Collaborative Research: Assessing Undergraduate Student Learning in Upper-Level Courses in Thermal and Statistical Physics

合作研究：评估本科生在热物理和统计物理高级课程中的学习情况

• 批准号: 2013332
• 负责人: Bethany Wilcox
• 金额: $ 28.32万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2013332&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Assessing; Undergraduate; Student

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving undergraduate physics education. Thermal and statistical physics is a core component of the undergraduate physics major and includes the study of fluids, heat flow, energy transfer, and the connection between atomic-level interactions and macroscopic behavior. These topics are central not only to physics, but also to chemistry, biology, and engineering. Ensuring that physics majors and other students who take thermal and statistical physics understand this subject area is important for producing graduates who can meet the expectations of employers for the STEM workforce. Because of the broad importance of thermal and statistical physics across STEM fields, it is crucial to understand the effectiveness of courses targeting this content area. However, no standardized tool exists to measure student learning in upper-level courses in thermal and statistical physics. To address this gap, the investigators intend to develop and pilot-test an assessment tool that will measure students’ knowledge as well as their ability to "do" physics. It will help instructors identify effective teaching approaches by comparing student learning across courses, instructional strategies, institutions, and student populations. This assessment tool should have long-term impact on the quality of physics students' education as well as their preparedness to enter the STEM workforce.The Thermal and Statistical Physics Assessment (TaSPA) will include items targeting both students' conceptual understanding and their ability to engage in scientific practices (e.g., modeling). To accommodate both the variation in content coverage in different thermal physics courses and the importance of assessing practices, the TaSPA will feature a flexible format in which instructors will be able to select a subset of items that best aligns with the specific learning goals of their course. Development of the TaSPA will be guided by: 1) Evidence-Centered Design, which has been highlighted as an approach to developing assessments that include scientific practices and core ideas; and 2) Item Response Theory, which has historically been used to develop assessments with this type of flexible content coverage. Use of Item Response Theory will also allow explicit attention to assessment tasks that perform differently for different subpopulations, a possibility that is particularly important for identifying and reducing the potential for bias in the TaSPA. Detailed documentation and dissemination of the development process will allow other educators to replicate the process in the development of future assessments for other content areas. This collaborative project involves investigators at the University of Colorado at Boulder (Award DUE-2013332) and Kansas State University (Award DUE-2013339). The project is funded by the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE: EHR) program, which 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.

该项目旨在通过改善本科物理教育来服务于国家利益。 热物理和统计物理是本科物理专业的核心组成部分，包括流体，热流，能量传递以及原子级相互作用和宏观行为之间的联系的研究。这些主题不仅是物理学的中心，也是化学，生物学和工程学的中心。确保物理学专业和其他学生谁采取热和统计物理学了解这一学科领域是生产毕业生谁可以满足雇主对干劳动力的期望很重要。由于热物理和统计物理在STEM领域的广泛重要性，了解针对该内容领域的课程的有效性至关重要。 然而，没有标准化的工具存在来衡量学生在热物理和统计物理的高级课程的学习。为了解决这一差距，研究人员打算开发和试点测试一种评估工具，该工具将衡量学生的知识以及他们“做”物理的能力。它将帮助教师通过比较学生在课程，教学策略，机构和学生群体中的学习来确定有效的教学方法。这一评估工具将对物理专业学生的教育质量以及他们进入STEM工作队伍的准备工作产生长期影响。热与统计物理评估（TaSPA）将包括针对学生概念理解和参与科学实践能力的项目（例如，建模）。为了适应不同热物理课程的内容覆盖范围的变化以及评估实践的重要性，TaSPA将采用灵活的格式，教师将能够选择最符合其课程特定学习目标的项目子集。TaSPA的开发将遵循：1）以证据为中心的设计，这是一种开发包括科学实践和核心思想在内的评估的方法; 2）项目反应理论，历史上一直用于开发具有这种灵活内容覆盖的评估。项目反应理论的使用也将允许明确注意不同亚群表现不同的评估任务，这种可能性对于识别和减少TaSPA中的偏倚潜力特别重要。详细记录和传播开发过程将使其他教育工作者能够在为其他内容领域开发未来评估时复制这一过程。 该合作项目涉及博尔德科罗拉多大学（Award DUE-2013332）和堪萨斯州立大学（Award DUE-2013339）的研究人员。 该项目由改善本科STEM教育（IUSE：EHR）计划资助，该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。

项目成果

A New Paradigm for Research-Based Assessment Development

基于研究的评估开发的新范式

• DOI: 10.1119/perc.2022.pr.laverty
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings
• 作者: Laverty, James T.;Sirnoorkar, Amogh;Jambuge, Amali Priyanka;Rainey, Katherine D.;Weaver, Joshua;Adamson, Alexander;Wilcox, Bethany R.
• 通讯作者: Wilcox, Bethany R.

Developing coupled, multiple-response assessment items addressing scientific practices

开发涉及科学实践的耦合、多重响应评估项目

• DOI: 10.1119/perc.2020.pr.rainey
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: Proceedings of the Physics Education Research Conference
• 作者: Rainey, Katherine D.;Jambuge, Amali Priyanka;Laverty, James T.;Wilcox, Bethany R.
• 通讯作者: Wilcox, Bethany R.

Validation of a coupled, multiple response assessment for upper-division thermal physics

高级热物理耦合多重响应评估的验证

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevphyseducres.18.020116
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Physical Review Physics Education Research
• 影响因子: 3.1
• 作者: Rainey, Katherine D.;Vignal, Michael;Wilcox, Bethany R.
• 通讯作者: Wilcox, Bethany R.

Methods for utilizing Item response theory with Coupled, Multiple-Response assessments

利用项目反应理论进行耦合、多重反应评估的方法

• DOI: 10.1119/perc.2022.pr.wilcox
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings
• 作者: Wilcox, Bethany R.;Rainey, Katherine D.;Vignal, Michael
• 通讯作者: Vignal, Michael

Assessment feedback: A tool to promote scientific practices in upper-division

评估反馈：促进高年级科学实践的工具

• DOI: 10.1119/perc.2020.pr.jambuge
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: Proceedings of the Physics Education Research Conference
• 作者: Jambuge, Amali Priyanka;Rainey, Katherine D.;Wilcox, Bethany R.;Laverty, James T.
• 通讯作者: Laverty, James T.