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In this article, we present several modifications to the Test of Understanding Graphs in Kinematics. The most significant changes are (i) the addition and removal of items to achieve parallelism in the objectives (dimensions) of the test, thus allowing comparisons of students' performance that were not possible with the original version, and (ii) changes to the distractors of some of the original items that represent the most frequent alternative conceptions. The final modified version (after an iterative process involving four administrations of test variations over two years) was administered to 471 students of an introductory university physics course at a large private university in Mexico. When analyzing the final modified version of the test it was found that the added items satisfied the statistical tests of difficulty, discriminatory power, and reliability; also, that the great majority of the modified distractors were effective in terms of their frequency selection and discriminatory power; and, that the final modified version of the test satisfied the reliability and discriminatory power criteria as well as the original test. Here, we also show the use of the new version of the test, presenting a new analysis of students' understanding not possible to do before with the original version of the test, specifically regarding the objectives and items that in the new version meet parallelisms. Finally, in the PhysPort project (physport.org), we present the final modified version of the test. It can be used by teachers and researchers to assess students' understanding of graphs in kinematics, as well as their learning about them.

Background: The characteristics of the classroom environment play an important role in shaping teaching practices and supporting research-based instructional strategies. One instructional strategy that has reimagined the classroom is the Student-Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-Down Pedagogies (SCALE-UP). SCALE-UP uses studio-style instruction to facilitate student collaboration. Although there is significant interest in studio-style instruction, there is not much research-based guidance available for institutions interested in setting up a classroom, especially for secondary users interested in using this in different academic settings and contexts. We interviewed key informants involved in 21 successful secondary implementations of SCALE-UP about creating, using, and spreading studio-style classrooms. This paper summarizes respondent's perceptions of (1) how these classrooms are initiated; (2) which classroom features are helpful, non-essential, and unhelpful; (3) how professional development efforts support SCALE-UP instructors; and (4) how the classroom indirectly affects the department and/or institution. Results: Room initiation--Interviewees engaged in multiple activities to obtain a studio-style classroom. The majority of interviewees worked in teams created by faculty or administrators, with the participation from both groups. Interviewees typically sought institutional funding to develop the rooms. Classroom features--When developing the room, implementers used many key characteristics of the recommended classroom, such as collaborative workspace (e.g., special tables) for students, but they generally did not replicate all of the recommended features. Interviewees had mixed opinions about the importance of classroom technology. Professional development and support Interviewees noted the importance of professional development for teaching staff (instructors and teaching assistants) new to the SCALE-UP teaching environment. Indirect effects--Beyond direct benefits to the teachers and learners, our interviewees reported that the classrooms had larger impacts including attracting visitors to the institution and encouraging the use of active learning in non-SCALE-UP classes. Conclusions: There are many paths to successful development of a studio-style classroom. The process can be initiated by faculty or administrators. Classroom designs can vary to suit the local environment as long as they maintain the intent of the space: to support peer collaboration. Beyond improving student outcomes, these classrooms have additional benefits for institutions that include transforming instructor approaches to teaching and symbolizing the institution's commitment to quality teaching.

This chapter examines active learning spaces as they have developed over the years. Consistently well-designed classrooms can facilitate active learning even though the details of implementing pedagogies may differ.

Background: Many innovative teaching strategies have been developed under the assumption that documenting successful student learning outcomes at the development site is enough to spread the innovation successfully to secondary sites. Since this 'show them and they will adopt' model has yet to produce the desired large-scale transformation, this study examines one innovative teaching strategy that has demonstrated success in spreading. This instructional strategy, Student-Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-down Pedagogies (SCALE-UP), modifies both the pedagogy and classroom design to maximize interaction and activity-based learning. A web survey was used to develop a census of instructors who have been influenced by SCALE-UP. Results: SCALE-UP, which started in large enrollment university physics, has spread widely across disciplines and institutions. The survey identified that SCALE-UP style instruction is currently used in over a dozen disciplines at a minimum of 314 departments in at least 189 higher education institutions in 21 countries. Many more respondents indicated learning about SCALE-UP via interpersonal channels, such as talks/workshops and colleagues, than via mass media channels, such as the Internet and publications. We estimate the dissemination of SCALE-UP in physics may be at the tipping point between adoption by adventurous early users and the more mainstream majority. Implementers demonstrate pedagogical and structural variation in their use of SCALE-UP. Conclusions: Leveraging interpersonal networks can help accelerate dissemination of educational innovations and should be used more prominently in change strategies. Since SCALE-UP may be nearing a tipping point within the discipline of physics, now may be the time to modify change strategies to appeal to more typical faculty rather than the early adopters. This may include using successful secondary implementers as like-minded intermediaries to reach out to people considering the use of the innovation in different institutional settings for more practical and relatable advice. For SCALE-UP, having a specialized classroom may improve the likelihood of continued use at an institution. We also hypothesize that having a special classroom may start departmental conversations about innovative teaching and may make instructors less likely to revert back to traditional methods.

