Research-Based Pedagogies:
Beyond Content
A. Elby, E. F. Redish, and R. E. Scherr
Department of Physics
University of Maryland
11/1/03
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Plan of Presentation
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Epistemology:
Overview, Background, and Goals (Elby)
Reconciling:
An Example (Scherr)
Building Intuition:
Helping Students Reconcile (Redish)
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Epistemology:
Overview, Background,
and Goals
Andy Elby
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Goal of this workshop
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Focus attention on a key pedagogical issue
(rather than a particular curriculum)
Make explicit a “hidden” reform-oriented goal
other than improved conceptual understanding
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An opening example
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Issue: Why is student 3 having trouble
learning this material?
Students
2
3
1
4
QuickTime™ and a
Cinepak decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
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Background info for video clip
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Class: Discussion sections,
introductory college physics
Activity: Guided inquiry about
light and shadows.
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What happens to bright spot on
screen if bulb is moved up?
What if we add a second bulb
above the first?
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Background info - continued
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Question under consideration: “What do your
observations suggest about the path taken from the
light to the screen.”
Right before we tune in: Discussing the two-bulb
case.
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Student 1: How do we get two images from one hole?
Student 2: Light goes through hole from 2 directions.
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Why is student 3 having trouble?
Students
2
3
1
4
QuickTime™ and a
Cinepak decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
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Introduction to epistemology
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Epistemology = Views about the nature of
knowledge and learning.
Examples (Lising, Hammer):
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Jan seems to be seeking formalism rather than a
common-sense explanation. Doesn’t expect
coherence between them.
Daniel: “I feel that proving the formula is not really
necessary for me, it doesn't matter if I can prove it or
not, as long as I know that someone has proven it
before . . . there's a concept, and . . . here I am paying
$15,000 a year . . . . I'm not going to derive this thing
for them; they're going to derive it for me and explain
Calculus-Based Physics Course Conference
to me how it works.”
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Epistemology:
What do you see? - 1
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After solving for KE of rotating wheel using
rotational kinetic energy, Ken is asked
whether you could also solve it using linear
kinetic energy, as explained in the book:
“[You] could do it that way. Just different ways of
thinking about it . . . because . . . all rotation is is just
. . . at any time, it's just a bunch of particles, with
velocities going off tangentially.”
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Epistemology:
What do you see? - 2
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Roger solves Atwood-type problem incorrectly: The
2 tethered blocks have different accelerations.
“From what I put, I guess that's right . . . . Oh geez,
how could one be accelerating faster than the other .
. . . That would mean the velocities would have to
be different . . . . Yeah, I guess so . . . . Well, I don't
know; I'd check and see if I got the right answer. I'm
90% sure.”
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Epistemology:
What do you see? - 3
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Tony finds angular velocity of an airplane flying in a
straight line. Interviewer asks how it can have an
angular velocity.
“Here they're talking about instantaneously . . . .
That's like when you sit there and watch a train
come, you'll see it come, and it kind of sits there, and
as it goes by, it zooms by . . . . The faster you turn
your head that's what the angular velocity is.”
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Tony “reconciles”
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Tony “reconciles” his intuitive ideas and
everyday experiences with formal physics
concepts.
Doing so relies upon…
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The epistemological expectation of coherence.
Background knowledge and thinking skills
needed to find that coherence. (Most students
need more scaffolding.)
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Remainder of this workshop
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Experiencing a reconciliation:
Putting yourselves in your students’ shoes.
Example of curriculum designed to promote
not just reconciliation, but also the underlying
epistemological expectation of coherence.
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Reconciling:
An Example
Rachel Scherr
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A “reconciling” task
Block on frictionless ramp
Task:
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Identical block in
frictionless bowl;
Slope same as ramp
Draw the free-body diagram
for each block, and compare.
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Building Intuition:
Helping Students Reconcile
E. F. (Joe) Redish
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Goals:
What do we want our students to learn?
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Content
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Concepts
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What’s it “about”?
How to “think physics”
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facts, equations, principles
coherence, intuition
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Instruction works!
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Traditional instruction focuses on content
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Reformed-1 instruction focuses on concepts
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students can successfully learn concepts and qualitative
problem solving
The next step: learning to “think physics”
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students can successfully learn vocabulary,
algorithms, and quantitative exercise solving
Can we help students successfully learn coherence,
intuition building, and complex problem solving?
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Modes of instruction
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Traditional
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Reformed-1
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passive observation, active repetition of simple
tasks
active learning, qualitative reasoning
cognitive conflict (elicit / confront / resolve)
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Cognitive conflict
may undermine intuition building
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“Here’s another quiz to show me
how stupid I am about physics.”
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“Math doesn’t lie.”
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“Doing science well means suppressing my
intuition.”
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Reform-2
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Physics as a “refinement” of everyday
thinking.
Reconciliation rather than replacement.
“Learning bifurcation” (LB) pairs
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promote expectation of reconciliation
promote expectation of seeking coherence
promote respect for and development of intuition
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2
A (Reformed)
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Tutorial
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Does it work? 1
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Does it work? 2
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