Workshops are successful in introducing new teaching strategies but less so in sustaining them. How the strategies are introduced matters.
Continue readingAuthor: Nick Young
The (physics class) Social Network
A student’s network could have an impact on whether they decide to continue their degree program. Today’s paper looks into this issue.
Continue readingWho wants to be physics teacher?
What are the demographics of future physics teachers & are any of those characteristics associated with their performance on certification exams?
Continue readingThe Price of Active Learning
Active learning methods are thought to be more costly to implement than traditional lectures. Is this common belief actually the case and if so, what does that mean for their implementation?
Continue readingTo use g or not to use g? That is the question.
Normalized gain, g, has been the standard statistic in PER for the past two decades, but its statistical properties haven’t been explored until recently.
Continue readingThe Original Case for Active Learning
Arguably one of the most significant papers in physics education, this paper gave strong evidence in favor of active learning over traditional lecture courses.
Continue readingWhat’s DAT? A new approach to departmental change
DATs are a new way to create long-term, sustainable changes in an academic department.
Continue readingWhat can explain the gender gap on conceptual inventories?
Men score better than women do on physics conceptual inventories and the reasons aren’t straightforward.
Continue readingWhat do students think about experimental physics?
Lecture courses have been extensively studied but lab courses have not been. Are students developing the beliefs we would expect them to in lab courses?
Continue readingWhat do students think will happen to the universe?
Students learn astronomy informally through various forms of media. How does this inform their ideas about the fate of universe?
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