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

为了维持一支强大的STEM劳动力和具有STEM素养的人口，美国迫切需要改善科学教育。我们的国家需要在STEM领域做好充分准备的工人，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高质量的就业机会。因此，高校必须培养能够有效地进行科学调查并为我们最紧迫的问题设计解决方案的学生。他们还必须培养出能够评估科学事实和论点，对科学探究的价值做出判断，并能有效交流思想的学生。因此，学生不仅要学习科学概念和原理，还要学习科学推理的实践、应用和方法。科学教育已经取得了显著的进步，但仍有许多工作要做。这个为期四年的项目将开发的课程不仅对提高学生的学习和推理能力有实际效果，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调整教学策略。重点将放在物理学上，但研究结果将适用于所有科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）学科。另一个潜在目标是确定核心科学概念和推理技能，这些概念和技能在标准的物理入门课程中被认为是理所当然的，但对于缺乏科学准备的学生来说却很难。虽然人们一致认为积极参与是学习的必要条件，但这还不够。还需要使用特定主题的策略来指导学生构建科学概念和模型，以便他们能够将其应用于未明确研究的情况。通过系统的、持续的研究，华盛顿大学的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、工程和物理专业的物理入门课程中。本项目的目标是通过识别许多学生在学习物理时发现困难的额外概念和推理技能来扩展这一工作体系，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课程材料，包括大型讲座、小组讨论和在线教学，对学生的学习有明显的影响。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”课堂的教学。该项目还将对学生在基于代数的物理入门课程和基于微积分的物理课程上的差异日益增加的认识作出回应。以代数为基础的课程的学生通常是生命科学专业的学生。那些以微积分为基础的课程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，旨在为教师提供更好的支持。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讲习班为多达100名现任和未来的教师提供专业发展。最后，这个项目将通过在国家和地方会议上的文章和介绍进行广泛传播。这一传播战略将确保教员能够获得关于人们如何学习的最新知识。此外，通过博士后和研究生的参与，该项目将在国家层面上发展持续改进STEM教育的能力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.