Education Commons^™

Reflective Freewriting As A Strategy To Improve Pre-Service Teacher’S Physics Content Knowledge And Overall Attitude Toward Physics And Physics Teaching, Kali Ann Shoaf-Laughlin

MSU Graduate Theses

A pilot study conducted in the pre-service teacher (PST) physics classroom at Missouri State University sought to validate a tool for learning. A writing treatment, in which students were asked to participate in reflective freewriting exercises over the course of the semester was administered to one lab group. The Physics Attitude Scale was used to determine whether a positive impact was made on pre-service teacher attitudes about physics and teaching physics. Classroom exams and lab reports were used to determine whether or not aptitude was affected. This action research study used qualitative data to assess content knowledge and overall shift …

Spring 2022 Saturday Seminars Agenda, Shubha Tewari

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

No abstract provided.

Setting Empirically Informed Policy Benchmarks For Physical Science Teaching, Elizabeth B. Lewis, Ana Rivero, Lyrica L. Lucas, Aaron Musson, Brandon Helding

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

In the United States, research on beginning science teachers provides little guidance regarding empirical minimum levels of discipline-specific science coursework for sufficient subject matter knowledge to teach science. Accordingly, in this study we analyzed secondary physical science teachers' science coursework for subject matter knowledge (SMK) and resulting misconceptions of chemistry and physics concepts. Findings were compared with state-level science teacher certification policies. Participants had either: (a) completed a master's level teacher preparation program with an undergraduate degree in science, (b) completed an undergraduate teacher preparation program with a minor degree or more in science, or (c) were undergraduate students enrolled …

Environmental Topics In Physics By Inquiry Course: Integration Models Used By Physics Teachers, David A. Kimori, Gillian Roehrig

The Qualitative Report

As we approach the second quarter of the twenty-first century, one may predict the environment will be among the dominant themes in political and educational discourse. This study investigates how three physics teachers integrated environmental topics and issues in their classroom. Data collection methods including field notes taken from observations, teachers’ interviews, and a collection of artifacts and documents were used. The data were coded, analyzed, and organized into categories utilizing Fogarty’s models of curriculum integration. Findings of this study indicate teachers acknowledge the importance of teaching environmental issues in their classrooms; however, implementing and utilizing effective integration strategies and …

The Influence Of Previous Subject Experience On Interactions During Peer Instruction In An Introductory Physics Course: A Mixed Methods Analysis, Judy A. Vondruska

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Over the past decade, peer instruction and the introduction of student response systems has provided a means of improving student engagement and achievement in large-lecture settings. While the nature of the student discourse occurring during peer instruction is less understood, existing studies have shown student ideas about the subject, extraneous cues, and confidence level appear to matter in the student-student discourse. Using a mixed methods research design, this study examined the influence of previous subject experience on peer instruction in an introductory, one-semester Survey of Physics course. Quantitative results indicated students in discussion pairs where both had previous subject experience …

Let's Get Physical! Teaching Mathematics Through The Lens Of Physics, Peggy Bertrand Ph.D., Lauren Jeneva Clark Ph.D.

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Mathematics

In 2017, a professional development project, Let's Get Physical! Teaching Mathematics through the Lens of Physics, was funded by a Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) Improving Teacher Quality (ITQ) grant, and was hosted by the University of Tennessee Department of Mathematics. These proceedings contain physics-based secondary mathematics lessons that guided this project. For example, in one lesson, tracking the behavior of live insects helps students learn about displacement, velocity, geometry, and measurement. In another, dropping coffee filters helps students learn about drag, logarithms, and graphical methods. Lasers and lenses can be used to teach reflection and refraction, and one …

Strongly And Weakly Directed Approaches To Teaching Multiple Representation Use In Physics, Patrick B. Kohl, David Rosengrant, Noah D. Finkelstein

David Rosengrant

Good use of multiple representations is considered key to learning physics, and so there is considerable motivation both to learn how students use multiple representations when solving problems and to learn how best to teach problem solving using multiple representations. In this study of two large-lecture algebra-based physics courses at the University of Colorado (CU) and Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, we address both issues. Students in each of the two courses solved five common electrostatics problems of varying difficulty, and we examine their solutions to clarify the relationship between multiple representation use and performance on problems involving …

