Teaching Strategies for Instructors of the Physical Sciences

1
Teaching Strategies for Instructors of the
Physical Sciences

• UNC Orientation for New Graduate Students
• Fall 2001
• Presented by Duane Deardorff
• Director of Undergraduate Laboratories
• Dept. of Physics and Astronomy

2
Introduction

• Which department are you from?
• Will you teach labs, recitations, or a course?
• What teaching techniques are you aware of?
• What do you hope to learn from this session?

3
Workshop Goals

• Learn teaching strategies to add to your teaching
  tool box.
• Develop plan to implement teaching tools.

4
Summary of PER Findings

• Traditional lecturing is not as effective as
  active-engagement methods of instruction.
• Students are not blank slates.
  They construct new knowledge based on their prior
  experiences and beliefs.
• Students knowledge is not as well-organized as
  that of experts.
• Research-based curricula can improve students
  conceptual understanding.

5
Active Learning

• Fifty years of modern scientific research has
  yielded the same conclusion stated hundreds of
  years earlier by Confucius.

6
Active Learning

• Fifty years of modern scientific research has
  yielded the same conclusion stated hundreds of
  years earlier by Confucius.
• I hear and I forget,
• I see and I remember,
• I do and I understand.
• - Chinese proverb

7
Cooperative Learning Groups

• Requirements for successful cooperative learning

8
Cooperative Learning Groups

• Requirements for successful cooperative learning
• Positive interdependence

9
Cooperative Learning Groups

• Requirements for successful cooperative learning
• Positive interdependence
• Individual accountability

10
Cooperative Learning Groups

• Requirements for successful cooperative learning
• Positive interdependence
• Individual accountability
• Face-to-face interaction

11
Cooperative Learning Groups

• Requirements for successful cooperative learning
• Positive interdependence
• Individual accountability
• Face-to-face interaction
• Appropriate use of interpersonal skills

12
Cooperative Learning Groups

• Requirements for successful cooperative learning
• Positive interdependence
• Individual accountability
• Face-to-face interaction
• Appropriate use of interpersonal skills
• Regular group self-assessment

13
Peer Instruction,Think-Pair-Share

• Instructor poses a challenging question
• Students commit to an answer individually
• Instructor calls for class vote (50 correct)
• Students discuss answers with neighbors
• After several minutes, students vote again, this
  time about 80 of students are correct.
• Instructor summarizes correct reasoning.

14
What does the scale read?
5 lbs
5 lbs

• A) 0
• B) 5 lbs.
• C) 10 lbs.

15
Interactive Lecture Demonstrations

• Lecture demonstrations are most effective when
  there is an active-learning component.
• Students predict the outcome of a demo
• Instructor performs demo and discusses
• Ideal for pre-lab presentations

16
Socratic Dialogue

• Ask students leading questions instead of
  giving an answer that will be easily forgotten.
• S Isnt the balls acceleration zero at the
  top?
• T What is the definition of acceleration?
• S Its the change in the velocity.
• T Is the direction of the velocity changing?
• S Yes, so I guess the acceleration is not
  zero.
• T Right!

17
Scaffolding

• Guidance and structure are removed as students
  gain experience.
• Useful for learning experimental design
• Transition from cookbook to open-ended labs

18
Model-Coach-Fade

• Complex tasks require guidance and practice
• Model what is expected (show example)
• Coach students as they practice
• Fade until students can master on their own
• This technique is ideal for recitations.

19
Bridging

• Connects students common-sense beliefs to an
  intended way of thinking that may not make sense
  at first.
• Example The question about scale force.

20
Learning Styles
Try to match your teaching style to your
students learning styles

• Visual/Verbal
• Active/Reflective
• Intuitive/Sensing
• Inductive/Deductive
• Sequential/Global

21
Relevant Applications

• Abstract concepts can be made real by giving
  students examples of applications
• Motivates interest - good for introduction
• After instruction, ask students to think of other
  applications

22
Analogies

• This is another way to connect with the familiar.
• Examples
• Electric current is like water flowing in pipes
• Voltage is like water pressure
• Resistance is like a constriction in the pipe
• An emf is like a pump

23
Multiple Representations

• Words, symbols, diagrams, math, graphs
• acceleration
• a
• dv/dt

a
a
24
Mnemonics

• Sine is Mercury My
• Opposite over Venus Very
• Hypoteneuse. Earth Educated
• Cosine is Mars Mother
• Adjacent over Jupiter Just
• Hypoteneuse. Saturn Served
• Tangent is Uranus Us
• Opposite over Neptune Nine
• Adjacent. Pluto Pizza
• Planet X Pies
• ELI the ICE man

25
GOAL Problem-Solving Strategy

• Gather information
• Organize your approach
• Analyze the problem
• Learn from your efforts

26
Concept Tests

• 30 diagnostic test instruments for physics alone

• FCI - Force Concept Inventory
• TUG-K - Test of Understanding Graphs
• FMCE - Force and Motion Concept Exam
• CSEM - Conceptual Survey of Electricity and
  Magnetism
• MPEX - Maryland Physics Expectations

27
Minute Paper

• What is the main thing you learned today?
• What questions do you still have?

28
What can you use in your teaching?

• Think-Pair-Share
• Cooperative Learning
• Demonstrations
• Socratic dialogue
• Model-coach-fade
• Scaffolding
• Bridging

• Learning styles
• Representations
• Analogies
• Mnemonics
• GOAL
• Concept Tests
• Minute Paper