Applying Knowledge in New Contexts: A Comparison of Pre- and Post-Instruction Students* Paper Poster
Dyan L. McBride and Dean A. Zollman, Kansas State University
For several years, our research group at Kansas State has been studying how students apply knowledge in new contexts. One such study focuses on how students apply knowledge of light and basic geometric optics to the context of wavefront aberrometry. In one aspect of this study we compared the application of previous knowledge of students who had studied light and basic geometric optics in a physics course with those who had not and thus could only apply knowledge obtained in an informal way. We sought to examine what differences exist in the way they construct an understanding of wavefront aberrometry. The data showed that students with no formal instruction tended to rely on experiential knowledge as one would expect. However, the students with formal instruction relied on textbook knowledge and tended to discount or ignore their everyday experiences. We will discuss what this difference in knowledge types might imply about the knowledge construction process.
*Supported in part by NSF Grant DUE 04-27645
Friday, August 28, 2009
McBride, Zollman: AAPT Winter 2009
Concept categorization analysis: verbal and written data sources*
Dyan McBride and Dean A. Zollman
Department of Physics, Kansas State University
Our current project, which focuses on how students construct an understanding of wavefront aberrometry, has produced a significant amount of both verbal data from interviews and written data from student worksheets. Using concept categorization techniques, we present an analysis of both types of data; in particular, we focus on comparing the two data types for use with concept categorization analysis and present both advantages and disadvantages of this method for each type of data.
*Supported by National Science Foundation grant DUE 04-27645
Dyan McBride and Dean A. Zollman
Department of Physics, Kansas State University
Our current project, which focuses on how students construct an understanding of wavefront aberrometry, has produced a significant amount of both verbal data from interviews and written data from student worksheets. Using concept categorization techniques, we present an analysis of both types of data; in particular, we focus on comparing the two data types for use with concept categorization analysis and present both advantages and disadvantages of this method for each type of data.
*Supported by National Science Foundation grant DUE 04-27645
McBride, Zollman, Wiesner and Rachel: AAPT Summer 2009
Simulations for Teaching Wavefront Aberrometry
Dyan L. McBride and Dean A. Zollman, Kansas State University
Helmut Wiesner and Alexander Rachel, Ludwig Maximilians University
Based on research in the transfer of student learning, we have developed two interactive visualizations that help students understand the optics of the human eye and recent advances in the use of wavefront aberrometry for vision defect diagnosis. The first visualization enables students to explore the optics related to accommodation of the eye lens, vision defects, and corrective lenses. The second visualization focusing on helping students learn about wavefront aberrometry, a relatively new method of diagnosing vision defects. Along with the visualizations, we will present our initial assessment of the effectiveness of the visualizations.
*Supported in part by NSF Grant DUE 04-27645
Dyan L. McBride and Dean A. Zollman, Kansas State University
Helmut Wiesner and Alexander Rachel, Ludwig Maximilians University
Based on research in the transfer of student learning, we have developed two interactive visualizations that help students understand the optics of the human eye and recent advances in the use of wavefront aberrometry for vision defect diagnosis. The first visualization enables students to explore the optics related to accommodation of the eye lens, vision defects, and corrective lenses. The second visualization focusing on helping students learn about wavefront aberrometry, a relatively new method of diagnosing vision defects. Along with the visualizations, we will present our initial assessment of the effectiveness of the visualizations.
*Supported in part by NSF Grant DUE 04-27645
McBride, PhD Dissertation, 2009
Transfer of Learning from Traditional Optics to Wavefront Aberrometry
Dyan L. McBride, Ph.D. Dissertation, 2009
This research presents an investigation of how students dynamically construct knowledge in a new situation. In particular, this work focuses on the contexts of light and optics, and examines the dynamic construction of an understanding of wavefront aberrometry. The study began with clinical interviews designed to elicit students’ prior knowledge about light, basic optics, and vision; the data were analyzed phenomenographically to obtain student models of understanding and examine the possible model variations. The results indicate that students have a significant number of resources in this subject area, though some are incomplete or less useful than others. In subsequent phases, many learning and teaching interviews were conducted to design and test scaffolding procedures that could be of use to students as they constructed their understanding of the given phenomenon. Throughout this work, student responses were analyzed in terms of the resources that were being used through the knowledge construction process. Finally, a modified analysis method is presented and utilized for quantifying what types of concepts students use while constructing their understanding, and how they are able to link varying types of concepts together. Significant implications extend beyond the single context of wavefront aberrometry. Each distinct analysis technique provides further insight to the ways in which students learn across contexts and the ways in which we can scaffold their learning to improve curriculum and instruction.
