The Physics Education Technology Project: http:// phet.colorado.edu Introduction to Inquiry-Based Introduction to Inquiry-Based Teaching and Teaching and PhET's Web-Based Interactive PhET's Web-Based Interactive Simulations Simulations Teacher’s Workshop Beacon of Hope College Soroti, Uganda Jan-Feb 2008 Sam McKagan Sam McKagan University of Colorado at Boulder University of Colorado at Boulder The Physics Education Research Group: http://per.colorado.edu
Transcript
The Physics Education Technology Project:http://phet.colorado.edu
Introduction to Inquiry-Based Teaching andIntroduction to Inquiry-Based Teaching andPhET's Web-Based Interactive Simulations PhET's Web-Based Interactive Simulations
Teacher’s WorkshopBeacon of Hope College
Soroti, UgandaJan-Feb 2008
Sam McKaganSam McKaganUniversity of Colorado at BoulderUniversity of Colorado at Boulder
The Physics Education Research Group: http://per.colorado.edu
1. Become familiar with research-based teaching methods• Inquiry-based teaching• Interactive engagement
2. Become familiar with PhET simulations• What makes PhET sims unique learning tools? • How can they be used in class? (easy, effective)
3. Plan for sim use in your class• Identify useful PhET sims • Practice activities using sims• Develop your own activity
Workshop GoalsWorkshop Goals
To help me get input from you, we will use colored cards to answer questions:
A B C D EHow long have you been teaching physics?
A. 1 year or less
B. 2-3 years
C. 4-5 years
D. 5-6 years
E. 7 years or more
What level do you teach?
A. A levels only
B. O levels only
C. Both O levels and A levels
D. Something else
What does research tell us about how to teach science?
Traditional approach to teaching science:
1. Think very hard about subject, get it figured out very clearly.
2. Explain it to students, so they will understand with same clarity.
Unfortunately, research shows traditional approach often doesn’t work!
What does research tell us about how to teach science?
Research-based approach to teaching science:
1. Find out what your students are thinking.2. Get them actively engaged in figuring things
out for themselves.3. Monitor and guiding their thinking.
Research shows that there are effective ways to do this!
Data on effectiveness of traditional science teaching.-lectures, textbook homework problems, exams
1. Retention of information from lecture.
2. Conceptual understanding.
3. Beliefs about science and problem solving.
Mostly intro university physics (best data), but other subjects and levels consistent.
I. Redish- students interviewed as came out of lecture."What was the lecture about?"
only vaguest generalities
II. Rebello and Zollman- 18 students answer sixquestions. Then told to get answers to the6 questions from 14 minute lecture.(Commercial video, highly polished)Most questions, less than one student able to getanswer from lecture.
Data 1. Retention of information from lectureData 1. Retention of information from lecture
III. Wieman and Perkins - test 15 minutes after toldnonobvious fact in lecture.10% remember
Why?
Cognitive load-- best established, most ignored.
Mr Anderson, May I be excused?My brain is full.
Maximum~7 items short term memory, process 4 ideas at once.
MUCH less than in typical science lecture
Data 2. Conceptual understanding in traditional course (cont.)
electricity Eric Mazur
70% can calculate currents and voltages in this circuit.
40% correctly predict change in brightness of bulbs when switch closed! How can this be?
Solving test problems, but not understanding what they mean!
8 V
12 V
1
2
1
AB
On average learn <30% of concepts did not already know.Lecturer quality, class size, institution,...doesn't matter!
R. Hake, ”…A six-thousand-student survey…” AJP 66, 64-74 (‘98).
• Force Concept Inventory- Force Concept Inventory- basic concepts of force and motion 1st semester physics
Fraction of unknown basic concepts learned
Traditional Lecture courses
Data 2. Conceptual understanding in traditional course.
Ask at start and end of semester-- 100’s of courses
Novice Expert
Content: isolated pieces of information to be memorized.
Handed down by an authority. Unrelated to world.
Problem solving: pattern matching to memorized recipes.
nearly all intro physics courses more novice ref. Redish et al, CU work--Adams, Perkins, MD, NF, SP, CW
When the string is in position B, instantaneously flat, the velocity of points of the string is...A: zero everywhere. B: positive everywhere.C: negative everywhere. D: depends on the position.
AB
C
snapshots at different times.
Violin string and harmonics:- Good visualization of a standing wave on a string
Follow up question: At position C, the velocity of points of the string is...A: zero everywhere. B: positive everywhere.C: negative everywhere. D: depends on the position.
