Role of PER in a Thriving Physics Department - Viewing Learning through the Lens of Physics

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Role of PER in a Thriving Physics Department
-Viewing Learning through the Lens of Physics
Our PER group 2 faculty 1 physics 1
education 1 post doc 3 graduate students 1
teacher-in-residence Visiting scholars Etc.
Ken Heller School of Physics and
Astronomy University of Minnesota
20 year continuing effort to improve
undergraduate education with contributions
by Many faculty and graduate students of U of M
Physics Department In collaboration with U of M
Physics Education Group
Details at http//groups.physics.umn.edu/physed/
Supported in part by Department of Education
(FIPSE), NSF, and the University of Minnesota
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Outline for Discussion

• What can PER do for your department.
• Examples

Are we a thriving department?

• Number of majors increased from about 15/yr to
  about 50/yr
• We are maxed out
• Instructional budget is protected by the Dean
  through numerous budget cuts
• Adequate funding for undergraduate program
  improvements both internal and external
• We have large improvements to make we can do
  better.
• Improve the number of female majors
• Better measure of problem solving
• Modernize the curriculum
• More organized undergraduate research

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All Physics Departments Teach The Same
Meta-stable Specific Changes
Stable Better Implementation
Stable Systemic Changes
Research-based Instructional System
Individual Effort
Departmental Commitment
Large continuous effort Easily returns to ground
state
Small continuous effort Stable against small
changes Can jump to ground state
Small continuous effort Stable against change Can
decay to ground state
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PER Helps Initiate Change

• Dont try to invent a perpetual motion machine.
• Good educational practice, like good science is
  often counter-intuitive
• Fundamental Principles (Causality, Unitarity,
  Lorentz Invariance)
• Theory (Electricity and Magnetism described by
  Maxwells equations)
• Empirical rules (Ohms law)
• Educational change has a long history
• Many things are known not to work
• We even know why they dont work
• Learning is a biological process, teaching is the
  action that helps people implement that process.
• Neural science and cognitive psychology set
  boundary conditions
• Teaching is the manipulation of the learning
  environment
• Assessing change
• What is an appropriate measure?
• Establishing a baseline

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PER Helps Implement Change

• Arrive at reasonable goals
• Getting information from stakeholders
• What changes are easy
• What changes are hard
• Identify minimum necessary changes
• Incremental or dive in
• Recognition that improvement takes time
• Measurement and baseline data
• Change initially degrades performance

performance
time
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PER Helps Sustain Change

• A Physics Department is not a closed system
• Inputs from Administration, Government, Parents,
  Students
• Initiatives to embrace
• Initiatives to ignore
• Initiatives to resist
• Finances are important what to cut?
• Faculty time is important effort balance
• Meaningful change is not initially popular
• Understand dynamics of natural human resistance
• To identify and tweak the parameters requires
  measurements
• Countering entropy increase requires an energy
  input
• Identify when system is degrading
• Initiate corrective action

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PER Enriches the Intellectual Environment

• Research into learning from a physics point of
  view
• Education
• Cognitive psychology
• Neural science
• Measurement
• Quantitative appropriate statistics
• Qualitative
• Question the frozen curriculum
• Awareness of the field
• Build on other peoples progress
• Research opportunities for students
• Opportunities for outside collaboration
• Opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration

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Phenomenological Learning Theory Apprenticeship
Works
Pedagogy - Learning is a Biological Process
Cognitive Apprenticeship
Learning in the environment of expert practice

• Why it is important
• How it is used
• How is it related to a students existing
  knowledge

Neurons that fire together, wire together
Simplification of Hebbian theory Hebb, D (1949).
The organization of behavior. New York Wiley.
Collins, Brown, Newman (1990)
Brain MRI from Yale Medical School
Neuron image from Ecole Polytechnique Lausanne
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Pedagogy Cooperative Group Problem Solving
Four hours/week, sometimes with informal
cooperative groups. Model constructing knowledge
in response to problems, model organized problem
solving framework.
LECTURES
One hour each Thursday cooperative groups
practice using a problem-solving framework to
solve context-rich problems. Peer coaching, TA
coaching.
RECITATIONSECTION
Two hours/week -- same cooperative groups
practice using a framework to solve context-rich
experimental problems. Same TA. Peer coaching,
TA coaching.
LABORATORY
4 quizzes/semester on Friday -- problem-solving
conceptual questions (2 problems, 10 multiple
choice) (1 group problem in previous discussion
section).
TESTS
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Scaffolding
Additional structure used to support the
construction of a complex structure. Removed as
the structure is built
Examples of Scaffolding in teaching Introductory
Physics

