William J. Leonard

Classtalk: A Classroom Communication System for Active Learning

TRADITIONAL METHODS for teaching science courses at the post-secondary level employ a lecture format of instruction in which the majority of students are passively listening to the instructor and jotting down notes. Current views of learning and instruction challenge the wisdom of this traditional pedagogic practice by stressing the need for the learner to play an active role in constructing knowledge. The emerging technology of classroom communication systems offers a promising tool for helping instructors create a more interactive, student-centered classroom, especially when teaching large courses. In this paper we describe our experiences teaching physics with a classroom communication system calledClasstalk. Classtalk facilitated the presentation of questions for small group work as well as the collection of student answers and the display of histograms showing how the class answered, all of which fed into a class-wide discussion of students’ reasoning. We foundClasstalk to be a useful tool not only for engaging students in active learning during the lecture hour but also for enhancing the overall communication within the classroom. Equally important, students were very positive aboutClasstalk-facilitated instruction and believed that they learned more during class than they would have during a traditional lecture.

Using qualitative problem‐solving strategies to highlight the role of conceptual knowledge in solving problems

We report on the use of qualitative problem‐solving strategies in teaching an introductory, calculus‐based physics course as a means of highlighting the role played by conceptual knowledge in solving problems. We found that presenting strategies during lectures and in homework solutions provides an excellent opportunity to model for students the type of concept‐based, qualitative reasoning that is valued in our profession, and that student‐generated strategies serve a diagnostic function by providing instructors with insights on students’ conceptual understanding and reasoning. Finally, we found strategies to be effective pedagogical tools for helping students both to identify principles that could be applied to solve specific problems, as well as to recall the major principles covered in the course months after it was over.

Solving physics problems with multiple representations

We present a teaching strategy to encourage flexible, non algorithmic problem solving. Students create several problem representations to answer questions about a single problem situation. Through reflection students learn the value of non algebraic representations for analyzing and solving physics problems.

Marking sense of students' answers to multiple-choice questions

A detailed example is used to illustrate the difficulties making sense of students’ answers to multiple-choice questions. We explore how correct answers can be false indicators of student knowledge and understanding. We caution against excessive reliance on multiple-choice questions for instructional decisions.

Promoting active learning in large classes using a classroom communication system

We provide an overview of an instructional strategy aimed at promoting active learning in introductory physics courses. Although a classroom communication system called Classtalk was used to facilitate the interactions among students, and between the students and the instructor, the use of Classtalk is not essential for implementing the instructional strategies described herein. A major focus of this article is a discussion of the types of questions that we have found work well in generating group, and class-wide discussions of physics concepts. We also discuss the types of reasoning used by students to answer specific conceptual questions.

Mastering circuit analysis: An innovative approach to a foundational sequence

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has dramatically changed how Circuit Analysis is learned. Combining a traditional lecture/recitation format with secure, online tests, we have raised our expectations for students and improved student performance, while increasing the fraction of students who succeed, especially underrepresented minorities and women. We call the instructional approach ldquoMasteryrdquo, because students continue to work on a topic until they earn a perfect score on the corresponding test. Further, it shows great promise for transforming undergraduate education, especially those courses that provide foundational skills and prepare students for future learning. The approach could have a positive impact on the retention rates of all students and even greater impact on those for underrepresented groups. In this paper, we describe the Mastery approach and its implementation over the past two years. We also show the current state of passing and completion rates as compared to those rates before Mastery was introduced. Finally, we discuss a range of issues, including the appropriateness of the Mastery approach for other courses.

Springbok: The physics of jumping

The physics of jumping is explored for a simple spring-loaded toy. The toy is easy to make and easy to analyze using an elementary Hooke’s law model. Possible uses in introductory physics are described. Conceptual and pedagogical issues are discussed

A coordination class analysis of judgments about animated motion

We use the coordination class construct to analyze interviews in which college students judged the realism of animated depictions of balls rolling on a set of tracks. We find the elements of coordination classes (readout strategies and the causal net) useful for understanding the interviewed students’ decision‐making processes. We find limited evidence for integration and invariance, the performance criteria of coordination classes.

Work in progress — Implementation and research of Mastery learning at an HBCU

While studying a Mastery approach for learning Engineering Circuit Analysis at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMA), early findings suggested that the approach improved the performance and retention of all students, with particularly dramatic results for women and minorities. However, because the number of women and minority students at UMA is small, we have decided to study the implementation of Mastery at an HBCU, specifically the College of Engineering at the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCAT), one of the nations premier engineering schools with a predominantly African American student population. In this Work-in-Progress, we will summarize the features of Mastery learning that make it difficult, but attractive, to implement. We will also review the results for women and minority students at UMA. Then we will describe the recent trends in retention and graduation rates at NCAT that led the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department there to radically change how Circuit Analysis is taught. Finally, we will provide an overview of the research plan we have developed for studying the implementation of Mastery learning.

Work in progress - implications of the Mastery approach for rates of learning and assessment

The mastery approach has been used successfully to improve both performance and success of students learning Circuit Analysis, a foundational, one-year sequence for Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering majors. Students work toward mastering secure, online modules, which can be retaken when a student fails to earn a perfect score. Preliminary results indicate that the total number of modules mastered by the class doubles every two to four weeks during the first semester, suggesting that learning is also nonlinear. Results also show that different students follow very different trajectories toward mastery. In this paper, we report on these findings and others, and discuss the implications for assessments in foundational courses.