RAPID: Examining the Impacts of Transitioning to Remote Teaching of Undergraduate Physics Labs Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic

RAPID：检查由于 COVID-19 大流行而向本科物理实验室过渡到远程教学的影响

• 批准号: 2027582
• 负责人: Heather Lewandowski
• 金额: $ 12.22万
• 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: 2020-05-15 至 2022-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2027582&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Examining; Impacts; Transitioning; Remote

Undergraduate laboratory instruction in STEM disciplines usually involves special equipment, materials, and hands-on interactions. As a result, they are the most difficult courses to translate from an in-person learning environment to an online learning environment. Approaches that have achieved some success include web-based simulations of traditional lab exercises and remote access to laboratory equipment. Nevertheless, it is challenging for faculty to design online replacements to their laboratory courses and most never attempted it until forced to do so by the COVID-19 pandemic. In spring 2020, to maximize student safety and provide continued instruction, colleges and universities shifted all courses, including lab courses, to an online format. At this time, fully online teaching and learning will extend through spring semester, and it is possible that it will be necessary for even longer. This circumstance presents a unique, time-sensitive opportunity to measure the impact of the sudden, forced transition on teaching and learning in undergraduate physics lab courses. This project will apply qualitative and quantitative approaches to study impacts of the shift on students and identify strategies used to develop online versions of in-person physics lab activities. The investigator will use both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore how online labs affect students’ understanding of physics and identify the approaches used by physics laboratory instructors to shift to an online learning environment. The project has two specific aims: (1) to measure the effects of the transition on students' learning and knowledge in physics and their expectations about how experimental physics works; and (2) to identify and categorize the strategies taken by physics instructors to enable students to remotely experience laboratory-like learning. For the quantitative component of the study, the Investigator will use the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey for Experimental Physics (E-CLASS), an established survey that her research group has previously developed and tested. The 30 questions in E-CLASS assess students' views about their strategies, habits of mind, and attitudes when doing experiments in physics lab classes. E-CLASS assigns scores to students based on their ratings of how closely their personal views align with those of experts, as well as how an experimental physicist would respond. The pre-instruction E-CLASS was administered in 51 courses involving over 6,000 students this year. Thus, this project will allow analysis of the midterm transition to remote instruction on a large scale. The investigator will add supplemental questions to the post-instruction E-CLASS, as well as administer an instructor survey, to specifically probe the transition to remote labs. The additional questions and the instructor survey will allow the investigator to: (a) analyze which variables in remote teaching most impact E-CLASS scores; (b) compare lab teaching using remote instruction to lab teaching during previous semesters; (c) categorize tools used by instructors during the transition to remote labs; and (d) find common themes, challenges, and successes that will inform the qualitative component of the study. The qualitative component will involve interviews with both faculty and students to develop a case study that captures the details of the transition to remote labs. This project aims to build a better understanding of how the physics lab environment (including social interactions) contributes to students' views about the nature of experimentation and what it means to do experiments. These results will help education researchers who wish to study the advantages and limitations of different lab environments and remote strategies. In addition, the cataloging of different approaches to transitioning lab courses to remote learning will help increase instructors' knowledge of creative practices that they could use for lab courses both during an emergency and outside of one. With this knowledge, they might, for example, be able to increase opportunities for students who have limited access to in-person lab instruction such as students in rural areas. This RAPID award is made by the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE: EHR) program in the Division of Undergraduate Education (Directorate for Education and Human Resources), using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.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.