• An explicit problem solving framework -
  continually modeled
• A worksheet that structures the framework
  removed early in the course
• Cooperative group structure that encourages
  productive group interactions
• Limit use of formulas by giving an equation
  sheet (only allowed equations)
• Explicit grading rubric for problem solutions to
  encourage expert-like behavior
• Problems that discourage novice problem solving
• Explicit grading rubric for lab problems to
  encourage expert-like behavior
• TA education and support in pedagogy

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Problem-solving FrameworkUsed by experts in all
fields
G. Polya, 1945
Chi, M., Glaser, R., Rees, E. (1982)
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Problem Solving Worksheet used at the beginning
of the course
Page 1
Page 2
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Individual Context- Rich Problem on an Exam
Your task is to design an artificial joint to
replace arthritic elbow joints in patients.
After healing, the patient should be able to hold
at least a gallon of milk while the lower arm is
horizontal. The biceps muscle is attached to the
bone at the distance 1/6 of the bone length from
the elbow joint, and makes an angle of 80o with
the horizontal bone. How strong should you design
the artificial joint if you assume the weight of
the bone is negligible.
Gives a motivation allows some students to
access their mental connections. Gives a
realistic situation allows some students to
visualize the situation. Does not give a picture
students must practice visualization. Uses the
character you allows some students to
visualize the situation.
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Coaching With Cooperative Groups
Having Students Work Together in Structured Groups

• Positive Interdependence
• Face-to-Face Interaction
• Individual Accountability
• Explicit Collaborative Skills
• Group Functioning Assessment

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Retention
Change from quarters to semesters
quarters
semesters
Dropout rate to 6, F/D rate to 3 in all classes
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Student Problem Solutions
Initial State
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06
07
94
95
96
97
98
99
00
01
02
03
04
05
08
93
Each letter represents a different professor (37
different ones)

• Incoming student scores are slowly rising
  (better high school preparation)
• Our standard course (CGPS) achieves average FCI
  70
• Our best practices course achieves average FCI
  80
• Not executing any cooperative group procedures
  achieves average FCI 50

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Students are getting better from high school
There is a gender gap in conceptual performance
from high school
Males do better.
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About 90 of males and 85 females have had at
least high school physics
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There is a slight gender gap in math skills from
high school
Females do slightly better.
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Gap 13.0
1.2
Gender gap is there no matter what high school
physics preparation.
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Gap 13.0
1.7
Gender gap persists no matter what high school
physics preparation.
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CEILING EFFECT
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Males and females gain the same amount from the
class.
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Males and females do about as well in the course.
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Males do slightly better in the course final exam
problems.
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Identify Critical Failure Points
Fail Gracefully Non-optimal implementation gives
some success

• Inappropriate Tasks
• Must engage all group members (not just one who
  knows how to do it)
• 2. Inappropriate Grading
• Must not penalize those who help others (no
  grading on the curve)
• Must reward for individual learning
• 3. Poor structure and management of Groups

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Building A Course

• Teach Students an Organizational Framework
• Emphasize decisions using physics
• Rule-based mathematics
• Use Problems that Require
• An organized framework
• Physics conceptual knowledge
• Connection to existing knowledge
• Use Existing Course Structure
• Lectures and handouts MODELING
• Discussion Sections COACHING
• Labs COACHING
• Scaffolding to Support Problem Solving

Peer
Instructor
Modeling
Coaching
Fading
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CGPS Propagates Through the Department

• Goals Calculus-based Course (88 engineering
  majors) 1993
• 4.5 Basic principles behind all physics
• 4.5 General qualitative problem solving skills
• 4.4 General quantitative problem solving skills
• 4.2 Apply physics topics covered to new
  situations
• 4.2 Use with confidence

Goals Biology Majors Course 2003 4.9 Basic
principles behind all physics 4.4 General
qualitative problem solving skills 4.3 Use
biological examples of physical principles 4.2
Overcome misconceptions about physical world 4.1
General quantitative problem solving
skills 4.0 Real world application of mathematical
concepts and techniques
Upper Division Physics Major Courses
2002 Analytic Mechanics Electricity
Magnetism Quantum Mechanics
Graduate Courses 2007 Quantum Mechanics
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The End
Please visit our website for more information
http//groups.physics.umn.edu/physed/
The best is the enemy of the good.
"le mieux est l'ennemi du bien"
Voltaire