Conclusions

• SoTL research is something that you can do in your own classroom by simply analyzing what does/ doesn't work.

• SoTL research cuts across all disciplines and there is much that we can learn by employing the research methods of each other's disciplines. Related to this is the SoTL Discussion Group that meets monthly here at LMU. Everybody is welcomed to attend, even if you are only curious about what other people are doing. (Contact Curt Bennett or Jackie Dewar for meeting times.)

• The physics community has created measures of student understanding that go beyond traditional problems which may only assess a student's understanding of a specific example, rather than the general concept. These provide ways to objectively assess student learning.

• Many LMU students have weak scientific reasoning skills and/ or naive views about learning. These cognitive skills and epistemological views can significantly impact students' performance in class. (Okay, we haven't established causality, only correlations, but the cause & effect are plausible.)

• Pulbications and conference presentations!

(This talk, and others related to this research, can be found at http://myweb.lmu.edu/jphillips/PER.)