STEM学科的本科实验室教学通常涉及特殊设备，材料和动手互动。 因此，它们是最难从面对面学习环境转换到在线学习环境的课程。 已经取得一些成功的方法包括基于网络的传统实验室练习模拟和远程访问实验室设备。尽管如此，对于教师来说，设计实验室课程的在线替代品是一项挑战，大多数人从未尝试过，直到因COVID-19大流行而被迫这样做。 在2020年春季，为了最大限度地提高学生的安全性并提供持续的指导，学院和大学将所有课程，包括实验室课程，转移到在线格式。 在这个时候，完全在线教学和学习将延伸到春季学期，它可能是必要的，甚至更长。 这种情况提供了一个独特的，时间敏感的机会来衡量突然的，强制的转变对本科物理实验室课程的教学和学习的影响。 该项目将采用定性和定量的方法来研究转变对学生的影响，并确定用于开发在线版本的物理实验室活动的策略。调查人员将使用定量和定性的方法来探索在线实验室如何影响学生对物理的理解，并确定物理实验室教师转向在线学习环境所使用的方法。 该项目有两个具体目标：（1）测量过渡对学生的物理学习和知识的影响，以及他们对实验物理如何工作的期望;（2）确定和分类物理教师采取的策略，使学生能够远程体验实验室般的学习。对于研究的定量部分，研究者将使用科罗拉多实验物理学科学学习态度调查（E-CLASS），这是她的研究小组先前开发和测试的一项既定调查。E-CLASS中的30个问题评估了学生在物理实验课上做实验时对他们的策略，思维习惯和态度的看法。E-CLASS根据学生的个人观点与专家观点的接近程度以及实验物理学家的反应来给学生打分。教育署今年在五十一个课程推行学前电子课程，共有六千多名学生参加。 因此，该项目将允许分析大规模向远程教学的中期过渡。研究者将在教学后的E-CLASS中添加补充问题，并进行教师调查，以专门探讨向远程实验室的过渡。额外的问题和教师调查将允许研究者：（a）分析远程教学中哪些变量最影响E-CLASS分数;（B）比较使用远程教学的实验室教学与前几个学期的实验室教学;（c）对教师在过渡到远程实验室期间使用的工具进行分类;（d）找出共同的主题、挑战和成功经验，为研究的定性部分提供信息。定性部分将涉及与教师和学生的访谈，以开发一个案例研究，捕捉过渡到远程实验室的细节。该项目旨在更好地了解物理实验室环境（包括社会互动）如何有助于学生对实验性质的看法以及做实验意味着什么。这些结果将有助于教育研究人员研究不同实验室环境和远程策略的优势和局限性。此外，将实验室课程过渡到远程学习的不同方法编目将有助于增加教师对创造性实践的了解，这些实践可以在紧急情况下和紧急情况下用于实验室课程。例如，有了这些知识，他们可能能够为那些无法亲自获得实验室指导的学生（如农村地区的学生）增加机会。该奖项由本科教育部（教育和人力资源局）的改善本科STEM教育（IUSE：EHR）计划颁发，使用冠状病毒援助，救济和经济安全（CARES）法案的资金。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力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

Remote advanced lab course: A case study analysis of open-ended projects

远程高级实验室课程：开放式项目的案例研究分析

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevphyseducres.17.020111
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Physical Review Physics Education Research
• 影响因子: 3.1
• 作者: Hoehn, Jessica R.;Fox, Michael F. J.;Werth, Alexandra;Borish, Victoria;Lewandowski, H. J.
• 通讯作者: Lewandowski, H. J.

Lab instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic: Effects on student views about experimental physics in comparison with previous years

COVID-19 大流行期间的实验室教学：与往年相比对学生对实验物理的看法的影响

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevphyseducres.17.010148
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Physical Review Physics Education Research
• 影响因子: 3.1
• 作者: Fox, Michael F. J.;Hoehn, Jessica R.;Werth, Alexandra;Lewandowski, H. J.
• 通讯作者: Lewandowski, H. J.

Instructor perspectives on the emergency transition to remote instruction of physics labs

教师对物理实验室远程教学紧急过渡的看法

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevphyseducres.18.020129
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Physical Review Physics Education Research
• 影响因子: 3.1
• 作者: Werth, Alexandra;Hoehn, Jessica R.;Oliver, Kristin;Fox, Michael F. J.;Lewandowski, H. J.
• 通讯作者: Lewandowski, H. J.

Undergraduate student experiences in remote lab courses during the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 大流行期间本科生在远程实验室课程中的经历

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevphyseducres.18.020105
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Physical Review Physics Education Research
• 影响因子: 3.1
• 作者: Borish, Victoria;Werth, Alexandra;Sulaiman, Nidhal;Fox, Michael F. J.;Hoehn, Jessica R.;Lewandowski, H. J.
• 通讯作者: Lewandowski, H. J.