Supported by the National Science Foundation under grant DUE 0427645
Dyan L. McBride, Ph.D. Dissertation, 2009
This research presents an investigation of how students dynamically construct knowledge in a new situation. In particular, this work focuses on the contexts of light and optics, and examines the dynamic construction of an understanding of wavefront aberrometry. The study began with clinical interviews designed to elicit students’ prior knowledge about light, basic optics, and vision; the data were analyzed phenomenographically to obtain student models of understanding and examine the possible model variations. The results indicate that students have a significant number of resources in this subject area, though some are incomplete or less useful than others. In subsequent phases, many learning and teaching interviews were conducted to design and test scaffolding procedures that could be of use to students as they constructed their understanding of the given phenomenon. Throughout this work, student responses were analyzed in terms of the resources that were being used through the knowledge construction process. Finally, a modified analysis method is presented and utilized for quantifying what types of concepts students use while constructing their understanding, and how they are able to link varying types of concepts together. Significant implications extend beyond the single context of wavefront aberrometry. Each distinct analysis technique provides further insight to the ways in which students learn across contexts and the ways in which we can scaffold their learning to improve curriculum and instruction.
Supported by the National Science Foundation under grant DUE 0427645
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Zollman, Murphy, Stevens, Christel: GIREP-EPEC Plenary 2009
Web-based Pedagogical Assistance for Under-prepared Teachers of Physics Slides Paper
Dean Zollman & Sytil Murphy
Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506; USA
Scott Stevens, & Michael Christel, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 152319 USA
Recently President Obama noted a serious concern about secondary science education in the United States. “Yet in high schools, more than 20 percent of students in math and more than 60 percent of students in chemistry and physics are taught by teachers without expertise in these fields.“ This problem is not new, so several years ago we begin a Web-based effort to address it. The Physics Teaching Web Advisory (Pathway) is an effort to demonstrate the ability to address pedagogical issues of many physics teachers via the Web. Pathway’s “Synthetic Interviews” are a unique way to engage inexperienced teachers in a natural language dialog about effective teaching of physics. These virtual conversations and related video materials are now providing pre-service and out-of-field in-service teachers with much needed professional development, and well-prepared teachers with new perspectives on teaching physics. The database is a growing digital library and now contains about 6,000 different recorded answers and over 10,000 question/answer pairs. An additional component is a collection of videos which can be used directly in the classroom. This collection includes both professional and teacher-produced videos. Unlike YouTube they are screened for usefulness before posting, but also will soon take advantage of the vast resources on YouTube and other similar sites. Pathway is available at http://www.physicspathway.org
Supported by the US National Science Foundation under Grants 0455772 & 0455813.
Dean Zollman & Sytil Murphy
Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506; USA
Scott Stevens, & Michael Christel, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 152319 USA
Recently President Obama noted a serious concern about secondary science education in the United States. “Yet in high schools, more than 20 percent of students in math and more than 60 percent of students in chemistry and physics are taught by teachers without expertise in these fields.“ This problem is not new, so several years ago we begin a Web-based effort to address it. The Physics Teaching Web Advisory (Pathway) is an effort to demonstrate the ability to address pedagogical issues of many physics teachers via the Web. Pathway’s “Synthetic Interviews” are a unique way to engage inexperienced teachers in a natural language dialog about effective teaching of physics. These virtual conversations and related video materials are now providing pre-service and out-of-field in-service teachers with much needed professional development, and well-prepared teachers with new perspectives on teaching physics. The database is a growing digital library and now contains about 6,000 different recorded answers and over 10,000 question/answer pairs. An additional component is a collection of videos which can be used directly in the classroom. This collection includes both professional and teacher-produced videos. Unlike YouTube they are screened for usefulness before posting, but also will soon take advantage of the vast resources on YouTube and other similar sites. Pathway is available at http://www.physicspathway.org
Supported by the US National Science Foundation under Grants 0455772 & 0455813.
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