Physics Colloquium - Spring 2006 - Helping students acquire scientific abilities: Is this a goal of a physics course?
Dept of Physics & Astronomy
University of Maine, Orono, Maine
Presents
Eugenia Etkina
Associate Professor of Education
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
Helping students acquire scientific abilities: Is this a goal of a physics course?
Several hundred thousand science and engineering students take introductory physics courses each year. What are the goals of these courses? In most courses, the goal is to help students acquire conceptual and quantitative understanding of major physics principles and to use this understanding to solve problems.
There could be other goals for our introductory courses (and in fact, for all courses in physics). According to many national studies and reports, our students should leave academia with the abilities to: solve complex problems, design experiments, test concepts, analyze data, construct conceptual models, and work with other people. How can we help students acquire all of these abilities in our introductory physics courses?
In my talk I will describe the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE, Etkina & Van Heuvelen) learning system that makes these goals explicit for the students. I will give examples of laboratory exercises and classroom activities that provide feedback to the students and help them develop these abilities. I will illustrate new assessment instruments for use in classes and exam questions to help instructors evaluate student abilities. Finally, I will present data on student development and transfer of these abilities in our courses.
Friday, February 3, 2006
3:10 pm
140 Bennett Hall
Refreshments will follow in Rm. 114, Bennett Hall
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