Adapting to a Changing World Challenges and Opportunities in Undergraduate Physics Education (2013) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 82-106
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From page 82... ...
In this future, more students, especially women and minorities underrepresented in physics, will decide to major in physics and teach others about it. The major result of this committee's deliberations, expressed in more detail in the recommendations below, is that the physics community pursue this vision by making significant changes in undergraduate physics education that are grounded in scientific evidence.
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From page 83... ...
education researchers should focus some of their efforts on critical areas, including improving fundamental understanding of learn ing and instruction and developing and disseminating improved assessment tools and instructional methods and materials. • Professional societies should emphasize the importance of education research and play a major role in the dissemination of its results, recogniz ing those who successfully improve instruction.
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From page 84... ...
Educational change has historically begun with the dedicated efforts of a single faculty member who realizes the status quo is inadequate and decides to take action. Frequently, it is a motivated individual who realizes that students are not learning as intended and has heard about novel physics pedagogies or assess ment instruments or has attended a workshop or meeting on physics education research.
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From page 85... ...
Many research-based assessment instruments are readily accessible. Commonly used instruments for measuring conceptual understanding in an introductory physics course include the Force Concept Inventory and the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism.
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From page 86... ...
Departmental leadership should review and implement appropriate ideas from relevant reports. 1 Note that "department leadership" is used in this section to indicate the chair or head of the physics department, or of the physics and astronomy department, the head of the science faculty unit, and so on.
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From page 87... ...
, known as the SPIN-UP report, was the result of an intensive study of how some undergraduate programs thrived in a period of falling enrollments nationally. • Strategic Programs for Innovations in Undergraduate Physics at Two-Year Col leges: Best Practices of Physics Program (Monroe et al., 2005)
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From page 88... ...
• Society of Physics Students:3 W e advocate that every student majoring in physics and/or astronomy engage in a mean ingful undergraduate research experience. • Council on Undergraduate Research Statement, Physics and Astronomy Division:4 W e call upon this Nation's physics and astronomy departments to provide, as an element of best practice, all undergraduate physics and astronomy majors a significant research experience.
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From page 89... ...
. This group should utilize education research findings in their deliberations.
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From page 90... ...
Ideas and methods for improving undergraduate education are being refined continuously. In just the same way that scientific research requires continual renewal, faculty and staff members must be exposed to new ideas in order to imple ment incremental changes to the department's programs.
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From page 91... ...
Today, it has become a centralized and recommended repository for outcomes of NSF-sponsored physics educational resources, collections of materials from joint society projects like the hysics Teacher Education P Coalition, and indexed databases of items with topics ranging from summer research opportuni ties for undergraduate students to results from physics education research groups. The most popular of ComPADRE's assets is its online physics tutorial/textbook that aver ages more than 1.8 million visits each month during the school year.
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From page 92... ...
Academic administrators should encourage faculty groups to seek improvement and should reward faculty and departments that are successful at implementing positive changes. General university support for improvements in the teaching and learning of physics is essential both for departmental programs and for maintaining or improv ing an institution's educational reputation.
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From page 93... ...
• Emphasize that undergraduate student learning is part of the core academic mission and devote adequate resources to educational models shown by research to improve student outcomes, even if these models are not the least expensive available. Also assume an appropriate share of responsibility for the improvement of K-12 science and mathematics education, for example, by supporting disciplinary faculty in the preparation of high school teachers or the science and mathematics education of elementary school teachers.
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From page 94... ...
While most physics education researchers are faculty in physics departments, some debate continues about whether this is the proper home for physics education research (PER)
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From page 95... ...
To the extent that education research has a home in most universities, it is almost always entirely located within schools of education, institutionally sequestered from the disciplines, and focused on pre-college education. The situation hinders PER specialists who are in colleges of education and may have specific research interests that only tangentially connect to those of their colleagues.
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From page 96... ...
Funding agencies should support positive change at all levels and should support fundamental educational research, development, adoption, and dissemination. Funding agencies play a critical role in supporting research, development, and dissemination of innovations in undergraduate physics education.
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From page 97... ...
Physics education research remains critical to advancing our understanding of the learning processes necessary for advances in undergraduate physics educa tion. This research should continue to be supported by NSF Directorates of Math and Physical Sciences (MPS)
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From page 98... ...
methods and PER-based materials can help them build a relevant educational component for their research projects so that they have a broader impact on the formal or informal education of broad and diverse populations of learners. NSF's Broader Impacts criterion for evaluating proposals provides a unique opportunity to influence how researchers work to improve undergraduate physics education.
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From page 99... ...
Funding agencies should support experimentation with novel methods of dissemination and adop tion and sustaining good practices. As an example, they might encourage collabora tion between education researchers and open educational resource organizations such as the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources.3 National and regional workshops, such as the Workshop for New Physics and Astronomy Faculty (see Chapter 2 and Henderson, 2008)
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From page 100... ...
Detailed Recommendations for Education Researchers Recommendation E1. Researchers should develop instruments to include all components of expert physics learning, including physics reasoning, problem solving, experimental practices, effective study habits and attitudes, and other capabilities important for a good education.
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From page 101... ...
Recommendation E4. Researchers should apply physics education research more extensively to upper division courses.
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From page 102... ...
PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES Key Recommendation F Professional societies should emphasize the importance of education research and play a major role in the dissemination of its results, recognizing those who successfully improve instruction.
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From page 103... ...
Regular gatherings of departmental leaders and faculty are needed to discuss our changing understanding of undergraduate physics education and to help faculty understand how to effectively implement improvements. These efforts should include department chairs and directors of undergraduate education, new faculty, and faculty who are working to improve courses or components of a p hysics curriculum.
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From page 104... ...
Peer-reviewed publication venues to disseminate knowledge are necessary for recognizing the significance of physics education research among academic physicists. Beyond the traditional publications, such as Physical Review Special Topics -- Physics Education Research and the American Journal of Physics, appropri ate education research articles should be published in journals, such as Physical Review Letters and Reviews of Modern Physics, that are read by the community at large, as well as in "magazine-style" publications like The Physics Teacher and Physics Today, where several important articles have appeared.
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From page 105... ...
Physical Review Special Topics -- Physics Education Research 2(1)
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From page 106... ...
Pp. 211-214 in 2011 Physics Education Research Conference.
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