in school syllabuses. Besides we also aim to overcome the challenges found in the educational system and to enable students to learn about the contributions made by African societies regarding to the Science and technology. The methodological procedure included a written questionnaire, pre- and post-test, both with the students. The results have been proven relevant …
In this paper we present in a theoretical, historical and practical way the inclusion of gravitational waves in the teaching of physics. Through the explanation of the theme through debates and experimental practices in the classroom, we discuss the presence of Modern and Contemporary Physics (MCP) in High School, presenting positive points and showing above all that students have the ability to assimilate modern physical concepts and relate them with their day by day and also to discuss the barriers to this inclusion in teaching of physics. In addition to the introductory theoretical presenta…
This is a report of a course on modern physics designed and taught to undergraduate science and engineering students in the Spring of 2013. The course, meant for freshmen, attempts to integrate statistical mechanics into non-classical physics and introduces some novel teaching ideas such as the field approach in contrast to typical wave and particle viewpoints traditionally covered in usual textbooks. The various modern applications of quantum theory in realizing practical devices are recounted in a way that is amenable to beginners. Especially, we describe the inclusion of visually appealing …
Exploring the experiences of undergraduate physics students taking a 'Teaching Physics in School' module and the effects on their intentions to become a secondary physics teacher
In this study, we explored the extent to which problems and instructional strategies affect social cohesion and interactions for information seeking in physics classrooms. Three sections of a mechanics physics course taught at a Chilean University in Coquimbo were investigated. Each section had a weekly problem-solving session using different sets of well and/or ill-structured problems (i.e., algebra-based and open-ended problems respectively), as well as instructional strategies for guiding the problem-solving sessions. Data was collected on networks of information seeking and perceptions of …
Teaching modern physics in high school is of increasingly importance as it can offer students a more realistic and updated vision of the world, and can provide an opportunity to understand the most recent scientific discoveries. In this context, General Relativity (GR) occupies a prominent place, since it is related to astonishing scientific results, such as the first image of a black hole or the discovery of gravitational waves. In this paper we describe an educational proposal aimed at teaching GR in high school in a fun and playful way using the so-called rubber sheet analogy. We present a …
In view of the difficulties encountered in science teaching, specifically in the teaching of physics, studies aim to develop methodologies that help science teaching. In this context, the present work proposes the use of the Arduino platform as a methodological tool to improve the teaching of physics in high school. For this purpose, the objective of the work was to produce physics experiments with the aid of Arduino that can be used in the classroom and thus we investigated that the experiments provided students with a dynamic and close to ideal class in physics teaching. For the development …
3D-printed experimental devices for teaching dynamical systems in physics
Instituto de Formación Docente de Salto, Consejo de Formación en Educación, ANEP（萨尔托教师培训学院，教育培养委员会，国家公共教育行政局）；Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República（理学院，共和国大学）
In this work we study the knowledge acquisition process in a teaching-learning scenario that takes place within the classroom. We explore two complementary approaches, which include classroom observations and student surveys, and the formulation of theoretical models through the use of Statistical Physics tools. We develop an analytical model and a set of dynamics agent-based models that allow us to understand global behaviors, as well as to follow individual trajectories in the knowledge acquisition process. As a proxy of the final achievements of the students we use their final grade, allowi…
Using tablets and smartphones as experimental tools in the physics classroom: effects on learning and motivation
Institute of Teacher Education, University of Geneva（日内瓦大学教师教育学院）；Univ. Lille, ULR 4072 – PSITEC – Psychologie: Interactions, Temps, Emotions, Cognition（里尔大学 PSITEC 心理学实验室（互动、时间、情绪、认知））；Department of Physics, University of Geneva（日内瓦大学物理系）
We have developed a Java-based teaching tool, "Appreciating Hubble at Hyper-speed" ($\textit{AHaH}$), intended for use by students and instructors in beginning astronomy and cosmology courses, which we have made available online. This tool lets the user hypothetically traverse the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) in three dimensions at over $\sim500\!\times\!10^{12}$ times the speed of light, from redshifts $z\!=\!0$ today to $z\!=\!6$, about 1 Gyr after the Big Bang. Users may also view the Universe in various cosmology configurations and two different geometry modes - standard geometry that in…
A priority of physics instruction is to help students make the connection between the formulae they think they are required to memorize and the real world in which they interact every day. If you ask students to describe a situation in real life involving physical principles, the most commonly cited examples will pertain to vehicular motion. One situation in real life involving physical principles is vehicle dynamics. Even students who have little interest in physics eagerly discuss problems like how much a car can decelerate travelling in a flat turn or how tricks like the Wheely can be perfo…
