CCD: Assessing and Disseminating a New Model for Undergraduate Physics Education at Large Research Universities

该项目的目标是：（1）评估伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校（UIUC）正在开发的新的大学物理序列的教学内容和教学方法的有效性，（2）将其标准化，并在模块组件中支持材料，（3）制作示范课程模块并向其他有意进行物理教育改革的大型研究型大学推广。该项目直接解决了当代物理教育中广泛存在的问题，例如它在传授概念理解方面的失败与死记硬背和公式计算以及缺乏对多样化学习方式的支持。该项目还认识到大型研究型大学在提供本科物理服务课程方面的特殊需要-需要每学期向数百名学生提供有效的指导，需要促进协作学习、团队精神和沟通技能，需要激励研究人员采用新的教学方法，并培训研究生助教成为有效的教师，以及需要通过标准化有效的教学法，使成功的学习独立于一个受启发的教师的努力。为实现这些目标而开展的活动包括：（1）对新修订的UIUC大学物理课程内容进行专业评估，（2）制作模块化课程内容，如讲座、家庭作业、实验室、考试和教学助理培训材料，并提供适当的文件，以及（3）将项目材料分发给希望进行自己的大学物理课程修订的同行机构。

The objectives of the project are to (1) assess the effectiveness of the pedagogical content and instructional methods of the new University physics sequence under development at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), (2) to standardize it and supporting materials in modular components, and (3) to produce and disseminate the model curriculum modules to other large research universities interested in undertaking physics educational reform. The project directly addresses widely documented problems in contemporary physics education, such as its perceived failure to impart conceptual understanding vs. rote learning and formulae crunching and its lack of support for diverse learning styles. The project also recognizes the special needs of large research universities in delivering undergraduate physics service courses--the need to provide effective instruction to hundreds of students per semester, the need to promote collaborative learning and teamwork and communication skills, the need to motivate research faculty to employ new instructional methods and to train graduate teaching assistants to be effective teachers, and the need to make successful learning independent of the efforts of one inspired .teacher by standardizing effective pedagogy. Activities to be undertaken to accomplish the objectives include (1) professional assessment of the curricular content of the newly revised UIUC University physics sequence, (2) production of modular course components, such as lectures, homework sets, laboratories, examinations, and teaching assistant training materials, with appropriate documentation, and (3) dissemination of the project materials to peer institutions wishing to undertake their own University physics course revision.