Overview, Case Study Physics

Abstract

Overview, Case Study (OCS) Physics is an effort to integrate recent results from physics education research into instruction for introductory university physics courses that emphasize problem solving. Students actively construct a knowledge hierarchy on a foundation of qualitative understanding. They analyze physical processes and problems using methods similar to those used by experienced scientists. Students receive repeated exposure to concepts in a variety of contexts over an extended time interval. Preliminary trials of OCS Physics have produced promising gains in student qualitative understanding, in their ability to solve problems, and in their ability to form and access a knowledge hierarchy.

Use of research-based instructional strategies in introductory physics: Where do faculty leave the innovation-decision process?

“…Active Learning Problem Sheets [4,5] Activity-Based Physics Tutorials [6] Context-Rich Problems [7] Cooperative Group Problem Solving [8,9] Experiment Problems [10] Interactive Lecture Demonstrations [11] Investigative Science Learning Environment [5,12] Just-In-Time Teaching [13] Modeling Physics [14,15] Open Source Physics [16] Open Source Tutorials [17] Overview, Case Study Physics [18] Peer Instruction [19,20] Physlets [21,22] Ranking Tasks [23] Real Time Physics/Tools for Scientific Thinking Labs [24] Scale-Up, Studio Physics [25][26][27] Socratic Dialog Inducing labs [28] Thinking Problems [29] TIPERS [23,30,31] Tutorials in Introductory Physics [32] Video-Based Labs [33,34] Workbook for Introductory Physics [35] Workshop Physics [36,37] RBIS of Peer Instruction [19,20,39,52,53]. Peer Instruction was developed by Mazur for use in his large lecture introductory physics courses at Harvard University.…”

Improving performance in quantum mechanics with explicit incentives to correct mistakes

“…Moreover, many introductory physics students are "captive audiences"-they may not buy into the goals of the course and their main goal becomes getting a good grade even if their learning is superficial [31]. Research suggests that the introductory physics students can benefit from explicit guidance and feedback in developing problem solving and learning skills and alignment of course goals with assessment methods [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][31][32][33][34][35]44,45]. However, it is commonly assumed that the learning skills of students in advanced physics courses are superior to those of students in introductory courses so they will monitor their learning and learn from their mistakes.…”

“…One characteristic of prior research studies has been that they have mostly focused on how introductory physics students differ from physics experts [26][27][28][29][30] and strategies that may help introductory students learn to learn [15,16,[31][32][33][34][35]. By comparison, few investigations have focused on the learning skills of advanced physics students, although some investigations have been carried out on the difficulties advanced students have with advanced topics such as quantum physics and how to help them learn quantum mechanics better [36][37][38][39][40].…”

Using a Disciplinary Discourse Lens to Explore How Representations Afford Meaning Making in a Typical Wave Physics Course

“…However, if small groups are used within the class, student-student communication is vital for enhancing learning outcomes (Mazur, 2009). Gautreau & Novemsky (1997) report that they have used "Overview, case study physics" (Van Heuvelen, 1991) for many years with very good results; they have noticed that a second teaching takes place in small group work after the teachers first teaching. This second teaching corresponds to an interactive-dialogic communication between peers, also referred to in the literature as "exploratory talks."…”

“…Perhaps the most powerful dynamic that a teacher can introduce into their classroom to enhance learning outcomes is one where students engage with one another in small groups as part of a broader teacher-student engagement (for example, see Deslauriers, Schelew & Wieman, 2011;Mazur, 2009; and for an in-depth review of "promising practices in undergraduate science," see Froyd, 2008). The development of teaching practice informed by active engagement (for example, see Mazur, 1997;Van Heuvelen & Etkina, 2006) requires a new awareness of the role that representations-the highly specialized forms of communication used in science-play in the affordance of learning (Van Heuvelen, 1991). Even though a large number of prominent science educators have convincingly argued that many of the challenges found in science learning are largely a function of difficulties in handling and understanding such representa-tions (Erickson, 2007), relatively little research has focused on this issue in university physics.…”