Physics Education Research at CU-Boulder




The Physics Education Research Group at CU - Boulder

Wendy Adams :: (303) 735-0627 :: wendy.adams@colorado.edu » Papers » Talks/Posters » Dissertation

Wendy is the Co-Director of PhET (Physics Education Technology Project) and the Director of Research for the CU Science Education Initiative (SEI). Previously a faculty member at the University of Northern Colorado. Her research interests include assessment instrument development – she led the development of the widely-used Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) and has recently developed the Colorado Assessment of Problem Solving. She has also done extensive research on simulation design. Her underlying motivation is to better understand how students engage in problem solving and learning. What are the specific cognitive processes used when engaged in learning and understanding?



Charles Baily :: (303) 735-0627 :: charles.baily@colorado.edu
Charlie is a doctoral candidate with a BA and MS in physics from the University of Colorado. His research interests include student understanding of measurement in quantum mechanics, and the changes in students' epistemic and ontological perspectives as they make the transition from learning classical physics to quantum physics. He is also interested in the historical interpretations of quantum theory and measurement. In his free time, he is responsible for maintaining this website...



Stephanie Chasteen :: (303) 735-0627 :: stephanie.chasteen@colorado.edu
Stephanie is a senior teaching fellow (STF) funded through the Science Education Initiative. Previously a postdoctoral fellow at the Exploratorium Museum of Science, Art, and Human Perception in San Francisco, and a freelance science writer, she is interested in engaging the public in scientific inquiry and exploring alternative methods of teaching science. She is currently working on restructuring junior-level courses in E&M.



Mike Dubson :: (303) 492-4938 :: michael.dubson@colorado.edu » Papers » Talks/Posters
Mike is a senior permanent instructor dedicated to the improvement of physics education at CU. He has studied student conceptual mastery in the upper division sequence (mechanics, E/M and quantum), is a master of the personal response ("clicker") system and its productive use. He is also a Flash programmer for PhET.



Noah Finkelstein :: (303) 735-6082 :: finkelsn@colorado.edu » Papers » Talks/Posters
Noah is an associate professor of PER in the department and creates and studies conditions which promote students' interest and ability in physics, education and the intersection of these domains. He is deeply committed to blending research, teaching, and community partnership. He is involved in the CLASS, PhET, PhysTEC, PFPF and NSF CCLI programs in the department.



Kara Gray :: (303) 735-0627 :: kara.gray@colorado.edu
Kara is currently a graduate student in the School of Education after receiving her Masters degree in physics from KSU.



Lauren Kost :: (303) 735-0458 :: Lauren.Kost@colorado.edu » Papers » Talks/Posters
Lauren is a third year graduate student working for Noah Finkelstein. She is interested in issues of gender and physics; specifically she is investigating the performance gender gap in introductory physics courses.



Laurel Mayhew :: (303) 492-8759 :: Laurel.Mayhew@colorado.edu
Laurel is a post doc working with Noah Finkelstein on the impacts of educational community partnerships on scientific expert and non expert participants. She is also the JILA Director of Outreach.



Sam McKagan :: 303-492-7815 :: mckagan@colorado.edu » Papers » Talks/Posters
Sam is a postdoc studying student understanding of quantum mechanics. Her doctorate is from the University of Washington in theoretical BEC. She arrived at CU in 2005, and her projects include designing simulations for the PhET project, writing a conceptual survey of Quantum Mechanics, and course reform and curriculum development in modern physics.



Valerie Otero :: (303) 492-7403 :: valerie.otero@colorado.edu » Papers
Valerie is an associate professor of science education in the School of Education. The focus of her research is content-specific K-16 teacher preparation which is guided by the belief that teacher preparation begins in the College of Arts and Sciences. Supporting content-based faculty in teacher preparation and course transformation is the overarching goal of her work and K12 teacher recruitment, preparation, and induction is a valuable component of this research. She is involved in the Colorado STEM-TP project, the CU PET project and the Colorado PhysTEC project.



Archie Paulson :: (303) 735-0627 :: archie.paulson@colorado.edu
Archie is a postdoc working on the research base of the PhET project and on the development of new simulations (sims). Following his Physics PhD from CU-Boulder and a Geophysics postdoc at UC-Berkeley, he began working in Physics Education Research in September, 2007. He is interested in (among other things) the creation of Physics tutorials to best exploit the innovative features of the PhET sims, what features of the sims prompt learning, and the design of new sims.



Kathy Perkins :: (303) 492-6714 :: katherine.perkins@colorado.edu » Papers » Talks/Posters
Kathy is an assistant professor in Physics. Her current research interests include: the use of interactive simulations for teaching and learning physics; students' beliefs about physics (and chemistry); and sustainable course reform.



Noah Podolefsky :: (303) 735-0627 :: podolefs@colorado.edu » Papers » Talks/Posters
Noah is a 5th year grad student working with Noah Finkelstein. His main interest is the role of analogy and metaphor in learning physics, particularly in the context of computer simulations. Noah also races road and mountain bikes on the weekends.



