Under certain conditions, retrieval-based practice can produce learning at-least as good as peer instruction.
Continue readingTag: Instructional strategies
Research-backed advice for mentoring researchers
Mentoring an undergraduate researcher for the first time or looking to improve your mentoring ability? See what the literature has to say.
Continue readingVirtual Labs vs Physical Labs: does it matter?
Physics labs can be done with physical equipment or done virtually. It appears each has its own benefits.
Continue readingWill I get worse student evaluations if I switch to active learning? Probably not.
Many instructors fear that switching from lecture to active learning will result in worse student evaluations. That doesn’t appear to be the case.
Continue readingThis title is like an analogy; it should explain this post but it really doesn’t.
Analogies are used all of the time in physics education. But what makes a good analogy?
Continue readingThat’s no schematic, it’s a power box
Today’s post introduces a new type of representation for understanding circuits, the power box with multiple examples.
Continue readingHey instructors, your beliefs can affect students’ grades (and not in a positive way)
Minority students in classes with fixed-mindset instructors do worse than in classes with growth-mindset instructors.
Continue readingYou seem like a physicist
Explicitly and implicitly recognizing students as physicists can help them identify as physicists.
Continue readingExtra! Extra! Physics labs might be extra
Labs have been a standard part of the physics curriculum. Today’s paper suggests that labs don’t help students develop physics knowledge beyond what is already covered in other parts of the course.
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?
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