Homework gives students an opportunity to practice important college-level physics skills. A switch to Web-based homework alters the nature of feedback received, potentially changing the pedagogical benefit. Calculus-and algebra-based introductory physics students enrolled in large paired lecture sections at a public university completed homework of standard end-of-the-chapter exercises using either the Web or paper. Comparison of their performances on regular exams, conceptual exams, quizzes, laboratory, and homework showed no significant differences between groups; other measures were found to be strong predictors of performance. This indicates that the change in medium itself has limited effect on student learning. Ways in which Web-based homework could enable exercises with greater pedagogical value are discussed. Web-based homework is a rapidly growing educational use of the Internet. At least a hundred thousand U.S. students currently submit their homework for computerized grading over the Web while attending real (nonvirtual) classes, and the practice is also growing rapidly in math, chemistry, and other sciences.1 In addition to this are students enrolled in on-line courses and those who use on-line practice quizzes and the like. ''Anytime, anywhere'' computerized systems which instantly mark answers right or wrong and then allow errors to be corrected are replacing traditional paper homework handed in during class, graded by the instructor or an assistant, and returned with marks and comments days to weeks later.Homework is an important component of introductory physics instruction at the college level. Introductory algebra-and calculus-based physics courses at the college level put a great emphasis on the ability to solve problems. Specifically, these are word problems requiring students to find a numerical quantity using given information and applying one or more physics formulas. All the widely used textbooks devote significant space to examples of how to solve these types of
R eaders may have heard of WebAssign, 1 CAPA, 2 OWL, 3 or Homework Service, 4 a few of the systems available to automate the process of collecting and grading student homework. Some of you may already be users of one of these systems, others may have wondered about using them, and still others might believe it is unconscionable to relegate something as important as homework to a machine. Computer homework systems can certainly be a time-saver
In this paper, we describe how we transformed our large-enrollment introductory physics sequence for life-science students to a Lecture/Studio format and aligned the physics concepts with authentic biological applications. We have reformed the pedagogy to include research-validated practices in interactive engagement, and accomplished our goals of enhanced learning gains, sustainability, and adoptability of our course reforms. The active engagement at the heart of the Lecture/Studio format results in comparable or enhanced learning gains (as measured by validated concept surveys) when compared to traditional instruction. When coupled with appropriate instructor preparation the format is sustainable, requiring no greater financial or human resources than does the traditional mode of teaching such courses. We have developed a complete suite of activeengagement instructional materials and made them available to the physics education community for adoption outside our institution.
What do we want our students to get out of the introductory physics course? Often these goals include improved conceptual understanding, improved critical thinking and improved writing and communication. These can be difficult goals to accomplish. One possible way to address these goals is through the use of peer ranking of student writing. In a peer ranking assignment, students not only answer a conceptual question but they also evaluate other students' answers. With a normal writing assignment, once students answer a question the students' involvement has ended. With a peer ranking assignment, students actively focus on both writing and physics.
The Student-Centered Activities for Large Enrollment University Physics (SCALE-UP) project at North Carolina State University (NCSU) is developing a curriculum to promote learning through in-class group activities in introductory physics classes up to 100 students. We are currently in Phase II of the project using a specially designed multimedia classroom for 54 students to teach the introductory physics course for engineering majors. This is an intermediate step to the full SCALE-UP classes (99 students) that will be taught in Fall 2000 when the larger classroom is completed. Both classrooms are designed to encourage students to work in groups of three, provide each group with to a laptop computer that has access to the Internet, and allow instructors to interact with each student group. Traditional lecture and laboratory are replaced with an integrated approach using active-learning cooperative group activities. The project is investigating several aspects of instruction including classroom design, classroom management, and curriculum materials. The curriculum materials include adaptation of researchbased/informed activities from the literature to the SCALE-UP classroom and development of new activities. This talk will focus on the evaluation of the project, in particular, evaluating whether students are achieving the learning objectives for the curriculum. Several of the course learning objectives overlap the ABET 2000 criteria including: learning to work well in groups (teamwork), communicating effectively, being able to apply knowledge of mathematics and physics to new situations, and conducting, analyzing and interpreting experiments in addition to building a functional understanding of the course content. Evaluation methods of the SCALE-UP classes taught during the 1998-2000 school years include concept tests, individual and group exams, peer evaluation, and focus group interviews. The results show that students are building a better understanding of the main physics concepts, are more successful at solving problems, and are generally on-task and communicating well during group activities.
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