Research and Curriculum Development to Leverage University Student Conceptual Resources for Understanding Physics

本项目是在美国国家科学基金“改进本科STEM教育计划：教育与人力资源”（IUSE: EHR）的支持下，通过开发基于资源理论的物理入门课程教材，服务于国家利益。物理教育研究在学生思维的专题研究方面有着悠久的历史。例如，研究人员已经确定了学生对入门课程主题的共同想法，包括力学、电磁学和热力学。近几十年来，这项工作已经扩展到包括高级课程的主题，如量子力学和数学物理。许多基于这项研究的教学材料使用了一种过时的学习缺陷理论。赤字理论认为学生的思想是不正确的，需要修正。相比之下，该项目将帮助大学教师将学生的科学思想视为明智的和潜在的富有成效的。它将利用资源理论研究和课程开发的成果来创建教学模块，将学生当前的想法转化为复杂的物理概念。在资源理论的指导下，学生对物理有了许多正确的直观认识。不是关注学生不理解的东西（缺陷模型），而是引导学生在他们已经理解的东西的基础上建立正确的知识。这项工作很重要，因为教师对学生想法的思考和取向会影响他们向学生提供的教学类型。它也很重要，因为它有可能改善物理学中代表性不足群体成员的征聘和保留。该项目的目标是为大学物理教师在教学中提供从赤字模式向资源模式过渡所需的资源。具体来说，这个项目将寻求在特定的物理主题领域确定富有成效的学生想法。然后，它将开发和测试引出并建立这些想法的教学材料。从那里，它将记录特定的学生思想被引出的教学环境。最后，该项目将向大学教师传播产品和研究结果，以支持他们实施有效的教学。该项目将有意寻找具有代表性的大学物理学生样本，以纠正目前物理教育研究数据中来自高等社会经济群体的数学准备学生的过度抽样。NSF IUSE: EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。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。

With support from the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program: Education and Human Resources (IUSE: EHR), this project aims to serve the national interest by developing curricular materials for introductory physics courses based on Resource Theory. Physics Education Research has a rich history of topic-specific research about student thinking. For example, researchers have identified common student ideas about topics from introductory courses, including mechanics, electromagnetism, and thermodynamics. In recent decades, the work has expanded to include topics in upper-division courses, such as quantum mechanics and mathematical physics. Many instructional materials based on this research use an outdated, Deficit Theory of learning. The Deficit Theory positions student ideas as incorrect and in need of fixing. In contrast, this project will support university faculty in seeing students' science ideas as sensible and potentially productive. It will use results of Resource Theory research and curriculum development to create instructional modules that build students' current ideas into sophisticated physics concepts. Based on Resource Theory, students have many correct intuitive notions about physics. Rather than focusing on what students do not understand (Deficit Model), students are led to build correct knowledge based on the things they already understand. This work is important because instructors' thinking about and orientation toward their students' ideas affects the kind of instruction that they offer to their students. It is also significant because of its potential improve the recruitment and retention of members of under-represented groups in physics. The goal of this project is to provide university physics teachers with the resources needed to transition from a deficit model to a resource model in their instruction. Specifically, this project will seek to identify productive student ideas in specific physics topic areas. It will then develop and test instructional materials that elicit and build on these ideas. From there it will document the instructional contexts in which specific student ideas are elicited. Finally, the project will disseminate products and findings to university faculty to support them in implementing effective instruction. The project will intentionally seek a representative sample of university physics students, to rectify the current oversampling of mathematically-prepared students from higher socioeconomic groups in Physics Education Research data. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.