Robert J. Beichner

Testing student interpretation of kinematics graphs

Recent work has uncovered a consistent set of student difficulties with graphs of position, velocity, and acceleration versus time. These include misinterpreting graphs as pictures, slope/height confusion, problems finding the slopes of lines not passing through the origin, and the inability to interpret the meaning of the area under various graph curves. For this particular study, data from 895 students at the high school and college level was collected and analyzed. The test used to collect the data is included at the end of the article and should prove useful for other researchers studying kinematics learning as well as instructors teaching the material. The process of developing and analyzing the test is fully documented and is suggested as a model for similar assessment projects.

Students’ understanding of direct current resistive electrical circuits

Both high school and university students’ reasoning regarding direct current resistive electric circuits often differ from the accepted explanations. At present, there are no standard diagnostic tests on electric circuits. Two versions of a diagnostic instrument were developed, each consisting of 29 questions. The information provided by this test can provide instructors with a way of evaluating the progress and conceptual difficulties of their students. The analysis indicates that students, especially females, tend to hold multiple misconceptions, even after instruction. During interviews, the idea that the battery is a constant source of current was used most often in answering the questions. Students tended to focus on the current in solving problems and to confuse terms, often assigning the properties of current to voltage and/or resistance.

The impact of video motion analysis on kinematics graph interpretation skills

Video motion analysis software was used by introductory physics students in a variety of instructional settings. 368 high school and college students took part in a study where the effect of graduated variations in the use of a video analysis tool was examined. Post‐instruction assessment of student ability to interpret kinematics graphs indicates that groups using the tool generally performed better than students taught via traditional instruction. The data further establishes that the greater the integration of video analysis into the kinematics curriculum, the larger the educational impact. An additional comparison showed that graph interpretation skills were significantly better when a few traditional labs were simply replaced with video analysis experiments. Hands‐on involvement appeared to play a critical role. Limiting student experience with the video analysis technique to a single teacher‐led demonstration resulted in no improvement in performance relative to traditional instruction. Offering mor...

Case study of the physics component of an integrated curriculum

Over a four-year time span, several departments at North Carolina State University offered experimental sections of courses taken by freshman engineering students. The acronym IMPEC (Integrated Math, Physics, Engineering, and Chemistry curriculum) describes which classes were involved. This paper discusses the physics component of the curriculum and describes the impact of the highly collaborative, technology-rich, activity-based learning environment on a variety of conceptual and problem-solving assessments and attitude measures. Qualitative and quantitative research results indicate that students in the experimental courses outperformed their cohorts in demographically matched traditional classes, often by a wide margin. Student satisfaction and confidence rates were remarkably high. We also noted substantial increases in retention and success rates for groups underrepresented in science, math, and engineering. Placing students in the same teams across multiple courses appears to have been the most beneficial aspect of the learning environment.

Online homework: Does it make a difference?

We carried out an experiment to evaluate the relative value of web-based computer homework with thoroughly hand-graded paper homework. In this note we present a general summary of our findings, appropriate for a general practitioner.

Educational Research Using Web-based Assessment Systems

Abstract The growth of the Internet, and in particular the World Wide Web, is already influencing the way science is taught, and it will undoubtedly do so to a greater extent in the future. One important facet of this influence is the development of Web-based assessment and testing systems. These systems provide a valuable new tool to the education research community: a tool that combines the ability of multiple choice diagnostic tests to handle large numbers of subjects with some of the greater flexibility and additional information that other methods offer. On the other hand, some of the particular strengths of this tool also give rise to some unique disadvantages. In this article, we discuss the strengths and weaknesses for education research and present some suggestions for the tool’s use.

Web-based testing in physics education: methods and opportunities

The World Wide Web is impacting education in profound ways. So far, the predominant use of the WWW in teaching has been for finding and distributing information, much like an online library. However, as information technology evolves, the Web is increasingly used for more interactive applications like testing. But as with any technological development or media revolution, there is potential for both success and failure. To use the WWW effectively for testing in physics education, we must identify our goals and determine the best way to meet those goals. This paper describes methods of web-based testing, highlights the positive attributes of the WWW for testing, and marks the dangers that threaten its effectiveness.

Can One Lab Make a Difference

Many studies1 have demonstrated that carefully constructed active learning activities2 can improve student conceptual understanding. However, only a few studies, all involving use of microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) based mechanics activities, have shown significant improvement resulting from a single isolated treatment in the context of a traditional lecture class.3-6 We wanted to see whether replacing a single traditional laboratory activity with a widely used, non-MBL, research-based activity could produce improved conceptual understanding for a topic in electricity. All students in this study were in the same lecture section of the second semester introductory physics course for engineers at North Carolina State University (NCSU) during the summer of 1999. The lecture section met for 90 minutes, five days a week. The instructor (GWP) lectured for 50 minutes and then led an in-class problem solving session for 30 minutes. One TA taught all lab sections. The two-hour labs met once a week for five weeks. The lab activities are typical of those found in introductory physics courses at many colleges and universities. There was no separate discussion/recitation section. The instruction for all students in the study was the same except for a single two-hour laboratory period. For the DC circuits lab, students were split into two groups based on which lab section they attended. The students in the experimental group (EXP) did a single activity based on the two batteries and bulbs activities from Tutorials in Introductory Physics.7 Instead of a traditional lab report, the EXP students were assigned a worksheet that combines elements of the suggested homework assignments that accompany the two Tutorials.8 The students in the control group (TRD) carried out a more traditional Ohm’s law activity from the NCSU lab manual9 and prepared a standard lab report. An experienced TA familiar with the traditional labs taught all lab sections. To prepare for the Tutorial, the TA met with one of the authors (DSA), took the pretest, and worked through the activity, It is important to note that, while Shaffer and McDermott10 have shown that the DC circuit Tutorials can improve student performance on qualitative problems when used as part of a series of Tutorial activities, individual Tutorials are not intended to be used as “stand alone” activities. Student understanding was measured by performance on items from course tests and a DC circuits pretest (described below). Only students who were enrolled in lab and took all the tests, including the DC circuits pretest, were included in the study. There were 20 students in the EXP group and 18 students in the TRD group.

Oscillator damped by a constant-magnitude friction force

Although a simple spring/mass system damped by a friction force of constant magnitude shares many of the characteristics of the simple and damped harmonic oscillators, its solution is not presented in most texts. Closed form solutions for the turning and stopping points can be found using an energy-based approach. A dynamical approach leads to a closed form solution for the position of the mass as a function of time. The main result is that the amplitude of the oscillator damped by a constant magnitude friction force decreases by a constant amount each swing and the motion dies out after a finite time. We present these two solutions and suggest ways that the system can be used in the classroom.

Instructional technology research and development in a US physics education group

The purpose of this brief paper is to provide insight into the kinds of work being done by an education research group in a US physics department. As will be evident, instructional technology raises many interesting questions and lends itself to a wide variety of studies. References and contacts are provided for readers wanting more detailed information on the research. The paper is based on a presentation given at the Workshop on Best Practices of ICT Use in a University Environment, 24 September 2004, in Zürich.