The Physics Education Research Group at CU - Boulder
Marcos "Danny"
Caballero :: (303) 492-6956 :: marcos.caballero@colorado.edu
Danny is a post-doctoral researcher involved in the transformation of sophomore and junior level Classical Mechanics courses taught at the University of Colorado. He completed his PhD work in the Physics Education Research group at Georgia Institute of Technology. His research interests include understanding student difficulties in complex problem solving, developing students' computational modeling skills and the epistemological underpinnings of skill acquisition. His website is http://spot.colorado.edu/~maca5373.
Julia Chamberlain:: (303) 492-8707 :: julia.m.chamberlain@colorado.edu
Julia is a postdoc with the PhET project, researching and designing simulations for college and high school chemistry. Her research interests include using interactive simulations to address student difficulties in general chemistry, as well as implementation of inquiry learning with simulations in classroom settings. Before joining the PhET Team, Julia studied solid state inorganic chemistry at Northwestern University, synthesizing new materials for lithium ion batteries in medical devices.
Stephanie
Chasteen :: (303) 735-0627 :: stephanie.chasteen@colorado.edu
» Papers
Stephanie is a science teaching fellow (STF) funded through the Science Education Initiative. She is currently finishing work on restructuring junior-level courses in E&M. She is also creating videos and workshops to disseminate educational research and techniques (such as "clickers") to faculty and K12 audiences. 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 creating effective teacher professional development programs through her consultant work. Her website and blog are at sciencegeekgirl.com.
Melissa
Dancy :: (303) 735-0458 :: melissa.dancy@colorado.edu
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 a 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 :: kara.gray@colorado.edu
Kara is currently a graduate student in the School of Education after receiving her Masters degree in physics from
Kansas State University.
Katie Hinko :: (303) 492-0869 :: kathleen.hinko@colorado.edu
Katie is a post-doctoral researcher studying the impacts of educational community partnerships on both K-12 students and the university scientists that participate in such programs. She is the JILA Director of Outreach and heads the PISEC after-school program. Her PhD work at the University of Texas at Austin was in biophysics.
Ed Johnsen :: edmond.johnsen@colorado.edu
Ed holds a BS in Physics from Colorado State which led to his work as a professional math and physics tutor before he accepted a position editing and developing math and physics content for charter schools. Ed’s current passion is Education Technology implementation and development with a focus on a Complete Education Framework intended to unite education research, policy, and practice.
Heather Lewandowski::lewandoh@colorado.edu
» Papers
Heather is an associate professor of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics and PER in the department and a JILA Fellow. Her research interests include interactions of cold molecules and using a research-based approach to transforming physics lab courses particularly at the advanced undergraduate level (NSF TUES).
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.
Ariel Paul :: (303) 492-8707 :: ariel.paul@colorado.edu
Ariel is a post-doctoral researcher with the PhET program focusing on developing sims for middle school age students as well as researching effective activity design/templates for integrating sims with middle school curriculum. During his graduate work at JILA, he studied enhancement of EUV light produced via high harmonic generation and its applications to coherent lensless diffractive imaging. Before joining the PhET program, he spent three years completing an apprenticeship as an Instrument Maker for the JILA Instrument Shop.
Kathy
Perkins :: (303) 492-6714 :: katherine.perkins@colorado.edu
» Papers
» Talks/Posters
Kathy is Director of the PhET Interactive Simulations Project and Director of CU’s Science Education Initiative. She is also an Associate Professor Attendant Rank in Physics, specializing in PER. Her work in science education research has focused on: pedagogically-effective design and use of interactive simulations; sustainable course reform; students' beliefs about science; and institutional change. Before arriving at CU, she was trained as an experimental physicist and atmospheric scientist at Harvard University, and transitioned to physics education research in January 2003 as a post-doctoral researcher with Carl Wieman.
Noah
Podolefsky :: (303) 735-0627 :: podolefs@colorado.edu
» Papers
» Talks/Posters
» Dissertation
Noah is a postdoc working on the PhET project designing and researching
computer simulations. He received his PhD in physics from CU-Boulder in
2008, specializing in physics education research. His dissertation was
on theoretical and empirical studies of analogy and representations in
teaching and learning physics. He continues to consider the application
of his dissertation work in the design of computer simulations and
analyzing their use by students learning physics.
Steven
Pollock :: (303) 492-2495 :: steven.pollock@colorado.edu
» Papers
» Talks/Posters
Steve, a professor in PER, has been described by his students as a human electron. He has implemented "Tutorials in Introductory Physics" at CU, supporting and investigating TA and Learning Assistants' pedagogical development (NSF LATEST). He is actively involved in studying student learning in large and small scale classes (NSF CCLI), including the constraints and opportunities of replicating "proven" curricular practices, and extending educational models to the upper division.
Mike
Ross :: 2mikeross@gmail.com
Mike is a former high school physics teacher and graduate student in the School of Education. He has taught teacher education courses with CU Teach and currently works in the Otero Lab on the Streamline to Mastery project, a teacher-driven professional development innovation. Mike was driven from teaching to graduate studies by the realization that our school systems are woefully underserving large segments of our student population, and he is currently researching curricular innovation as a means to address the racial achievement gap.
Benjamin
Spike :: (303)492-8759 :: benjamin.spike@colorado.edu
Ben is a graduate student with a BS in physics and mathematics from the University of Wisconsin. His research is centered
on the beliefs and practices of physics recitation instructors (Teaching Assistants and Learning Assistants), as well as the
professional and pedagogical development of TAs and LAs. Ben is the graduate co-director of the PFP program at CU.
