Bridging the Gap Between High School and College Physics: An Exploratory Study

这项探索性研究将把两项有希望的创新结合在一起，这两项创新有可能帮助更多的学生达到高标准，为大学和21世纪的职业生涯做准备。其中一项创新是一门新的高中课程，名为《激励物理》，旨在通过应用最佳实践和深入介绍相对较少的关键概念来帮助具有广泛能力的学生。另一个是BEAR评估系统，旨在为学生和教师提供频繁的形成性评估数据。目标是开发和测试一种形成性评估系统，以增强物理的活力，使所有学生都有可能学习如何学习物理，这样他们才能在大学的第一堂物理课上取得成功。合作伙伴包括马萨诸塞州波士顿波士顿拉丁学校的课程作者Aaron Osowiecki和Jesse Southwick，俄勒冈州波特兰州立大学的Cary Sneider和研究生，以及加州大学伯克利分校教育研究生院的评估专家Mark Wilson和Karen Draney。该项目将分五个阶段进行。第一阶段：2010年夏天，来自马萨诸塞州和俄勒冈州的项目组将在加利福尼亚州与评估专家会面，培训BEAR评估系统。第二阶段：在接下来的一年里，该团队将远程合作，将BEAR系统嵌入到课程材料中，并招聘8名教师(马萨诸塞州4名，俄勒冈州4名)，他们将在各种高中环境中测试新材料。第三阶段：2011年夏季将在俄勒冈州和马萨诸塞州举办为期一周的讲习班，使教师熟悉课程和评估制度。第四阶段：教师将向学生介绍课程，收集学生概念理解和解决问题能力的测试前数据，以及工作样本，并报告成功和挑战。小组将进行课堂访问，并在学校现场采访教师。第五阶段：在2012年夏天，团队将分析结果，适当修改课程材料，并报告发现。鉴于大量关于形成性评估对支持学习的价值的研究，这项探索性研究有可能开发出一门物理课程，帮助教师支持不同能力的学生的学习。此外，由于这项研究建立在对高中生活课程的类似研究基础上，该课程也使用了熊形成性评估系统，因此有可能推广高中科学课程的设计方法，以帮助更多的学生在大学科学方面取得成功。

This exploratory research study will bring together two promising innovations that have the potential to help more students meet high standards and prepare for college and 21st century careers. One innovation is a new high school course entitled Energizing Physics, designed to help students with a wide range of capabilities by applying best practices and presenting a relatively small number of key concepts in depth. Another is the BEAR assessment system, designed to provide frequent formative assessment data to students and teachers. The goal is to develop and test a formative assessment system for Energizing Physics that has the potential to enable all students to learn how to learn physics, so they can succeed in their first physics course in college. Partners include course authors Aaron Osowiecki and Jesse Southwick from Boston Latin School in Boston, Massachusetts, Cary Sneider and graduate students at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, and assessment specialists Mark Wilson and Karen Draney at the Graduate School of Education, University of California at Berkeley.The project will proceed in five phases. Phase I: During the summer of 2010 project teams from Massachusetts and Oregon will meet with assessment experts in California for training in the BEAR assessment system. Phase II: During the subsequent year the team will collaborate remotely to embed the BEAR system into the course materials, and recruit eight teachers (four in Massachusetts and four in Oregon) who will test the new materials in a variety of high school settings. Phase III: Weeklong workshops will be held in Oregon and Massachusetts during the summer of 2011 to familiarize teachers with the course and assessment system. Phase IV: Teachers will present the course to their students, collect pre-post test data on students' conceptual understanding and problem solving abilities, as well as work samples, and report on successes and challenges. Teams will conduct classroom visits and interview teachers at school sites. Phase V: During the summer of 2012 the teams will analyze the results, modify the course materials as appropriate, and report on findings.Given the substantial body of research on the value of formative evaluation for supporting learning, this exploratory study has the potential to develop a physics course that could help teachers support learning among students with a wide diversity of capabilities. Further, since this research builds on a similar study of the high school course Living by Chemistry, which also uses the BEAR formative evaluation system, it may be possible to generalize ways that high school science courses can be designed to help more students succeed in college science.