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
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
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.