Ben
Van Dusen :: benjamin.vandusen@colorado.edu
Ben is a second year PER graduate student in the Otero Lab. He is currently working on the Streamline to Mastery project and is beginning his research on iPad integration in the high school physics classroom.
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.
Bethany Wilcox :: Bethany.Wilcox@colorado.edu
Bethany is a graduate student in the physics department. Her current research interests include understanding student difficulties in upper-division physics courses as well as refining and developing reformed curricula to address these difficulties.
Benjamin
Zwickl :: (303) 492-6956 :: benjamin.zwickl@colorado.edu » Papers
Ben is a science teaching fellow (STF) funded through the Science Education Initiative, JILA, and an NSF-TUES grant (PI Heather Lewandowski, Physics/JILA). He is continuing a tradition of upper-division research-based course transformations at CU by focusing his efforts on the senior-level optics and modern physics lab. He is excited to combine his enthusiasm for education and teaching with his experimental experience in cavity optomechanics in Jack Harris's lab at Yale.
Affiliates/Alumni and Visitors of the Physics Education Research Group at CU
Wendy
Adams :: (303) 735-0627 :: wendy.adams@colorado.edu
» Papers
» Talks/Posters
» Dissertation
Wendy was 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 included assessment instrument development – she led the development of the widely-used Colorado Learning
Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) and developed the Colorado Assessment of Problem Solving. She had also
done extensive research on simulation design. Her underlying motivation was 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 :: charles.baily@colorado.edu
» Papers » Dissertation
Charlie was a post-doctoral researcher involved with the ongoing transformation of upper-division Electricity & Magnetism courses taught at the University of Colorado. His graduate studies at CU focused on the changes in students' epistemic and ontological perspectives as they make the transition from learning classical physics to learning quantum physics; and the impact on student thinking of varying instructional approaches with respect to interpretive themes in modern physics courses. He is also interested in the historical development of quantum mechanics, and its various physical interpretations.
Jack
Barbera :: Jack.Barbera@unco.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 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the
University of Northern Colorado. When not working Jack likes to ride his motorcycle FAST.
Turhan
Carrol :: tkcarrol@ncsu.edu
Turhan participated as a research 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.
Steven
Goldhaber
Steve was a senior teaching fellow (STF) funded through the Science Education Initiative. Steve brought a diverse
background (high energy particle theory, high performance computing, teaching high school physics) to the PER group
where he worked to help improve student learning in upper-division quantum mechanics.
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 :: » 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 :: pkohl@mines.edu
» Papers
» Talks/Posters
» Dissertation
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.
Lauren
Kost-Smith :: Lauren.Kost@colorado.edu
» Papers
» Talks/Posters
Lauren received her PhD in physics in 2011. Her graduate work focused on modeling gender differences in the introductory, calculus-based physics courses at CU. She is currently enrolled as a master's student in Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy working towards secondary science teacher certification.
Ron
LeMaster :: 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.
Laurel
Mayhew :: Laurel.Mayhew@colorado.edu
Laurel was a post doc working with Noah Finkelstein on the impacts of educational community partnerships
on scientific expert and non expert participants. She was also the JILA Director of Outreach.
Sam
McKagan :: sam.mckagan@gmail.com
» Papers
» Talks/Posters
Sam was a postdoc at CU from 2005 to 2008, working on student understanding of quantum mechanics. Her
projects at CU included designing simulations for the PhET project, writing a conceptual survey of Quantum Mechanics,
and course reform and curriculum development in modern physics. She is now the editor of the PER User's Guide, a
project to help increase awareness of physics education research among physics educators.
Archie
Paulson
Archie was a postdoc from 2007 - 2009 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.
Rachel Pepper :: rachel.pepper@colorado.edu
Rachel was a science teaching fellow (STF) funded through the Science Education Initiative, working to understand student difficulties in junior-level E&M and developing and validating transformed course materials for this course. Her website is spot.colorado.edu/~pepperr.
Danny Rehn:: daniel.rehn@colorado.edu » Honors Thesis
Danny is a 2011 graduate of the University of Colorado with a B.S. in Engineering Physics. His research focuses on student use of computer simulations in a variety of environments, and specifically addresses the question of how to integrate assignments with simulations. His work resulted in an honors thesis that provided a list of "heuristics" to follow when creating assignments, as well as a framework for how those heuristics can be implemented within different contexts. In addition to his research on computer simulations, Danny has been involved in other education outreach programs, including PISEC, MESA, math tutoring, CU tutoring, and Computers to Youth.
Sam
Reid :: samuel.reid@colorado.edu
» Papers
» Talks/Posters
Sam is a graduate student in the Computer Science Department studying something
to do with computers. 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.
Chandra
Turpen :: chandra.turpen@colorado.edu
» Papers
» Talks/Posters
» CV
Chandra Turpen was a graduate research assistant in the field of Physics Education Research working towards a PhD in Physics. She wrote her dissertation for graduation in May 2010. Her dissertation addressed the following research questions: As physics instructors engage in using new educational technologies, such as Peer Instruction and Tutorials in Introductory Physics, how are classroom practices altered? Does the use of new educational technologies impact how faculty members talk about the nature of teaching and learning physics? What institutional and departmental changes support or impede course transformation? She 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 was also involved in establishing empowering outreach opportunities for undergraduate physics students who are interested in teaching.