Next Generation Research-Based and Research-Validated Instructional Materials for Teaching Physics in Different Instructional Environments

为了维持强大的STEM劳动力和懂STEM的人口，国家面临着改善科学教育的迫切需要。我们的国家需要在STEM领域做好准备的工人，以提高我们的经济竞争力，改善我们的国家安全，并为下一代公民提供优质的就业机会。因此，高校必须有能够有效地进行科学调查并设计出解决我们最紧迫问题的解决方案的研究生。他们还必须让研究生能够评估科学事实和论点，对科学探究的价值做出判断，并有效地交流思想。因此，学生不仅必须学习科学概念和原理，而且还必须学习科学中的实践、应用和推理方法。科学教育已经取得了重大进展，但仍有很多工作要做。这个为期四年的项目将开发课程，不仅在改善学生的学习和推理方面具有被证明的效果，而且还将开发和测试资源，帮助教师在自己的课堂上实施和适应教学策略。重点将放在物理学上，但这些发现将适用于所有科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)学科。另一个基本目标是确定核心科学概念和推理技能，这些概念和推理技能在标准的物理入门课程中被视为理所当然，但对于缺乏科学基础的学生来说很难。虽然人们一致认为，积极参与对于学习是必要的，但这还不够。还有必要使用特定于主题的策略，引导学生构建科学的概念和模型，以便他们能够将它们应用于未明确学习的情况。通过系统、持续的研究，华盛顿大学物理教育小组开发了基于研究和研究验证的材料，将这些策略嵌入到K-12教师的课程中，以及数学、工程和物理专业的入门物理课程中。这个项目的目标是通过确定许多学生在学习物理时感到困难的其他概念和推理技能来扩展这一工作，并使用这些结果来指导教学。主要成果将是在不同的教学环境中使用的一套课程材料，这些材料对学生的学习有明显的影响，包括大型讲座、小组小组和在线。它的目的是，这些材料将有效地补充以讲座为基础的课程，以及支持‘翻转’教室的教学。该项目还将回应对学生在基于代数的入门物理课程和基于微积分的物理课程中的差异的日益认识。以代数为基础的课程的学生通常是生命科学专业的学生。以微积分为基础的课程的学生通常是物理科学和工程专业的学生。仅仅开发有效的教学材料是不够的。因此，这些材料将附有详细的在线指南，以帮助教师根据他们的个人目标和机构限制调整材料。该项目还将开发一个用户社区，旨在为教师提供增强的支持。研究教师的需求和支持他们的机制的有效性将指导用户社区的设计。该项目还将通过研讨会和研讨会为多达100名现有和未来的教师提供专业发展。最后，该项目将通过在国家和地方会议上发表文章和演讲的方式广泛传播。这一传播战略将确保教师能够获得关于人们如何学习的先进知识。此外，通过博士后和研究生的参与，该项目将发展在国家层面上不断改进STEM教育的能力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

To sustain a robust STEM workforce and a STEM-literate population, the Nation faces a critical need for improved science education. Our country needs well-prepared workers in STEM fields to increase our economic competitiveness, improve our national security, and provide quality employment opportunities for the next generation of citizens. As a result, colleges and universities must graduate students who are effective in conducting scientific investigations and designing solutions to our most pressing problems. They must also graduate students who can assess scientific facts and arguments, make judgements about the value of scientific inquiry, and communicate ideas effectively. Thus, students must learn not only scientific concepts and principles but also the practices, applications, and ways of reasoning in science. Significant improvements in science education have been made, but a great deal more remains to be done. This four-year project will develop curriculum that not only has a proven effect on improving student learning and reasoning, but will also develop and test resources that help instructors implement and adapt the instructional strategies in their own classrooms. The focus will be on physics, but the findings will be applicable across all science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. An additional underlying goal is to identify core science concepts and reasoning skills that are taken for granted in standard introductory physics courses, but that are difficult for students who lack strong preparation in science. Although there is a consensus that active engagement is necessary for learning, it is not sufficient. It is also necessary to use topic-specific strategies that guide students to construct scientific concepts and models so that they can apply them to situations not explicitly studied. Through systematic, ongoing research, the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington has developed research-based and research-validated materials that embed such strategies in courses for K-12 teachers and in introductory physics courses for math, engineering, and physics majors. The goal of this project is to extend this body of work by identifying additional concepts and reasoning skills that many students find difficult when learning physics, and to use those results to guide instruction. The primary outcome will be sets of curricular materials that have a demonstrated impact on student learning when used in different instructional settings, including large lectures, small-group sections, and online. It is intended that the materials will be effective in supplementing lecture-based courses, as well as supporting instruction in 'flipped' classrooms. The project will also respond to increasing awareness of differences between students in introductory algebra-based physics courses and calculus-based physics courses. The students in algebra-based courses are typically life science majors. Those in the calculus-based courses are typically physical science and engineering majors. Simply developing effective instructional materials is not enough. Consequently, the materials will be accompanied by detailed online guides to help faculty adapt the materials for their individual goals and institutional constraints. The project will also develop a User Community that aims to provide faculty with access to enhanced support. Research on the needs of faculty and the effectiveness of mechanisms to support them will guide the design of the User Community. The project will also provides professional development for up to 100 current and future faculty through seminars and workshops. Finally, this project will provide broad dissemination through articles and presentations at national and local meetings. This dissemination strategy will ensure that instructors have access to advances in knowledge about how people learn. In addition, through the involvement of postdocs and graduate students, the project will develop capacity for ongoing improvements in STEM education on a national level.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.