Thinking In Physics: Scientific Reasoning Skills & Metacognition in Introductory Physics

Drs. Coletta & Phillips are currently working on a project that examines factors that may be related to student success in physics. They are looking at cognitive and epistemological aspects of student thinking. Specifically, scientific reasoning (such as working with proportions) and beliefs about how one learns.

Results of early data analysis suggests that existing surveys may be useful in isolating factors that correlate with improvement on physics conceptual tests. Data primarily come from these surveys, but in the study interviews and other qualitative methods will be used.

The hope is that by identifying some of the factors that correlate with conceptual understanding, they will be able to identify students who may need additional, or different, instruction.

July 2007: The National Science Foundation (Division of Undergraduate Education) has made an award to support the Thinking In Physics program. The Phase I Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) award will support the development and assessment of instructional mathods and materials aimed at helping college students who would otherwise struggle in introductory physics courses. (Project summary) As the project progresses, results will be posted. (LMU press release)

Papers

• Interpreting force concept inventory scores: Normalized gain and SAT scores, Physical Review Special Topics: Physics Education Research (2007)
• Why You Should Measure Your Students’ Reasoning Ability Before You Give the Force Concept Inventory, The Physics Teacher (2007).
• Interpreting FCI Scores: Normalized gain, pre-instruction scores, and scientific reasoning ability, American Journal of Physics (2005).

Presentations
Recently, updates on the project have been presented at meetings of the American Association of Physics Teachers and Carnegie Colloquium. Copies of some of these presentations are listed below:

• Lawson Test Scores, SAT Scores, and Normalized Learning Gains and Student Evaluations of Teaching and Conceptual Learning in Introductory Physics (Summer 2007 AAPT Meeting)
• Teaching In an Interactive Classroom (Summer 2006 AAPT Meeting)
• Thinking in Physics (Summer 2006 PERC)
• Teaching Physics Interactively & accompanying resources (Spring 2006 SCAAPT Meeting)
• Students' Reasoning Skills, Personal Epistemologies and Success in Physics (2006 Carnegie Colloquium)
• Students' Reasoning Skills, Views of Learning, and Success in Physics (Fall 2005 SCAAPT Meeting)
• Students' Reasoning Skills & Personal Epistemologies a.k.a. How I transformed my teaching experiences into research projects (& publications!) (LMU's Junior Faculty Seminar Series, November 2005)
• Effects of Cognitive Skills and Personal Epistemologies on Conceptual Gains (Summer 2005 AAPT Meeting)
• FCI Normalized Gains and Population Effects (Summer 2005 AAPT Meeting)
• Do Scientific Reasoning Skills Affect Learning in Introductory Physics? (Winter 2004 AAPT Meeting)

Drs. Coletta & Phillips are interested in making contact with other instructors & researchers so a more diverse set of students can be studied. Anybody who would like to participate should contact either Dr. Coletta or Dr. Phillips.