Improving the Scientific Communication Skills of Students in Introductory Physics Lab Courses Using an Organized Scaffold of Formative and Summative Writing Assignments

物理（13）问题：传统的介绍性物理实验作业要求学生完成工作表或为每一个简短的单独练习写正式的实验报告。学生们经常会把这一周学到的知识反刍一遍，在下一个实验开始之前就忘记了。因此，学生对物理事实往往只是肤浅的认识，而不是对物理概念有更深入的了解。目的和结果：该项目的目标是更有效地在入门实验室中使用写作作为提高学生物理学习的工具，并使入门实验室更接近于研究。该项目正在改变传统的实验室方法，同时使用大多数大学物理实验室中已有的实验和设备。它还在开发助教培训材料，使本科生助教能够对学生论文中提出的科学论点给出有效的反馈。方法：该项目采用一种方法，将较短的实验任务分组到处理相同物理概念的实验群中，例如牛顿第二定律。每周正式的实验报告被总结性论文所取代，这些论文要求学生讨论如何将个人的实验经验结合起来，形成对所讨论的物理概念的一个更大的图景。在这个过程中，学生们既磨练了他们对物理概念的理解，也磨练了他们提出科学论点的关键技能，并通过适当的数据参考来逻辑地支持它。马奎特大学物理系正在与写作中心合作，采用由Brian Hand和Vaughan Prain开发的一种经过验证的科学写作启发式，用于评估形成性写作草稿和总结论文。这些材料将在以代数为基础的物理中进行大量测试，然后进行修订和测试。观众：项目的初始阶段既针对在代数基础物理实验室入门的学生，也针对正在给他们的报告打分的本科生助教。在beta测试阶段，使用了基于微积分的工科学生物理课程和面向职前教师的科学课程的调查材料。智力优势：本项目结合并调整了来自多个学科的已证实的教学思路，形成了一个连贯的模型，以改善介绍性物理实验室的科学交流。它特别关注语言交流在学生对科学概念的吸收中所起的作用，这些学生对入门物理的数学准备不够理想。更广泛的影响：将相关经验分组的方法鼓励学生超越特定实验室练习的细节，以更广泛的理论背景来观察实验结果。它还鼓励学生参与科学过程的元认知分析。因此，它不仅可以应用于物理入门，也可以应用于其他科学课程和全国大学未来科学教师的培训。

Physics (13) Problem: Traditional introductory physics laboratory assignments ask students to complete worksheets or to write formal laboratory reports for each of a series of short individual exercises. All too often, students regurgitate the information they have acquired that week and forget it before the next experiment is performed. Therefore, students frequently develop only a superficial acquaintance with physics facts rather than a deeper understanding of physics concepts. Objectives and Outcomes: The goal of this project is to use writing in introductory laboratories more effectively as a tool to improve student learning of physics and to make the introductory labs more closely resemble research. The project is changing the traditional approach to laboratories while using experiments and equipment already found in most university physics laboratories. It also is developing TA training materials that prepare undergraduate teaching assistants to give effective feedback on scientific arguments presented in their students' papers. Methodology: The project uses a method of grouping shorter laboratory assignments into clusters of experiments that deal with the same physical concept, such as Newton's Second Law. Weekly formal laboratory reports are then replaced with summative papers that ask students to discuss the ways in which the individual laboratory experiences work together to form a bigger picture of the physical concept(s) in question. In the process, students hone both their understanding of the physics concepts and the critical skill of presenting a scientific argument and supporting it logically with appropriate references to the data. The Marquette University Department of Physics is collaborating with the Writing Center to adapt a proven science writing heuristic developed by Brian Hand and Vaughan Prain for use in assessing both the formative draft writing assignments and the summative papers. These materials are being tested in large sections of algebra-based physics, then revised and beta tested. Audience: The initial phase of the project addresses both the students in introductory algebra-based physics laboratories and the undergraduate teaching assistants who are grading their reports. The beta testing phase uses the materials with the calculus-based physics course for engineering students and the survey of science course for pre-service teachers. Intellectual Merit: This project combines and adapts proven pedagogical threads from several disciplines to form a coherent model to improve scientific communication in the introductory physics laboratory. It focuses specifically on the role that verbal communication plays in the assimilation of science concepts by students with less than optimal mathematical preparation for introductory physics. Broader Impacts: The method of grouping related experiences encourages students to look beyond the particulars of a specific laboratory exercise to the broader theoretical contexts for the experimental results. It also encourages students to engage in meta-cognitive analysis of the scientific process. As such, it can be applied not only to introductory physics, but to other science courses and to the training of future science teachers at universities nation-wide.