|
Location:
|
HC 3023 & 3023A |
|
Date:
|
Wednesday, Aug.3 |
|
Time:
|
8:40 AM -8:50 AM
|
|
Author:
|
Paul Camp, Spelman College
404-270-5864, pcamp@spelman.edu
|
|
Co-Author(s):
|
Michael Burns-Kaurin , Derrick Hylton , Natarajan Ravi , Marta Dark-McNeese
|
|
Abstract:
|
For several years, the physics department at Spelman College has used project-based instruction as a central focus of our curriculum at all levels. This presentation will describe our work on the second-semester introductory course, in which we have moved all of the circuits material to a project-based investigation conducted entirely in the lab. There are several important differences between our implementation and similar efforts such as Workshop Physics, notably the use of complex, ill-formed problems as a central focus of the pedagogy, the use of distributed expertise to drive collaboration and communication, and the improvement of process skills through iterative refinement. We will describe the foundations of our pedagogical design in cognitive and learning science and previous similar efforts in other learning contexts, contrast it with other inquiry-based designs, and describe some of what we are observing in the test and comparison classes. Data collection and processing is currently ongoing so this presentation will necessarily focus more on the design rationale than on the results.
|
|
Footnotes:
|
None
|
|
|
|