Pre-Service Physics Teachers And Physics Education Research, David Rosengrant

David Rosengrant

Training pre-service teachers requires, among other things, content knowledge, pedagogical skills and pedagogical content knowledge. Teacher preparation programs have little, if any spare time to add more courses/activities to their program. However, I argue in this paper that we, as educators, must enhance the amount of physics education research in our pre-service physics teacher training programs. In this study, I analyze the results of two different types of exposure to physics education research (PER) from two different groups of pre-service physics teachers in our masters of arts and teaching program. The preliminary results show, for example that the PER helped …

Driven By Beliefs: Understanding Challenges Physical Science Teachers Face When Integrating Engineering And Physics, Emily A. Dare, Joshua A. Ellis, Gillian H. Roehrig

Joshua A. Ellis

It is difficult to ignore the increased use of technological innovations in today’s world, which has led to various calls for the integration of engineering into K-12 science standards. The need to understand how engineering is currently being brought to science classrooms is apparent and necessary in order to address these calls for integration. This multiphase, mixed-methods study investigated the classroom practices and beliefs of high school physical science teachers following an intensive professional development on physics and engineering integration. Classroom observations showed that teachers new to incorporating engineering into their physical science classrooms often struggled to maintain focus on …

Fostering Preservice Teachers' "Nature Of Science" Understandings In A Physics Course, Ehsan Kattoula, Geeta Verma, Lisa Martin-Hansen

Geeta Verma

In this paper, the authors examine an algebra-based physics course designed for preservice teachers and explore how the course integrated two pedagogical strategies to bridge the gap between inquiry-learning experiences and the teachers' nature of science (NOS) understandings. The results of this research show that the explicit, reflective process allowed participants to examine their NOS understandings, which thereby fostered changes in their understanding.

Phys 231: Electric And Electronic Circuits—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Xiaoshan Xu

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

In this portfolio, I employed a backward design teaching approach on the course PHY231 (Electric and Electronic circuit). I first decide the course objectives and choose the teaching strategies and activities emphasizing student engagement and feedbacks. The effectiveness of the teaching strategies and activities are assessed throughout the course; the adjustments are made accordingly. The results are analyzed at the end of the semester. The assessments indicate that the course objectives are fundamentally achieved and the teaching strategies are effective.

The objectives of the course are:

1. Students will reinforce their understanding in electricity and magnetism.
2. Students will learn theory of …

Driven By Beliefs: Understanding Challenges Physical Science Teachers Face When Integrating Engineering And Physics, Emily A. Dare, Joshua A. Ellis, Gillian H. Roehrig

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

It is difficult to ignore the increased use of technological innovations in today’s world, which has led to various calls for the integration of engineering into K-12 science standards. The need to understand how engineering is currently being brought to science classrooms is apparent and necessary in order to address these calls for integration. This multiphase, mixed-methods study investigated the classroom practices and beliefs of high school physical science teachers following an intensive professional development on physics and engineering integration.

Classroom observations showed that teachers new to incorporating engineering into their physical science classrooms often struggled to maintain focus on …

Integrating Cognitive Science With Innovative Teaching In Stem Disciplines, Mark A. Mcdaniel, Regina F. Frey, Susan M. Fitzpatrick, Henry L. Roediger Iii

Books and Monographs

This volume collects the ideas and insights discussed at a novel conference, the Integrating Cognitive Science with Innovative Teaching in STEM Disciplines Conference, which was held September 27-28, 2012 at Washington University in St. Louis. With funding from the James S. McDonnell Foundation, the conference was hosted by Washington University’s Center for Integrative Research on Cognition, Learning, and Education (CIRCLE), a center established in 2011. Available for download as a PDF. Titles of individual chapters can be found at http://openscholarship.wustl.edu/circle_book/.

Does It Matter Which Citation Tool Is Used To Compare The H-Index Of A Group Of Highly Cited Researchers?, Nader Ale Ebrahim, Hadi Farhadi, Hadi Salehi, Melor Md Yunus, Arezoo Aghaei Chadegani, Maryam Farhadi, Masood Fooladi

Nader Ale Ebrahim

h-index retrieved by citation indexes (Scopus, Google scholar, and Web of Science) is used to measure the scientific performance and the research impact studies based on the number of publications and citations of a scientist. It also is easily available and may be used for performance measures of scientists, and for recruitment decisions. The aim of this study is to investigate the difference between the outputs and results from these three citation databases namely Scopus, Google Scholar, and Web of Science based upon the h-index of a group of highly cited researchers (Nobel Prize winner scientist). The purposive sampling method …

