Physics 106P: Lecture 1 Notes
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Transcript Physics 106P: Lecture 1 Notes
Can Students Learn Concept-Based
Problem Solving on the Web?
Check it out at: http://webug.physics.uiuc.edu/courses/ie.html
Cottrell Scholars Meeting
Mats Selen
July 13, 2001
Cottrell Meeting (July/13/01): Pg 1
Overview
The Problem:
When given a quantitative physics problem, most students
immediately resort to an “equation manipulation” strategy to solve
the problem.
Too many students see “concepts” and “calculations” as two totally
separate and unrelated activities.
» When given a quantitative question, most students will NOT
think about the CONCEPTS that are involved.
» When given a qualitative question, most students will never
consider writing down an appropriate equation… math is NOT
seen as a TOOL
Our Approach:
Create web-based instructional materials that will promote
“concept-based” problem solving among our introductory students.
» Interactive Examples (work by Gary Gladding) !
Cottrell Meeting (July/13/01): Pg 2
Why we should stress concepts:
Physics 101 Midterm Exam 1, Spring 2000
On this exam, the conceptual problems were worth about 30% of the total.
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Traditional Homework:
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Limited help available…
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Interactive Examples (Socratic Dialogue)
Start by asking a numeric question
(usually multi-step)
when students click in “Help”…
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…”Help” results in a discussion followed by some
multiple-choice questions that lead them toward
the answer…
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This dialogue can take several steps…
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…these steps are designed to
teach students problem solving
approaches as well as physics…
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Eventually they get another (simpler) numeric question whose
answer is needed to solve the primary numeric question.
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Clicking on “Help” again results in a
similar dialogue as the first time,
although one level “deeper”.
- Problems can be 4-5 levels deep
- Eventually they get enough info to
solve the problem.
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Once they get
right the answer
They get a
recap
And some
follow-up
questions
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Structure:
Base question is a quantitative problem (multi-step).
Students can request help which comes in the form of more questions.
Questions for which more help is always available.
Questions that must be answered correctly to get more help.
Students can opt to answer the base question at any time.
Eventually, enough help is given to solve the problem.
Once base question is answered correctly:
Full credit is given.
A Recap is given (Conceptual, Strategic and Quantitative Analyses).
Follow-Up Questions (optional, i.e. no credit) are asked.
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REAL Data: Student Logs
We record all student submissions on IEs:
(the conversation)
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These data are very useful
for education research:
For example, some questions we might ask ourselves are:
How “engaged” are students by the IE’s ?
How, exactly, are they learning?
These can be investigated by analyzing the student logs:
How much time do students spend on the IEs?
How well do the students do on their first response to M/C
questions?
How deep into the IE do students go?
Cottrell Meeting (July/13/01): Pg 15
10
5
A v e r a ge Ti m e S pe nt (m in)
10
lo o p 2
flu x
emf
w a ll
fie ld s
co p p e rw ire
R C III
R C II
RCI
th re e ch a rg e s
ca p a cito r
p e n d u lu m
b o b sle d
in clin e
b e lt
tw o strin g s
ca rp e n d
b a llo o n
a rro w
ca tch b a ll
ca rtra in
ve cto r
trig
P hys ic s 1 0 1 IE #
P hys ic s 1 0 1 IE #
15
15
p a rticle b e a m
0
20
20
Physics 102
30
Physics 101
30
25
25
5
A v e r a ge Ti m e S pe nt (m in)
How Much Time Do Students Spend on IEs?
0
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How Well Do Students Do on their
First Response to M/C Questions?
Physics 102
0 .9 0
A v g G ra d e o n R a d io Q u e s tio n s
A v g G ra d e o n R a d io Q u e s tio n s
Physics 101
0 .8 0
0 .7 0
0 .6 0
0 .5 0
0 .4 0
0 .3 0
0 .2 0
0 .1 0
0 .0 0
0 .8 0
0 .7 0
0 .6 0
0 .5 0
0 .4 0
0 .3 0
0 .2 0
0 .1 0
0 .0 0
lo o p 2
flu x
em f
w a ll
fie ld s
co p p e rw ir e
R C III
R C II
RCI
th re e ch a r g e s
ca p a cito r
p e n d u lu m
p a rticle b e a m
b o b sle d
in clin e
b e lt
tw o strin g s
ca rp e n d
b a llo o n
a rro w
ca tch b a ll
ca rtra in
ve cto r
trig
IE Q u e s tio n #
0 .9 0
IE Q u e s tio n #
Cottrell Meeting (July/13/01): Pg 17
How Deep Do Students Go in IEs?
Physics 102
0 .9 0
0 .9 0
0 .8 0
0 .8 0
0 .7 0
0 .7 0
A v g D e p t h In to IE
A v g D e p t h In to IE
Physics 101
0 .6 0
0 .5 0
0 .4 0
0 .3 0
0 .2 0
0 .6 0
0 .5 0
0 .4 0
0 .3 0
0 .2 0
0 .1 0
0 .1 0
0 .0 0
0 .0 0
lo o p 2
flu x
em f
w a ll
fie ld s
co p p e rw ir e
R C III
R C II
RCI
th re e ch a r g e s
ca p a cito r
p e n d u lu m
p a rticle b e a m
b o b sle d
in clin e
b e lt
tw o strin g s
ca rp e n d
b a llo o n
a rro w
ca tch b a ll
ca rtra in
ve cto r
trig
IE Q u e s tio n #
IE Q u e s tio n #
Cottrell Meeting (July/13/01): Pg 18
Does IE Performance Correlate
with Exam Performance?
25
20
15
10
5
0
0
20
40
60
Ave ra ge Hour Ex a m 1 S core
80
100
80
70
to I E Q u e s ti o n s
A v e ra g e S c o re o n F i rs t R e s p o n s e
A v e ra g e N o o f F o l l o w u p s D o n e
Compare Physics 101 Hour Exam grade with Indicators of IE participation
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
20
40
60
80
100
Ave ra ge Hour Ex a m 1 S core
• Observe some correlation between (unclear how to interpret this).
• Will probably advertise this to students to encourage participation.
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Status
Algebra-based Courses at Illinois (Physics 101 and 102).
Approximately 60 IEs were used in these courses in Fall 00.
Very popular!
Used heavily in Physics 100.
Remedial class for at-risk students.
I.E. form most of the homework for this class.
Since Physics 100 has no lecture, IE’s are particularly useful since
they provide some “give & take” type dialogue.
Will implement in calculus based sequence next.
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What Do Students Think About IEs?
Always Very Positive
Independent (OIR) Focus Group Study
» 100% of students preferred IEs to the usual computer problems
» The half that do the optional follow-ups felt they gained confidence
Our End of Term Surveys
» 87% said that the interface was “very intuitive” or “reasonably intuitive”
» How effective were IEs at helping you to develop a problem solving
strategy? “very effective” (31%), “effective” (56%), “not very” (12%)
Direct Comment Facility from IE itself:
» Low response, but 100% positive (very unusual for computer feedback)
» “the drawn out explainations are much like a one on one learning
environment and are very helpful not only in the problem but in the
concepts behind it”
» “if these interactive examples were not there to help me i would have gone
insane trying to figure out these problems....and this makes me understand
the problems much better than if i were to get help from someone in the
class...i believe anyways...because this way i'm figuring it out basically on
my own.…”
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