We present a measure, which we have named the Pedagogical Expectancy Violation Assessment (PEVA), for instructors to gauge one aspect of the success of their implementation of pedagogical reform by assessing the expectations and experiences of the students in the classroom. We implemented the PEVA in four physics classes at three institutions that used the Student Centered Active Learning Environment for Undergraduate Programs (SCALE-UP) pedagogy in order to gain an understanding of students' initial expectations, how those expectations are shifted during early classes, and what students report experiencing at the end of the semester. The results indicate appropriate shifts in student expectations during orientation, but some gaps between student expectations and experiences persisted. Students rated the communication aspects of SCALE-UP as desirable and indicated an overall positive affect toward the pedagogy, indicating that violations of their initial expectations were largely positive. By studying the patterns of the shifts in students' expectations and gaps between those expectations and their experiences, we gain insight for improving both the orientation of the students and the implementation of the course. (Contains 3 figures and 8 tables.) [A 37-item list of references and notes is provided.]

The purpose of this brief paper is to provide insight into the kinds of work being done by an education research group in a US physics department. As will be evident, instructional technology raises many interesting questions and lends itself to a wide variety of studies. References and contacts are provided for readers wanting more detailed information on the research. The paper is based on a presentation given at the Workshop on Best Practices of ICT Use in a University Environment, 24 September 2004, in Zurich. (Contains 8 figures.)

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. (Contains 2 notes, 7 tables, and 4 figures.)

There are increasing numbers of traditional biologists, untrained in educational research methods, who want to develop and assess new classroom innovations. In this article we argue the necessity of formal research over normal classroom feedback. We also argue that traditionally trained biologists can make significant contributions to biology pedagogy. We then offer some guidance to the biologist with no formal educational research training who wants to get started. Specifically, we suggest ways to find out what others have done, we discuss the difference between qualitative and quantitative research, and we elaborate on the process of gaining insights from student interviews. We end with an example of a project that has used many different research techniques. (Contains 2 figures and 2 tables.)

For many students, introductory physics is an enormous hurdle to cross in their educational careers. Studies show that many students struggle with basic vector concepts and hold misconceptions of fundamental principles like Newton's laws, ideas essential to the understanding of higher-order physics concepts and for achieving success in engineering and the other sciences. As it currently stands, common introductory textbooks provide insufficient guidance for students to learn the nuances of creating free-body diagrams. Such textbooks merely give a trivial example of a single object in equilibrium with only two forces on it when introducing the topic, and when giving more difficult examples, especially for multi-object systems, they fail to provide sufficient guidance on specific steps to create the free-body diagrams for each part of the system. Perhaps an even greater failing of these textbooks is the complete lack of emphasis on vector magnitudes, which can lead to unrealistic free-body diagrams that are unhelpful and can even be detrimental to student understanding. When drawn properly, free-body diagrams can be used as a quick reality check at the end of a problem.

Web-based assessment and testing systems provide a valuable new tool to the education research community: a tool that combines the ability of multiple choice diagnostic tests to handle large numbers of subjects with some of the greater flexibility and additional information that other methods offer. This article discusses the strengths and weaknesses for education research and presents some strategies for the tool's use. (Contains 27 references.) (Author/AEF)

Although a simple spring/mass system damped by a friction force of constant magnitude shares many of the characteristics of the simple and damped harmonic oscillators, its solution is not presented in most texts. Closed form solutions for the turning and stopping points can be found using an energy-based approach. A dynamical approach leads to a closed form solution for the position of the mass as a function of time. The main result is that the amplitude of the oscillator damped by a constant magnitude friction force decreases by a constant amount each swing and the motion dies out after a finite time. We present these two solutions and suggest ways that the system can be used in the classroom. [DOI: 10.1119/1.1624113]

Both high school and university students' reasoning regarding direct current resistive electric circuits often differ from the accepted explanations. At present, there are no standard diagnostic tests on electric circuits. Two versions of a diagnostic instrument were developed, each consisting of 29 questions. The information provided by this test can provide instructors with a way of evaluating the progress and conceptual difficulties of their students. The analysis indicates that students, especially females, tend to hold multiple misconceptions, even after instruction. During interviews, the idea that the battery is a constant source of current was used most often in answering the questions. Students tended to focus on the current in solving problems and to confuse terms, often assigning the properties of current to voltage and/or resistance.

Reviews the state-of-the-art in Macintosh microcomputers for the college-level physics laboratory. Discusses the availability of software and software development including programing languages and HyperCard. Describes application softwares including the area of simulations, data sampling and analysis, and instructional lessons. (YP)

Physics students are better able to comprehend the potential and electric field relationship when visually represented through a three-dimensional contour surface plot. These surface plots can be easily produced using the Chart function in many spreadsheets, such as Microsoft Excel. Step-by-step instructions for producing the plots in Microsoft Excel are included. Students can produce these plots by themselves with only a little familiarity with spreadsheets.

A study using a vector activity and stars of the Big Dipper to so as to make students understand about vectors, is presented.