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

该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10万名大学毕业生获得生物科学学位，其中许多人后来成为医生和其他健康专业人员。这些生物科学专业的学生大多将物理入门课程作为学位课程的一部分，或者作为研究生或专业学校录取的先决条件。这门课通常是他们在大学里唯一的一门物理课程，通常是一门专门针对生物专业学生的入门物理课程。因此，这门课程为他们提供了最重要的机会，让他们了解物理学是如何约束和促进生命的。尽管这些生命科学物理学入门课程已成为国家重大改革努力的目标，但仍需进一步改进。这个项目将解决一个特定的需求领域：静态和动态流体的研究。体液对生命是必不可少的，了解体液对生命科学专业的学生来说是必不可少的。生物学家和卫生专业人士都提到，学生需要了解流体的物理学。然而，这些主题并不总是包括在国际公共部门会计准则课程中或教授得很好。为了帮助物理教师设计更有效的流体教学方法，这个项目将开发并试行流体概念评估(FCE)，它将允许教师评估他们的教学效果，并测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讲师很好地教授流体物理。研究人员将在该项目中从事两项互补的工作。首先，他们将开发FCE的初步版本，使用一种不仅在所涵盖的内容上而且在遵循心理测量学方法、从不同的学生组收集数据以及在产生几种形式的概念性评估方面都是新颖的过程。FCE考试将完全由两层试题组成，第一层由一道多项选择题组成，第二层由一道多项选择题组成，要求考生解释他们选择第一道题答案的原因。使用Rasch分析，调查人员将创造出几种相同规模的仪器形式。这些变化是为了解决这样一个问题，即概念评估不能很好地发挥前测和后测的作用，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了。提供不同的表格也将解决一些主题不包括在不同的综合学习课程中的关切。总而言之，发展进程旨在提高概念评价的严格性和灵活性。其次，调查人员将与国际公共部门联合会的教师进行调查和虚拟讨论，以深入了解他们如何看待教学液体的难度和价值。有了这些信息，调查人员的目标是建立支持和传播活动，以满足教师的需求。按照建议，这些资源应该会增加将液体纳入国际公共部门会计准则课程的可能性。这个合作项目涉及新汉普郡大学(应获奖2021273)、美国物理教师协会(应获奖2021059)、新英格兰大学(应获奖2021261)和北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校(应获奖2021224)的研究人员。该项目由改善本科生STEM教育(IUSE：EHR)计划资助，该计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的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 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.