Pre-Service Physics Teachers And Physics Education Research, David Rosengrant

Faculty and Research Publications

Training pre-service teachers requires, among other things, content knowledge, pedagogical skills and pedagogical content knowledge. Teacher preparation programs have little, if any spare time to add more courses/activities to their program. However, I argue in this paper that we, as educators, must enhance the amount of physics education research in our pre-service physics teacher training programs. In this study, I analyze the results of two different types of exposure to physics education research (PER) from two different groups of pre-service physics teachers in our masters of arts and teaching program. The preliminary results show, for example that the PER helped …

Dr. Skateboard’S Action Science: Increasing Science Knowledge And Skills For Middle School Teachers, William H. Robertson

William H. Robertson

Dr. Skateboard’s Action Science maps to the physical science Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS) standards that all middle school students need to learn. Dr. Skateboard’s Action Science explores scientific concepts in a curriculum supplement that is designed to address both physical science content and process skills. The video instruction focuses on fundamental concepts found in the areas of motion, forces, Newton’s Laws of Motion, and simple machines. The use of familiar activities, situations and objects, such as skateboarding and bicycle motocross (BMX), around which students can explore and explain scientific concepts can be defined as action science. The main …

Dr. Skateboard’S Action Science, William Robertson

William H. Robertson

Dr. Skateboard’s Action Science is designed to incorporate both a four part Video Series and an accompanying activity booklet that focuses on concepts in physical science that integrates both skateboarding and BMX. Dr. Skateboard’s Action Science explores concepts suitable for middle grade (4-8) students in a curriculum that is designed to address both the objectives and enduring knowledge of physical science in content and process skills for both the National Science Standards and Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). The video instruction provides the teacher with a series of instructional hooks and content information that can be used to explore …

Math In/And Physics [11th-12th Grade], Penny Whetstone

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit is written to be taught during the first two weeks of the physics course. In any physics course, from conceptual physics up through graduate studies, there is a unique and significant dependence on the mathematical concepts and skills required to succeed in the course. A keen understanding of mathematics, as well as knowing how to apply the tools, is an important piece of the physics course. Math in/and Physics is designed to answer the question, “If this is a physics class, why do I have to do so much math?” The goals of this unit are designed to …

Strongly And Weakly Directed Approaches To Teaching Multiple Representation Use In Physics, Patrick B. Kohl, David Rosengrant, Noah D. Finkelstein

Faculty and Research Publications

Good use of multiple representations is considered key to learning physics, and so there is considerable motivation both to learn how students use multiple representations when solving problems and to learn how best to teach problem solving using multiple representations. In this study of two large-lecture algebra-based physics courses at the University of Colorado (CU) and Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, we address both issues. Students in each of the two courses solved five common electrostatics problems of varying difficulty, and we examine their solutions to clarify the relationship between multiple representation use and performance on problems involving …

Using Analogies To Improve The Teaching Performance Of Preservice Teachers, Mark C. James, Lawrence C. Scharmann

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Abstract: Prior research in both education and cognitive science has identified analogy making as a powerful tool for explanation as well as a fundamental mechanism for facilitating an individual’s construction of knowledge. While a considerable body of research exists focusing on the role analogy plays in learning science concepts, relatively little is known about how instruction in the use of analogies might influence the teaching performance of preservice teachers. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between pedagogical analogy use and pedagogical reasoning ability in a sample of preservice elementary teachers (PTs), a group that …

Synecdoche And Surprise: Transdisciplinary Knowledge Production, Anne Dalke, Elizabeth Mccormack

Literatures in English Faculty Research and Scholarship

Using contemporary insights from feminist critical theory and the literary device of synecdoche, we argue that transdisciplinary knowledge is productive because it maximizes serendipity. We draw on student learning experiences in a course on “Gender and Science” to illustrate how the dichotomous frameworks and part-whole correspondences that are predominant in much disciplinary discourse must be dismantled for innovative intellectual work to take place. In such a process, disciplinary presumptions interrogate and unsettle one another to produce novel questions and answers.

Engagement Enhance Interest In Physics, Harcharan Pardhan

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

How We Think About And Prepare To Teach Physics, Dewey I. Dykstra

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We have been preparing physics teachers in the same manner for many decades. Yet, physics education research reveals for some observers disturbing evidence of little or no change in understanding the phenomena occurs as a direct result of physics instruction from elementary school through the college years. The apparent compatibility between these learning results and prevailing paradigm enables the construction of a description the paradigm. If it can be demonstrated that there is even just one alternative paradigm from which powerful alternative pedagogical practice is derived, are we not obligated to change how we prepare to teach physics?