Issues
What does it mean to engage students
in ‘thinking like a physicist’?
Documenting and Interpreting
Ways to Engage Students
in ‘Thinking Like a Physicist’
Resources on Wiki
A wiki documents our reforms for ourselves and others through links
on the National Science Digital library. Information includes
instructor’s guides for individual activities, rational and tips for different
strategies, links to classroom video, and detailed narratives of specific
examples.
How can instructors learn how to do this?
How can instructors who are attempting
to do this share their successes and
challenges with others?
Emily H. van Zee
Corinne Manogue
http://www.physics.oregonstate.edu/portfolioswiki
National Science Foundation
•DUE-9653250, 0231194
•DUE-0088901, 0231032
•DUE-0618877, 0837829
Oregon State University
•Department of Physics
•Department of Science and
Mathematics
•College of Science
Narrative
.
Interpretations
• Provide Examples of Discussions
• Document
- What was said by students and
instructor
- How instructor thinks about
• Structuring discussions
• Interpreting what students say
• Forming questions and
comments in response
Preparation
• Video record class sessions
• Discuss priorities with instructor
• Transcribe high priority segment
• Watch video of segment together
• Record video interpretation session
• Type instructor’s comments into
transcript
• Ask questions to prompt reflection
as needed
Construction
• Articulate reasons for selection
• Summarize physics context
• Long version:
- Provide “blow-by-blow” account
- Interweave instructor comments
• Short version:
- Narrow long version to high priority
topics with enough context to be
comprehensible
Typical Beginning
of Class Sessions
• Students pick up small whiteboards as
they enter & sit at tables in small groups
• Instructor
- Uses props to visually represent
concept or process
-Welcomes student questions and
comments
- Asks small whiteboard questions
Small Group Collaborations
• Small groups work together
on large whiteboards at their tables
and/or whiteboards on the walls
• Instructor & TA move from group
to group
- Assist as needed
- Monitor and shape progress
- Become aware of successes
and challenges
Wrap-Up Discussions
• Instructor guides students in thinking
together about challenging aspects of
the topic they have just explored
through the small group activity
Compare and Contrast
Wrap-Up Discussion #1
Compare
and
Contrast
Pedagogical Strategies
Wrap-Up Discussion #2
• Main idea emerges from the wrap-up
discussion rather than the activity itself
•Students gain a deeper understanding of
the relations between geometric and
algebraic representations of eigenvectors
• Students experience what it is like to
deduce a result from looking at many
examples – the experience that many
professional theoreticians have
•Students experience nuances in solving
set of linear algebra problems, particularly
those involving degeneracy
Geometric Interpretation
of Transforming Vectors
• Small group activity: Use given matrix to
transform common set of given vectors;
Represent transformed vectors graphically
• Wrap-up Discussion: Students examine
similarities and differences in what the
different groups did and found
Looking for Patterns
Students discuss the determinant
and what it means geometrically
Students come to realize that
an eigenvector is a vector whose
direction is not changed when
multiplied by a vector
Algebraic Interpretation
of Transforming
Vectors
• Small group activity: Solve for eigenvectors and eigenvalues of particular
matrices
• Wrap-up Discussion: Students examine
similarities and differences in what the
different groups did and found
Prompting Expectations
I: What do you expect to happen along
the z axis?”
S: “Nothing.”
I: “Nothing, you expect the z axis to be
unchanged”
(S: (eigenvector)
I: therefore you expect it to be an
eigenvector, yes!”