Teaching and Learning in Online Laboratories in Physics

该项目旨在通过改善大学物理课程在线实验室环境中的教与学来服务于国家利益。在新冠肺炎大流行期间，许多高校被迫将传统的面对面课程和实验室转移到在线模式。由于许多典型的实验室体验包括与设备的动手交互，以及演示和教师的密切监督，因此创建教授相同概念和技能并满足个别学生需求的在线变体是具有挑战性的。对于教育工作者来说，了解在疫情期间激增的远程实验室体验是否公平、严格、全面，并对学生的个人学习和社会需求做出反应，这一点很重要。这项研究将研究这些问题。这个项目将调查本科物理教师和学生在在线实验室中的参与和表现。它将侧重于从教师(教师和研究生)的角度出发，在在线学习环境中进行教学的决策过程和实施，并特别强调实验室教学。这项研究还将探索物理本科生关于他们的实验室经历的态度和学习表现，包括学生是否在性别、种族或社会阶层方面有不同的经历。这项研究将确定如何改善本科科学的教学方法、学生的物理表现、学生对物理和在线学习的态度，特别是对于STEM中代表性不足的群体的学生。研究问题将包括：(1)物理教师和研究生助教如何调整实验室课程材料以过渡到远程学习，他们的教学实践在网络媒体上是如何表现出来的？(2)在先验知识和培训、同伴合作和外部指导方面，哪些因素影响了他们的在线教学？(3)在线实验教学在多大程度上具有技术、后勤和教学压力的特点，这些挑战是如何在整个学期中得到有效缓解的？(4)学生对物理自我效能感、自我概念、认同感、认识论、动机、参加在线物理教学会影响学生的职业意向吗？(5)参加在线实验室对学生获得物理知识和技能有何影响？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。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。

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving teaching and learning in online laboratory environments in college physics courses. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many colleges and universities were forced to move traditionally face-to-face classes and labs to online formats. Because many typical lab experiences involve hands-on interaction with equipment, as well as demonstrations and close supervision by instructors, it is challenging to create online variations that teach the same concepts and skills and that meet individual students' needs. It is important for educators to understand whether remote lab experiences, which proliferated during the pandemic, are equitable, rigorous, comprehensive, and responsive to students' individual learning and social needs. This research will study those issues.This project will investigate how undergraduate physics instructors and students engage and perform in online laboratories. It will focus on the decision-making processes and implementation of teaching in an online learning environment from the perspective of instructors (faculty and graduate students), with a particular emphasis on laboratory instruction. The research will also explore the attitudes and academic performance of undergraduate physics students with regard to their lab experiences, including whether the students have differentiated experiences with respect to gender, ethnicity, or social class. The research will identify ways in which pedagogy in undergraduate science, students' performance in physics, and students' attitudes toward physics and online learning may be improved, particularly for students from groups that are underrepresented in STEM. Research questions will include the following:(1) How have physics faculty and graduate teaching assistants adapted laboratory course materials to transition to remote learning, and how are their pedagogical practices characterized in the online medium?(2) What factors influence their online teaching in terms of prior knowledge and training, peer collaboration, and external directives?(3) To what extent is online lab instruction characterized by technical, logistical, and pedagogical tensions, and how are these challenges formatively mitigated throughout the semester?(4) How are students' sociocognitive views of physics self-efficacy, self-concept, identity, epistemology, motivation, and career intentions influenced by participation in online physics instruction?(5) How is students' acquisition of physics knowledge and skills influenced by participation in online labs?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.