Collaborative Research: The Impact of LivePhoto Physics Materials and Workshops

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Physics (13). This project follows the NSF supported LivePhoto Physics Project and expands the LivePhoto Physics team, It undertakes a four-year Collaborative Research Project to: (A) Organize a National Professional Development Program that includes six workshops for college and university faculty members designed to help participants learn how to use digital video capture and analysis effectively in lecture and laboratory settings; (B) Conduct research on student learning and attitudes based on the use of video-based classroom, laboratory, and homework activities at several institutions and include studies on students' conceptual understanding of physics topics, their understanding of the relationship between events, graphs and equations, and their ability to use analytic mathematical modeling; and (C) Evaluate the overall project impact by conducting an audit of the changes in the teaching practices of workshop participants and the characteristics and number of students affected by the workshops. Intellectual Merit: A major finding in the Physics Education Research (PER) community is that students cannot acquire a functional understanding of physics unless they master the multiple representations that physicists use to describe physical phenomena and the relationship between these representations. Preliminary research on video analysis suggests it enhances learning and helps students master relationships between real physical phenomena, digital video frames, data tables, graphs, and analytic equations. The extended LivePhoto Physics team is studying: (1) the impact the professional development workshops have on the subsequent practices of instructors, and (2) the impact on student learning when instructors use digital video analysis in conjunction with LivePhoto Physics curricular materials that have been designed using principles developed by PER. Broader Impact: Professional development opportunities are provided for 144 faculty. Some teach introductory courses in other basic sciences such as biology, chemistry, or mathematics. Over 43,000 students are expected to be directly affected by the changes fostered in faculty participants during this project, and many more will be affected in later years through dissemination by these participants. The project is adding to the body of research on the role of digital video analysis in helping students master difficult physics topics using a full range of representations including analytic mathematical modeling. The recruitment program targets faculty members who teach traditionally under-represented groups of students.