Understanding
How Students Learn
A
New Model Course in Applied Quantum Physics is based on
research on how students learn physics. Our model for the development
of instructional materials consists of an iterative three-step
process:
- research
- curriculum development
- instruction.
The figure at right represents this process.
The axle of the wheel represents the model of how students think
and learn.
For more information, click on the links
below.
Two different overviews
of physics education research
Teaching
physics: Figuring out what works
E.F. Redish and R.N. Steinberg, Physics Today , Vol. 52,
24-30 (January 1999).
Building a science of teaching
physics
E.F. Redish, Am. J. Physics, Vol. 67, 562-573 (July,
1999).
Research-based curriculum
design in quantum mechanics
Research-based
instructional software in modern physics
R.N. Steinberg and G.E. Oberem, J. Comp. Math Sci. Teach.
A description of the implementation and evaluation of a instructional
software in modern physics focusing on the photoelectric effect.
Investigations into student
understanding of quantum mechanics
An overview article on the interplay between learning classical
physics and quantum physics:
This paper was presented at the annual
meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching,
March, 1999. For more papers from this meeting about the teaching
of quantum mechanics, see the full set of papers found here.
Photoelectric effect
Probability and potential energy diagrams
Interpretation of the wavefunction
Spectroscopy
Quantum tunneling
Student understanding of conductivity
- Investigating
Student Understanding of Quantum Mechanics: Spontaneous Models
of Conductivity,
M.C. Wittmann, E.F. Redish, and R.N. Steinberg, Am. J. Phys.,
70:3, 218-226 (2002).
- Student
epistemological stance constraining researcher access to student
thinking: An example from an interview on charge flow,
M.C. Wittmann, R.E. Scherr, accepted for publication in the Physics
Education Research Conference Proceedings, 2002
- The
challenge of listening: The effect of research agenda on data
collection and interpretation,
R.E. Scherr, M.C. Wittmann, accepted for publication in the Physics
Education Research Conference Proceedings, 2002
Student understanding of
pre-requisites to quantum mechanics
Mechanical waves and wave phenomena
Student understanding of physical
optics
Other resources
Workshop materials:
- AAPT
national meeting in Boise ID, Summer 2002.
M.C. Wittmann, R.N. Steinberg, S. Rosenberg
Regular workshops have been held at local and national AAPT meetings.
The presentation gives the slides which were used during the
presentation in which instructional materials on tunneling and
conductivity were discussed.
Additional online links
University
of Maryland Physics Education Research Group (WWW)
This page links to resources in physics education research that
go beyond the teaching of quantum physics. We provide details
of additional research projects, together with resources for
instructors and links to other research groups throughout the
world.
University
of Maine Physics Education Research Laboratory (WWW)
The UMaine PERL focuses on how
students learn physics, models of human reasoning, teacher training
and development, and curriculum development and dissemination.
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