Crystal City Marriott — Arlington, VA
October 31–November 2, 2003

Breakout A: Making Lectures More Interactive
Eric Mazur

Harvard University

E-mail: Mazur@physics.harvard.edu

Mazur’s presentation in pdf file format is available here.

The website for Dr. Mazur's research group at Harvard is http://mazur-www.harvard.edu/

Evelyn Patterson

United States Air Force Academy

E-mail: evelyn.patterson@usafa.af.mil

The website for Just-Time-Teaching is http://webphysics.iupui.edu/jitt/jitt.html

Ronald Thornton
Tufts University

E-mail: csmt@tufts.edu

Thorton’s presentation in pdf file format is available here.

The website for the Tufts’ Center for Science and Math Teaching is http://ase.tufts.edu/csmt/

Breakout B: New Approaches to Labs
Priscilla Laws

Dickinson College

E-mail: lawsp@dickinson.edu

Information about Law’s presentation on the Activity Based Physics Suite is available at this website: http://physics.dickinson.edu/abp

Tom O’Kuma
Lee College

E-mail: tokuma@lee.edu

O’Kuma’s PowerPoint presentation is available here.

Breakout C: New Classroom Environments
Robert Beichner

North Carolina State University

E-mail: beichner@ncsu.edu

Beichner’s presentation on SCALE-UP is available here as a pdf file.

Additional information about the SCALE-UP project can be found at http://scaleup.ncsu.edu/

Breakout D: Research-Based Pedagogies
Lillian McDermott

University of Washington

E-mail: lcmcd@phys.washington.edu

Paula Heron

University of Washington

E-mail: pheron@phys.washington.edu

Peter Shaffer

University of Washington

E-mail: Shaffer@phys.washington.edu

Information about Physics by Inquiry and the research being conducted by the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington is available at their website http://www.phys.washington.edu/groups/peg/

Breakout E: Research-Based Pedagogies
Edward (Joe) Redish
University of Maryland-College Park

E-mail: redish@physics.umd.edu

Redish’s PowerPoint presentation is available here.

Six Ideas that Shaped Physics

The Introductory University Physics Project (IUPP) was a NSF-funded project (1987-1995) whose purpose was to develop and test alternatives to the standard introductory physics course. A summative report of this project appeared in the February 1998 issue of the American Journal of Physics. One of the more successful alternative curriculums that came out of the IUPP is the “Six Ideas that Shaped Physics.”

Thomas Moore

Pomona College

E-mail: tmoore@pomona.edu

Moore’s PowerPoint presentation is available here.

Panel Discussion: Identifying Local Barriers to Reform
Changing the traditional way that introductory physics courses are taught can be very difficult at most institutions where several faculty members are involved in teaching the same introductory course. Having the changes become institutionalized so the course does not regress back to its original lecture-based mode is even more difficult. Changing the introductory physics courses to include active engagement pedagogies may require significant extra effort and departure from traditional teaching methods for many faculty members. Evidence that these changes will result in improved student learning will be required to convince skeptical faculty members. Panel members discussed barriers to reform and responded to questions and concerns from the audience. Panel members were:

Dealing with Local Barriers: What Have People Learned that Can Help Others at Their Institutions
The leaders of the breakout groups on local barriers to reform shared reports from their breakouts and the discussion continued with all the participants.

Issues in Assessment - What is it for?
Scientists required evidence and data to support their hypothesis. What evidence is available that the new pedagogies used in the introductory physics courses result in better student learning and understanding of physics? Various assessment tools are available to measure student progress as well as assess the overall improvement of learning gains that result from reformed methods of instruction.

Ramon Lopez

University of Texas at El Paso

E-mail: relopez@utep.edu

Comparing Assessments
Robert Beichner
North Carolina State University

E-mail: beichner@ncsu.edu

Beichner’s presentation on assessing classroom performance is available here in pdf format.

Following Beichner’s presentation, the participants divided up into self-selected groups to discuss and critique the appropriateness of two assessment instruments: the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and the Force and Motion Concept Evaluation (FMCE).

Organizational Change
The University of Illinois Physics Department did a complete reform of their introductory calculus-based physics course and serves as a model for what can be done at a large institution with a very large introductory course. Changes made in the introductory course have been institutionalized across all faculty members who teach the course. Gary Gladding is the Assistant Chair for Undergraduate Education at the University of Illinois and served on the committee that was responsible for revision of the introductory courses.

Gary Gladding

University of Illinois

E-mail: geg@uiuc.edu

Gladding’s PowerPoint presentation is available here.

Making Change Happen
Those interested in making changes in the way their introductory physics courses are taught do not need to “reinvent the wheel.” First, there are many tested curriculum and pedagogical changes with data that shows they result in improved student learning. Some of these have been presented at this conference and the literature has references for many others. In addition, there are ways to approach change that will result in “buy-in” by other members of the department as well as administrators. One model of introducing change in the department is the “Concerns-Based Adoption Model.”

Ramon Lopez

University of Texas at El Paso

E-mail: relopez@utep.edu

Lopez’s PowerPoint presentation on Concerns-Based Adoption Model is available here.

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