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

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 Many instructional materials based on this research use an outdated, Deficit Theory of learning.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