Collaborative Research: Measuring Learning and Improving Teaching of the Physics of Fluids in Introductory Physics for the Life Sciences

本项目旨在通过提高生物学生对物理概念的掌握来服务于国家利益。每年有超过10万名学生从大学毕业，获得生物科学学位，其中许多人继续成为医生和其他卫生专业人员。这些生物科学专业的大多数学生都将物理学入门课程作为学位课程的一部分，或者作为进入研究生院或专业学校的先决条件。 这门课程通常是他们在大学里唯一的物理课程，它通常是一门针对生物专业的特殊物理入门课。 因此，本课程提供了他们最重要的机会来了解物理学如何约束和实现生命。虽然这些生命科学物理学入门课程一直是国家重大改革努力的目标，但还需要更多的改进。该项目将解决一个特定的需求领域：静态和动态流体的研究。 流体对生命至关重要，了解流体对生命科学学生至关重要。生物学家和卫生专业人员都提到了学生需要了解流体物理学。 然而，这些主题并不总是包括在IPLS课程中或教得很好。为了帮助物理教师设计更有效的流体教学方法，该项目将开发和试点测试流体概念评估（FCE），这将使教师能够评估其教学效果并衡量学生对概念的理解。在开发这一评估工具的同时，研究人员还将开发支持，以帮助IPLS教师教授流体物理学。研究人员将在该项目中开展两项互补的工作。首先，他们将开发一个初步版本的功能测试，使用一个新的过程，不仅在所涵盖的内容，而且在以下心理测量方法，从不同的学生收集数据，并在生产几种形式的概念评估。FCE将完全由两层测试项目组成，其中第一层由多项选择概念问题组成，第二层由多项选择问题组成，要求考生解释他们选择第一个问题答案的原因。使用Rasch分析，研究人员将创建相同规模的几种形式的仪器。这些变化是为了解决这样一个问题，即概念评价不能很好地作为前测和后测，因为有些问题对前测来说太难，而另一些问题对后测来说太容易。不同表格的可用性还将解决某些主题未包含在不同IPLS课程中的担忧。总之，开发过程旨在提高概念评价的严谨性和灵活性。其次，调查人员将与IPLS教师进行调查和虚拟讨论，以了解他们如何看待教学液的难度和价值。有了这些信息，调查人员的目标是建立支持和传播活动，以满足教员的需要。这些资源应能增加按照建议将液体列入国际学习方法课程的可能性。 该合作项目涉及新罕布什尔州大学（Award DUE-2021273）、美国物理教师协会（Award DUE-2021059）、新英格兰大学（Award DUE-2021261）和查佩尔山的北卡罗来纳州大学（Award DUE-2021224）的研究人员。 该项目由改善本科STEM教育（IUSE：EHR）计划资助，该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。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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 biology students' mastery of physics concepts. More than 100,000 students graduate from college each year with degrees in the biological sciences, and many of them go on to become physicians and other health professionals. Most of these biological sciences majors take an introductory physics course as part of their degree program or as a prerequisite for admission to a graduate or professional school. This course is usually the only physics course they take in college and it is often a special introductory physics class targeted to biology majors. As a result, this course provides their most significant opportunity to understand how physics constrains and enables life. Although these Introductory Physics for Life Sciences (IPLS) courses have been the target of significant national reform efforts, more improvements are needed. This project will address a specific area of need: the study of static and dynamic fluids. Fluids are essential to life and understanding fluids is essential to life science students. The need for students to understand the physics of fluids has been cited by biologists and health professionals alike. However, these topics are not always included or taught well in IPLS courses. To help physics instructors design more effective approaches to teaching fluids, this project will develop and pilot-test a Fluids Conceptual Evaluation (FCE), which will allow instructors to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching and measure students' understanding of the concepts. While developing this assessment tool, the investigators will also develop supports to help IPLS instructors teach the physics of fluids well.The investigators will pursue two complementary lines of work in the project. First, they will develop a preliminary version of the FCE, using a process that is novel not only in the content covered but also in following psychometric methodologies, in gathering data from a diverse set of students, and in producing several forms of the conceptual evaluation. The FCE will consist entirely of two-tier test items, where the first tier consists of a multiple-choice conceptual question and the second tier consists of a multiple-choice question asking test-takers to explain the reason they chose the answer they did for the first question. Using Rasch analysis, the investigators will create several forms of the instrument that are on the same scale. These variations are intended to address the concern that conceptual evaluations do not function well as both a pre-test and a post-test, since some questions are too hard for the pre-test and others are too easy for the post-test. The availability of different forms will also address the concern that some topics are not included in different IPLS courses. In summary, the development process is designed to increase the rigor and flexibility of conceptual evaluations. Second, the investigators will conduct surveys and virtual discussions with IPLS instructors to develop insights about how they perceive the difficulty and value of teaching fluids. With that information, the investigators aim to build supports and dissemination activities to meet instructors' needs. Those resources should increase the likelihood that fluids will be included in IPLS courses, as recommended. This collaborative project involves investigators at the University of New Hampshire (Award DUE-2021273), the American Association of Physics Teachers (Award DUE-2021059), the University of New England (Award DUE-2021261), and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Award DUE-2021224). This project is funded by the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE: EHR) program, which 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.