Correct :2002 demo: 27%2003 sim: 71%
Correct :2002 demo: 23 %2003 sim: 84%
Lecture – Visual AidShow wave
on a string
Follow-up Concept Test:
Lecture – Interactive Lecture Demos
Demo 4: Sketch position vs time and velocity vs time graphs for when Moving Man: walks steadily towards the tree for 6 seconds,then stands still for 6 seconds, and then towards the house twice as fast as before for 6 seconds.
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5 s 10 s 20 s15 sThornton and Sokoloff, 1997Thornton and Sokoloff, 1997
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D
Moving Man walks steadily towards the tree for 6 seconds, then stands still for 6 seconds, and then towards the house twice as fast as before for 6 seconds
Lab/Recitation: Small group activity
Sims good because:
Designed to help students to construct own conceptual understanding through exploration
But best when activities:
Guide students’ exploration to promote lines of inquiry that develop understanding of important concepts
Number of well-suited sims: – Moving Man– Masses and Springs– Ideal Gas– Circuit Construction Kit
Homework• Guide students work with the sim
• Homework questions: – Discover, explain, reason about important concepts– Explore cause-and-effect – Connect to their own experiences– True/false, multiple choice, numeric, essay
PhET Design
CCK Masses and Springs:
What makes these PhET sims particularly effective educational tools?
(Activities should take advantage of these features!)
Design of PhETWhat makes these effective educational tools?
• Engaging, open-style play area
• Highly interactive
• Dynamic feedback. Interaction links to animation.
• Can students construct understanding of main ideas? Achieve learning goals?
General General Design Design GuidelinesGuidelines
Experts- - really like.
Students--Watch without interacting. Don’t like. Misinterpret.
Example- of what revealed by interviewstudies.
Radio waves.Initial startup.
Start with curve view, manually move electron.Very different result. Later move to full field view, manipulate, like, and understand.
Correctly interpret.
Why do you think starting this way works so much better? briefly discuss with neighbors, then will collect ideas
Matches research on learning.•Cognitive demand. Novices don’t know what to focus on.treat everything equally important. Much more than short-term working memory can handle, overwhelming
• Construction of understanding.
Why starting this way worksso much better?
Other important features:Visual model-electrons in transmitting and receiving antennas,
display of wavesInteractivity
Research Base
ClassroomUse
Use of Sims:
Well honed tool for learning
Doesn’t guarantee its effectiveness: Effectiveness also depends on how it is used!
Example paper on research on effectiveness (in folder): Perkins et al., Physics Teacher
Research Base
ClassroomUse
Align Use of Sims with
Research on Learning:
Results of Research on How people learn?
People learn by actively constructing their own understanding.
People learn by building on their own prior knowledge and understanding.
Experts build an organized structure of knowledge, and monitor and reflect on their own understanding.
Exploration Time!• Find a partner and a computer• Browse entire PhET website • Match up topics/concepts you teach with sims• Think a bit about how you might use each:
– pre-class assignment? – in lecture concept test or interactive lecture demo?– in-class activity?– homework?– other?
• Use pink handout to keep track of how you could use sims in your classes.
• See blue handout for examples of how we use them in our classes.
PhET Team Approach to Curriculum Design:Guided Inquiry Approach
GUIDELINES (purple handout): Does the activity …
• Address all of your learning goals?• Require active thinking, sense making /
reasoning? • Build on prior knowledge? • Connect to real world? • Help students monitor their understanding?
Designing activities• Compare 2 activities for masses & springs.
gray handout
• Given general PhET sim design,
What general characteristics/approacheswould you use in making activity that
maximizes effective learning experience?
So what’s in a design?
What general characteristics/approacheswould you use in making activity that
maximizes effective learning experience?
So what’s in a design?
PhET Team Approach to Curriculum Design:Guided Inquiry Approach
Does the activity … • Address all of your learning goals?• Require active thinking? • Require sense making / reasoning? • Build on prior knowledge? • Connect to real world? • Help students monitor their understanding?
Evaluating an activity?Masses and Springs:
Activity A Activity B
1. Which guidelines do you feel are applied in each activity?
2. How do you think aligning the activity with the guidelines will help students learn?
•Address all of your learning goals?
•Require active thinking? •Require sense making /
reasoning?
•Build on prior knowledge? •Connect to real world? •Help students monitor their
understanding?
Circuits Activity
• Sample activity we use in our classes.
• Work through with your partner.
• Think about how it uses the guidelines.
• Think about how you could use this in your classes?– Does it need adaptation?
