Developing and Supporting Student Projects in Upper-Division Physics Lab Courses

培养学生的实验物理技能是本科物理教育的重要学习成果。实验室课程，特别是那些包括多周期末项目的课程，是学习这些技能的重要途径。然而，由于缺乏对实验室教育的广泛研究，很难知道哪些实践对实现实验室课程所特有的学习成果最有效。这个项目将产生一套基于研究的，实地测试的指导方针，在实验室课程和他们的例子的最后项目。这些指南和例子将支持教师设计可能提高学生实验物理技能的项目。基于研究的指导方针的可用性将是朝着降低设计有效的实验室项目的障碍迈出的重要一步，这将有助于学生为科学和工程的职业生涯做好准备。该项目的目标是使用基于设计的实施研究方法，为高年级物理实验室课程中的多周项目开发基于研究的最佳实践汇编。最佳做法将为项目的三个主要方面提供信息：（1）项目的目标和框架;（2）项目结构指南，包括经过实地检验的真实范例;（3）选择适当评估和解释评估结果的指南。特别是，这些最佳实践将被开发，以促进与学生的基于模型的推理技能，故障排除技能，专家般的文档实践，并在他们的项目的主人翁感相关的学习目标。最佳实践将经历研究、开发和实施的三次迭代。在所有三个迭代中，项目团队将调查学生学习目标最有可能实现的条件。多种类型的数据将为最佳实践的开发和完善提供信息，包括学生调查、课堂观察以及对学生和教师的采访。最终，这个项目将促进课堂实践的理解，有效地培养学生的实验物理技能。

Developing students' experimental physics skills is an important learning outcome for undergraduate physics education. Lab courses, especially those that include multi-week final projects, are a crucial avenue for learning such skills. However, due to a lack of extensive research on lab education, it is difficult to know which practices are most effective for achieving learning outcomes that are unique to lab courses. This project will produce a set of research-based, field-tested guidelines for final projects in lab courses and examples of them. These guidelines and examples will support instructors in designing projects that are likely to improve students' experimental physics skills. The availability of research-based guidelines will be a significant step toward lowering barriers to designing effective lab projects, which will help prepare students for careers in science and engineering.The goal of the project is to develop a compendium of research-based best practices for multi-week projects in upper-division physics lab courses using a Design-Based Implementation Research approach. The best practices will inform three major aspects of projects: (1) goals and framing of projects; (2) guidelines for the structure of projects, including authentic field-tested exemplars; and (3) guidelines for choosing appropriate assessments and interpreting their results. In particular, these best practices will be developed to promote learning objectives related to students' model-based reasoning skills, troubleshooting skills, expert-like documentation practices, and a sense of ownership over their projects. The best practices will undergo three iterations of research, development, and implementation. Across all three iterations, the project team will investigate the conditions under which student learning objectives are most likely to be met. Multiple types of data will inform the development and refinement of best practices, including student surveys, classroom observations, and interviews with students and instructors. Ultimately, this project will advance understanding of classroom practices that effectively develop students' experimental physics skills.