Transforming Instruction and Ensuring Sustainability: Ongoing Evolution of a Model Program to Improve the Learning of Physics

这个项目是一个长期愿景的一部分，旨在对从小学到研究生院的学生和教师产生影响。该项目的主要目标是改善所有修读本科物理的学生的学习。相关目标是提高研究生和教师的教学效率，加强K-12教师教授物理和物理科学的能力，并支持在华盛顿大学(UW)和其他地方从事物理教育研究的研究生、博士后和教师。该项目是由威斯康星州大学物理系的物理教育小组(PEG)进行的。该小组由三名教授、一名研究助理教授、博士后研究助理、一名常驻高中理科教师、研究生、访问教员和一小部分行政人员组成。该小组每年都与许多机构的大量教员合作，并作为物理教育研究和课程开发的中心。智力优势：该小组通过以下方式努力实现该项目的主要目标：(A)扩大教学材料的范围，包括更多基于研究和经研究验证的选项，以转变教学；(B)对学生对物理的理解进行研究，以指导教学材料的设计，并确保它们在广泛的教学环境中有效；(C)开发一套全面的在线和印刷资源，以帮助教师有效地实施材料；(D)建立一个多层次的计划，支持教学资源的传播，支持物理课程和部门的教学改革。该项目建立在该小组以前在研究、制作和传播两门研究型课程方面所取得的成就的基础上：物理学入门教程(Prentice Hall)和探究物理学(Wiley)。目前的项目包括通过扩大学习和教学的研究基础，扩大和完善现有的教程，以及开发辅助材料，使教师能够灵活地将经过研究验证的策略纳入其课程的所有组成部分(例如，讲座、实验和家庭作业)，从而增加教程的影响。一个重要的新重点是为教师提供一套连贯、可访问的在线和印刷资源(例如，在线教师指南和评估学生成绩的工具)，以及建立提供持续支持的机制(例如，通过讲习班和用户小组)。本项目的研究结果对物理探究式教学的发展也具有重要的借鉴意义，对K-12教师的培养和专业发展也具有重要的指导意义。此外，该小组正在开发材料，以满足物理学高层基于研究的互动参与的需求。这些教材正在开发中，涉及量子力学、电磁学、狭义相对论和热力学，它们为学生提供了在高级课程的连续性和广度入门课程中使用过的互动参与材料。广泛的影响：正在制作的教材加强了本科生在理工科入门物理课程和物理专业上下两级课程中的物理学习。然而，该项目包含在更大的总体努力中，有助于确保产生更广泛的影响。在开发和评估课程的过程中，该小组与广泛机构的教职员工合作，为广泛的学生群体提供服务，从而促进所有学生改进学习。该项目对未来的教师(例如研究生助教)有直接影响，他们获得了让学生参与主动学习的教学方法的经验。除了为研究基地做出贡献外，该项目还通过研究生、博士后和小组来访者的专业发展，帮助建设以学科为基础的教育研究能力，该小组在物理教育研究方面处于全国领先地位。

This project is part of a long-range vision designed to have an impact on students and teachers from elementary through graduate school. The primary goal of the project is to improve learning by all students who take undergraduate physics. Related goals are to enhance the teaching effectiveness of graduate students and faculty, to strengthen the ability of K-12 teachers to teach physics and physical science, and to support graduate students, post-docs, and faculty engaged in physics education research at the University of Washington (UW) and elsewhere. The project is conducted by the Physics Education Group (PEG) in the UW Physics Department. The group consists of three Professors, a Research Assistant Professor, Post-doctoral Research Associates, a resident high school science teacher, graduate students, visiting faculty, and a small administrative staff. Each year the group works with a large number of faculty at many institutions and serves as a center for physics education research and curriculum development.Intellectual merit: The PEG is working toward the project's primary goal by: (A) expanding the range of instructional materials to include a greater variety of research-based and research-validated options for transforming instruction; (B) conducting research on student understanding of physics to guide the design of instructional materials and to ensure they are effective in a wide range of instructional environments; (C) developing a comprehensive set of online and print resources to help instructors implement the materials effectively; and (D) establishing a multi-tiered program for supporting dissemination of the instructional resources and sustaining instructional transformation in physics courses and departments. The project builds on the prior accomplishments of the PEG in research and the production and dissemination of two research-based curricula: Tutorials in Introductory Physics (Prentice Hall) and Physics by Inquiry (Wiley). The current project involves increasing the impact of the Tutorials by extending the research base on learning and teaching, expanding and refining existing tutorials, and developing ancillary materials that give instructors flexibility in incorporating research-validated strategies into all components of their courses (e.g., lectures, labs, and homework). A significant new emphasis is on providing a coherent, accessible set of online and print resources for instructors (e.g., an online instructor's guide and tools for assessing student achievement), as well as on establishing mechanisms for providing ongoing support (e.g., through workshops and a Users' Group). The results of this project also have important implications for the development of Physics by Inquiry, which is for the preparation and professional development of K-12 teachers. In addition, the group is developing material that addresses the need for research-based interactive engagement at the upper level in physics. These materials are being developed in quantum mechanics, electricity and magnetism, special relativity, and thermodynamics, and they provide students who have used interactive engagement materials in the introductory courses continuity and breadth in the upper-level courses.Broader impact: The instructional materials being produced strengthen the learning of physics by undergraduates in introductory physics courses for science and engineering majors and in lower and upper division courses for physics majors. However, the project is embedded in a larger overall effort that helps ensure an even broader impact. In the process of developing and assessing curriculum, the group works with faculty at a wide range of institutions that serve a wide spectrum of student populations, thus promoting improved learning by all students. The project has a direct effect on future faculty (e.g., graduate teaching assistants), who gain experience with an instructional approach that engages students in active learning. In addition to contributing to the research base, the project helps build the capacity for discipline-based education research through the professional development of graduate students, post-docs, and visitors to the group, and the group provides national leadership in physics education research.