Active Construction and Application of Conceptual Models

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Research during the last two decades has shown that conventional physics instruction fails to alter student alternative conceptions (misconceptions), to improve their problem-solving expertise, and to help students form a coherent knowledge structure that can be effectively accessed when needed. Recent experiments in physics education show that we can do much better. In these experiments, students are active participants in constructing their own knowledge and in developing expert-like strategies to solve standard and complex problems. In this project, two new sets of active learning aides are being constructed and evaluated, including a set of Concept Construction Experiments and a set of Experiment Problems. These activities are being used in lecture, recitation, and laboratory instruction in large introductory physics classes for engineers and science majors. The kits are being integrated with previously developed active learning pencil- and-paper activities into a coherent program of physics instruction called OCS (Overview, Case Study) Action Physics. An Active Learning Student Study Guide and Laboratory Manual are being prepared to supplement a conventional textbook. A coordinated effort is being made to help students construct their own conceptual models, to develop the individual skills needed to use those models to solve complex problems, and to help students organize this knowledge (conceptual and procedural) into a coherent structure that can be accessed effectively. Previous and current work have shown considerable promise for this method of instruction.