Steven Pollock :: (303) 492-2495 :: steven.pollock@colorado.edu » Papers » Talks/Posters
Steve, an associate professor in PER, has been described as a human electron. He is a PI on the CU PhysTEC program and the NSF CCLI project to implement Tutorials in Introductory Physics. He studies student learning in large scale classes, and the constraints and opportunities of replicating "proven" curricular practices.



Chandra Turpen:: chandra.turpen@colorado.edu » Papers » Talks/Posters
Chandra Turpen is a third year graduate student working towards her PhD in Physics at the University of Colorado. She is currently working as a research assistant in the field of Physics Education Research. She is still refining her research interests, but has done research in following areas: How do faculty practices change as they engage in using new educational technologies? Does the process of using new educational technologies impact the beliefs that faculty members have about the nature of science, and the nature of teaching and learning? What organizational factors support or impede faculty change? What is the role of the individual in departmental culture change? She has approached these research questions using mixed methodologies, namely quantitative classroom assessments and extensive qualitative data collection through participant observations of classroom practices and interviews. She has also been involved in establishing empowering outreach opporutnities for undergraduate physics students who are interested in teaching.



Carl Wieman :: (303) 492-6963 :: cwieman@jila.colorado.edu » Papers » Talks/Posters
Carl is a Distinguished Professor of Physics and is the Founder and Chairman of the PhET (Physics Education Technology Project). He also directs the Science Education Initiatives at University of Colorado (SEI) and at University of British Columbia (CWSEI) that are devoted to widespread transformation of science education. In addition to his distinguished career in atomic physics (Nobel Prize in 2001), Wieman has been active in science education and its improvement at many levels. His work has been recognized with the NSF Distinguished Teacher Scholar award, the Carnegie/CASE 2004 Professor of the Year award, and election to the National Academy of Education in 2008. He is Chair of the NAS/NRC Board on Science Education and has worked on a variety of programs at CU that have successfully transformed physics courses and faculty teaching practices.


 

Affiliates/Alumni and Visitors of the Physics Education Research Group at CU

Jack Barbera :: jack.barbera@nau.edu
Jack worked as a graduate student with Carl Wieman on Chemical Education. He modified the CLASS survey to address some chemistry specific areas and developed interactive lecture tutorials for undergraduate physical chemistry. He is currently an assistant professor in the Chemistry Department at Northern Arizona University. When not working Jack likes to ride his motorcycle FAST.



Turhan Carrol :: tkcarrol@ncsu.edu
Turhan participated as a reserach member of the PER@C during Summer 2006 through CU's REU program. Turhan's projects included studying the effects of running Tutorials in a summer session course and developing and running a summer camp for middle school students participating in the I Have a Dream Foundation programs.



Michael Fuchs :: michael.fuchs@bvsd.org
Michael Fuchs served as Teacher in Residence in the Physics Department for the 2005-2006 academic year as part of the Colorado PhysTEC program. He teaches physics at Boulder High School and continues collaborations with the PER@C group.



Danielle Harlow :: dharlow@education.ucsb.edu » Papers » Talks/Posters
Danielle completed her PhD in Science Education at CU-Boulder in 2007. Her dissertation work focused on how elementary teachers used what they learned about physics and inquiry when teaching science to K-5 students after completing a professional development course based on the Physics and Everyday Thinking (PET) curriculum. She is currently an assistant professor of science education at the University of California at Santa Barbara.



Chris Keller :: (303) 735-0627 :: christopher.keller@colorado.edu » Papers » Talks/Posters
Chris received an MS in Physics in 2006, writing a thesis on the use of PhET computer simulations in various introductory university environments. After completing his graduate work, he worked jointly with the PER group and i>clicker studying the use (and misuse) of clickers at CU to determine how clickers can be more effectively used in lecture environments. Chris is currently a curriculum developer for SEPUP (Science Education for Public Understanding Program) at the Lawrence Hall of Science and UC Berkeley.



Pat Kohl :: (303) 492-7825 :: pkohl@mines.edu » Papers » Talks/Posters
Pat graduated with a PhD in 2008 following his studies on student assessment and integration of different representations of physics content. He is currently a lecturer in the physics department at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO.



Ron LeMaster :: (303) 492-4367 :: ron.lemaster@colorado.edu » Papers » Talks/Posters
Ron was a senior software design engineer for the PhET program and was responsible for many of the cool computer simulations you see at the PhET site.



Sam Reid :: samuel.reid@colorado.edu » Papers » Talks/Posters
Sam is a graduate student in the Computer Science Department studying something to do with comptuers. He is a lead programmer in the Physics Education Technology project and has got a fine sense of humor.



Roberta Tanner :: birdtanner@comcast.net
Roberta served as Teacher in Residence for the 2006-2007 academic year as part of the Colorado PhysTEC program. She teaches physics and engineering at Loveland High School and continues to collaborate with the PER@C group.



Darren Tarshis :: Tarshis.Darren@gmail.com » Honors Thesis
Darren studied physics as an undergraduate at CU. His senior honors thesis was in PER, and researched how the hidden curriculum influences student attitudes and beliefs about science. He was introduced to teaching and education while working as a learning assistant in the applied math and physics departments, as part of the STEM program. Darren is now working to end educational inequity as a 2008 Teach For America corps member. With this program, he is teaching high school physics in Atlanta for the next two years.