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

在NSF改善本科生STEM教育计划：教育和人力资源(IUSE：EHR)的支持下，该项目旨在通过开发基于资源理论的入门物理课程的课程材料来服务于国家利益。物理教育研究有着丰富的学生思维专题研究历史。例如，研究人员已经确定了学生对包括力学、电磁学和热力学在内的入门课程主题的共同想法。近几十年来，这项工作已经扩大到包括高年级课程的主题，比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的是过时的学习缺陷论。赤字理论认为学生的想法是不正确的，需要修正。相比之下，这个项目将支持大学教职员工将学生的科学想法视为明智和潜在的生产力。它将利用资源论研究和课程开发的成果来创建教学模块，将学生当前的想法构建成复杂的物理概念。在资源论的指导下，学生对物理有许多正确的直观概念。不是专注于学生不理解的东西(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指导类型。它还具有重大意义，因为它有可能改善物理学领域代表性不足群体成员的招募和留住。该项目的目标是为大学物理教师提供从赤字模式向资源模式过渡所需的资源。具体地说，这个项目将寻求在特定的物理主题领域找到富有成效的学生想法。然后，它将开发和测试教学材料，以激发和建立这些想法。从那里，它将记录在特定学生想法被引出的教学环境中。最后，该项目将向大学教职员工传播产品和调查结果，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，以纠正目前在物理教育研究数据中对来自较高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，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过参与的学生学习路径，该计划支持有前景的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。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。

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 Many instructional materials based on this research use an outdated, Deficit Theory of learning.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.