Papers

A Longitudinal Study of the Impact of Curriculum on Conceptual Understanding in E&M
S. J. Pollock
to be published in the Proceedings of the 2007 Physics Education Research Conference
This paper shows that 1) conceptual learning is retained, 2) a better conceptual foundation is established in introductory courses by proven pedagogical methods and activities, and 3) students with a better foundation in intro courses do somewhat better on high level quantitative problem solving.

Clickers in the Large Classroom: Current Research and Best-Practice Tips
Jane E. Caldwell
CBE—Life Sciences Education, 6(1), pp. 9-20 (2007).
A good review of research on clicker use, particularly in the context of teaching in the life sciences, including a set of guidelines for writing good questions and a list of best-practice tips.

Assessment of the Effects of Student Response Systems on Student Learning and Attitudes over a Broad Range of Biology Courses
Ralph W. Preszler, Angus Dawe, Charles B. Shuster, and Michèle Shuster
CBE—Life Sciences Education, 6(1), pp. 29-41 (2007).
A study demonstrating that students have favorable opinions about the use of student response systems, and increased use of these systems increases student learning.

Peer Instruction: Engaging Students One-on-One, All At Once
Catherine H. Crouch, Jessica Watkins, Adam P. Fagen, and Eric Mazur
Research-Based Reform of University Physics, 1 (1) (2007).
This is a thorough article that covers techniques of peer instruction, design principles and practices, and lots of data on results.

A Study of Educational Simulations Part I - Engagement and Learning; Part II - Interface Design
W. K. Adams, S. Reid, R. LeMaster, S. B. McKagan, K. K. Perkins, and C. E. Wieman
Journal of Interactive Learning Research, in press
A thorough study of design and testing of interactive simulations, describing the PhET design process, what features are effective for engaging students in educationally productive interactions, and the underlying principles which support empirically developed guidelines. In part II, they describe in detail the design features used to create an intuitive simulation for students to use.

Effectiveness of different tutorial recitation teaching methods and its implications for TA training
Kathleen M. Koenig, Robert J. Endorf, and Gregory A. Braun
Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research V. 3, 010104 (2007).
A comparative study of student understanding for students who attended recitation classes that used different teaching methods.

Evaluating an electricity and magnetism assessment tool: Brief electricity and magnetism assessment
Lin Ding, Ruth Chabay, Bruce Sherwood, and Robert Beichner
Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research, V. 2, 010105 (2006).
A good example of what is involved in developing a concept test.

The Expert Mind
Philip E. Ross
Scientific American, V. 295, Issue 2, pp. 64-71 (August 2006).
This article discusses research aimed at discovering how individuals become experts within their respective fields through the examination of chess masters and their mental processes.

Designing effective questions for classroom response system teaching
Ian D. Beatty, William J. Gerace, William J. Leonard, and Robert J. Dufresne
American Journal of Physics, V. 74, N. 1, pp. 31-39 (2006).
This is a good paper discussing different types of clicker questions and the cognitive processes they can tie into.

New instrument for measuring student beliefs about physics and learning physics: The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey
W. K. Adams, K. K. Perkins, N. S. Podolefsky, M. Dubson, N. D. Finkelstein, and C. E. Wieman
Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research V. 2, 010101 (2006).
This paper describes the development and validation of the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) instrument designed to measure student beliefs about physics and about learning physics.

Evaluating multiple-choice exams in large introductory physics courses
Michael Scott, Tim Stelzer, and Gary Gladding
Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research V. 2, 020102 (2006).
This paper compares multiple choice exams created collectively by a group of involved faculty members with results of corresponding open ended exams. Study shows the different forms of the exam provide the essentially the same result.

Grading student problem solutions: The challenge of sending a consistent message
Charles Henderson, Edit Yerushalmi, Vince H. Kuo, Patricia Heller, and Kenneth Heller
American Journal of Physics, V. 72, N. 2, pp. 164-169 (2004).
This describes a study testing how 30 instructors independently graded the same open ended exam solutions. The study shows two things, 1) how variable the marking is for open ended exam questions, and 2) how an instructors’ marking can be inconsistent with what they say they value in student learning.

Teaching Mineralogy from the Core to the Crust
Barbara Dutrow
Journal of Geoscience Education, V. 52, N. 1, pp. 81-86 (2004).
This is about teaching mineralogy using the layers of the Earth as a framework (starting at the core where things are “simple,” moving outwards, etc.). This is different approach; its usually taught by mineral families which does not give an intuitive framework for beginners.

Classroom demonstrations: Learning tools or entertainment?
Catherine H. Crouch, Adam P. Fagen, J. Paul Callan, and Eric Mazur
American Journal of Physics, V. 72, N. 6, pp. 835-838 (2004).
This study compared student learning from different modes of presenting classroom demonstrations. They find that students who passively observe demonstrations understand the underlying concepts no better than students who do not see the demonstration at all. Students who predict the demonstration outcome before seeing it, however, display significantly greater understanding.

Another reason that physics students learn by rote
Andrew Elby
American Journal of Physics, V. 67, Issue S1, pp. S52-S57 (1999).
This paper describes the results of a survey indicating that students perceive "trying to understand physics well" to be a significantly different activity from "trying to do well in the course."

Why May Students Fail to Learn from Demonstrations? A Social Practice Perspective on Learning in Physics
Wolff-Michael Roth, Campbell J. McRobbie, Keith B. Lucas, and Sylvie Boutonné
Journal of Research in Science Teaching, V. 34, N. 5, pp. 509–533 (1997).
This study was designed to find out why students may fail to learn from classroom demonstrations.

Learning Styles: A Critique
Michael Reynolds
Management Learning, 28, 2, pp. 115-133 (1997).
A critique of learning style theory from a critical education perspective.

On the Relative Value of Multiple-Choice, Constructed Response, and Examinee-Selected Items on Two Achievement Tests
Robert Lukhele, David Thissen, and Howard Wainer
Journal of Educational Measurement, V. 31, N. 3, pp. 234-250 (1994).
Very extensive and detailed analysis of advanced placement exams, with particular emphasis on chemistry, looking at comparison of multiple choice and open ended sections. They show that multiple choice questions are clearly superior for assessing student mastery, at a tiny fraction of the cost.

Student behavior, attitudes, and learning using in-class questions with “clickers” vs. a show of hands in a large introductory geology course
Andrea Bair, Jennifer Stempien, and David Budd
Presentation given at the 2007 Geological Society of America meeting by Science Teaching Fellows at the University of Colorado. It is a good example of SEI-related research project and describes techniques and give results that are relevant to other fields.