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

在NSF改进本科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关于学生思维的专题研究历史。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年级课程的主题，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过时的学习缺陷理论。赤字理论将学生的想法定位为不正确的，需要修正的。相比之下，这个项目将支持大学教师将学生的科学思想视为合理和潜在的生产力。它将使用资源理论研究和课程开发的结果来创建教学模块，将学生当前的想法构建为复杂的物理概念。根据资源理论，学生对物理有许多正确的直觉概念。而不是专注于学生不理解的东西（赤字模型），学生被引导建立正确的知识的基础上，他们已经理解的东西。这项工作很重要，因为教师对学生思想的思考和取向会影响他们提供给学生的教学。它的重要性还在于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。本计画的目的是提供大学物理教师从教学资源不足模式过渡到教学资源模式所需的资源。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的想法。然后，它将制定和测试能够引出和发展这些想法的教学材料。从那里，它将记录教学环境中，具体的学生的想法被引出。最后，该项目将向大学教员传播产品和研究结果，以支持他们实施有效的教学。该项目将有意寻找一个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对来自较高社会经济群体的预科学生的过度抽样。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。该奖项反映了NSF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 Many instructional materials based on this research use an outdated, Deficit Theory of learning.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.