Collaborative Research: Raising Physics to the Surface

将物理学提升到表面项目的意义在于，它将产生一套动手，发现式，基于讨论的课堂活动，学生可以对依赖于多个变量的物理系统进行有意义的理解。大多数物理系统依赖于一个以上的变量。然而，在解决这些系统的问题时，许多学生只是将毫无意义的代数操作应用于记忆的公式。学生通过概念性和几何性地思考变量之间的关系来获得有意义的理解。在提高物理活动中，学生将通过使用自定义，可干擦，3D表面，相应的轮廓和梯度图以及基于计算机的模型来发展这些理解。这些活动将涵盖经典力学，电学和磁学以及热物理学的物理主题。来自不同学院和大学的教师将在夏季研讨会上学习如何有效地使用提升物理材料，然后将这些材料部署在他们的物理课程中。提升物理项目的目标是（a）制作和传播课程材料，（B）确定在各种课堂环境中使用这些材料的最佳实践，及（c）研究这些教材对学生学习及教师的态度，信念和教学方法的影响。课程材料将由物理和数学教育研究的结果提供信息，这些结果证明了（1）使用有形模型，地图和工具来探索几何关系，（2）以多种方式表示物理量，以及（3）在小组中讨论有意义和灵活学习的想法的重要性。该项目的研究部分将调查活动的有效性，并将促进学生如何使用多种表示法来推理物理学中的多变量函数。

The significance of the Raising Physics to the Surface project is that it will yield a set of hands-on, discovery-style, discussion-based classroom activities where students develop meaningful understandings of physical systems that depend on multiple variables. Most physical systems depend on more than one variable. However, when solving problems about these systems, many students merely apply pointless algebraic manipulations to memorized formulas. Students gain meaningful understandings by thinking conceptually and geometrically about the relationships between variables. During the Raising Physics activities, students will develop these understandings by working with custom, dry-erasable, 3D surfaces, corresponding contour and gradient maps, and computer-based models. The activities will span physics topics in classical mechanics, electricity and magnetism, and thermal physics. Instructors from various colleges and universities will learn how to use the Raising Physics materials effectively during a summer workshop then deploy the materials in their physics courses.The goals of the Raising Physics project are to (a) produce and disseminate curricular materials, (b) identify the best practices for using these materials in various classroom settings, and (c) study the impact of these materials on student learning and on instructors' attitudes, beliefs, and teaching practices. The curricular materials will be informed by results from research in physics and math education that demonstrate the importance of (1) using tangible models, maps and tools to explore geometric relationships, (2) representing physical quantities in multiple ways, and (3) discussing ideas in small groups for meaningful and flexible learning. The research components of this project will investigate the effectiveness of the activities and will advance understanding of how students reason about multivariable functions in physics using multiple representations.