Physics Education Research (PER): The PER-

Friendly Classroom and The Importance of

Reasoning

Brian A. Pyper Ph.D. Director of Physics Education

BYU-Idaho Department of Physics

Introduction

PER and Teaching&LearningA short History of PERKey findings for Physics teachers

Lectures, Listening and Cognition

Active LearningDemosAction Research

Reasoning

A short history of PER

AAPT founded 1930The Manhattan ProjectSputnikHalliday and Resnick 1st ed 1960

Paul Klopsteg Floyd RichtmeyerHomer Dodge

The 1970s: A Subtle Shift – How do we teach vs How do they learn?

Arons (To Teachers): “You have two ears and one mouth, and should use them in that proportion.”

Karplus: “I believe that students become vitally interested in their studies and learn best when direction and guidance from a source of authority are combined with ample opportunity for students to direct and control their own learning.”

The 1980s: Converts

Lillian McDermott

Fred ReifJoe Redish

Prescilla LawsAlan Van Heuvelen

Dean Zollman

Jose Mestre Sheila Tobias

The Force Concept Inventory

David Hestenes

Eric Mazur

Richard Hake

The US PER Map

PER Now

MisconceptionsExpert-Novice studiesCurriculumTechnologyGender and EthnicityProblem SolvingCognitionTeacher PreparationAttitudes and EpistemologyReasoning

The Physics Teacher, AJP, Physics Education, PhysRevST - PER

Lectures and Cognition

How people learn: changing the brainPrior knowledge is crucial - misconceptionsPedagogy is important – epistemology,

metacognition, emotion/motivation

Listen at least as much as you talk

How you learn is not always (i.e.: hardly ever)how they learn

Active Learning

• Learning is a verb – you have to DO it

• You can't do it to them or for them

• The more senses involved the better

Demonstrations

• Can be but should not only be Entertaining

• 5 E's: Engage Explore Explain Evaluate Elaborate/Extend (for physics you may add Explode, Explain, Excuse and Escape)

• Make the students commit to a prediction

• Do the demo• Review and extend

Action Research

• Think about what you're doing so you're doing it deliberately, and measure outcomes.

• PER methodologies (surveys, pre-post testing, case studies, interviews, etc) are both sophisticated and effective.

• Why reinvent the wheel? – especially not the flat tire! Compadre, PER-central, PER user’s guide

Reasoning

Piaget

The Lawson Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning

Pre-post, thousands of students

Changing Reasoning

Measured by the Lawson Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning

F08 PHS100

No significant changes: using peer instruction and some home-made tutorial-like activities.

+ tutorials

Adding one day a week with Tutorials in Introductory Physics (Ph105)

Knight textbook workbook assignments

But does it help with the concepts?

Conclusion

• If we care about learning and teaching, let's do it right.

• What matters in learning Physics?: interactivity. (engage agency)

• Pay more than lip-service to how they think. Reasoning Matters

• My sincere thanks to those in this room who've had such a big impact on my life and career.