Research as a guide for the development and validation of curriculum:
Examples in the context of thermal physics

Abstract
Systematic research has demonstrated repeatedly that many students express essentially the same incorrect ideas at the end of an introductory university physics course as at the beginning.  It is frequently assumed that these prior conceptions can be identified by research and then addressed through “interactive engagement” strategies such as hands-on activities and small-group collaborative work.  Often a similar sequence of activities is followed: students’ conceptions are first elicited, then confronted, and finally resolved.  However, experience indicates that the process of using research on student learning to guide the development of curriculum is much more challenging.  Examining what students have actually learned after using research-based curriculum is essential for improving the curriculum and validating its effectiveness.  I will illustrate the process with examples from thermal physics at the undergraduate level. 

Hunting the Wild Web for Science Education Resources

Abstract
Many excellent approaches to improving science education have failed when they are moved beyond their home institutions, where they have been developed, studied, and nurtured. Successful dissemination requires grabbing the attention of an audience, making clear the utility of new pedagogical tools, and providing resources that are flexible enough to fit into new contexts. The World Wide Web would appear to be one important avenue for spreading the word, with its global reach and write-once-and-read-almost-anywhere paradigm. Many exciting examples exist for the new ways in which students can be engaged through technology. The web, of course, is plagued by the problems of over-crowding and poor discoverability, lack of authority, and questionable reliability for resources once they are found. This talk will describe some of the efforts underway to make better use of the web for the spread of didactic resources. These efforts range from curriculum development projects, to digital libraries, to web surveys and search engines, to peer review. The most successful have engaged communities, enabled sharing, and delivered the information needed to spread innovative ideas and tools. The possibilities and experiences with peer review of educational materials and the use of digital libraries will be stressed. Along with the results of these projects, the future of collaborations to help meet the challenge of creating a more reliable web for our students and ourselves will be discussed.

NiNa, a new physics curriculum project in the Netherlands

Abstract
Currently, a major physics education innovation project is taking place in the Netherlands, providing the Ministry of Education with a proposal for evidence based examination programmes for two upper secondary curricula by the end of 2010. The examination programmes describe physics concepts, laws, formulas and contexts which will be examined in the national exams at the end of secondary school. The project will also produce a series of teaching materials, revised after classroom trials in the period 2007-2010. The project, called NiNa, as an acronym for new physics in Dutch, is interesting in various ways. Firstly, it is the first major physics curriculum development project since the 1970/1980’s (PLON), offering an opportunity to incorporate insights from theory and practice in physics/science education. Examples of new content elements are: the physics of life, of weather and climate, solar system and universe, medical imaging, quantum physics, relativity. The materials offer various teaching and learning approaches, e.g. modelling, the use of applets, a problem posing approach. Secondly, it is the first project carried out in close co-operation with sister projects in other sciences: biology, chemistry and mathematics, and a new science subject, Nature, Life and Technology, providing interdisciplinary and disciplinary broadening and deepening. Themes, sometimes highly debated, are: the problem of transfer of conceptual knowledge between contexts; the distribution of innovation over the various levels, from national programmes all the way to classroom (or web) materials and examination assignments. Thirdly, this still experimental curriculum is examined at the same formal way as the regular curricula. Thus, the Ministry, the Examination Board and the national organisations for curriculum development (SLO) and educational measurement (Cito) have been closely attached to the execution, even in the situation that only thirteen schools are involved – out of approximately 600. This offers an opportunity to test and prepare all components of the education system coherently. At the same time, many teachers watch the project with caution and even mistrust: each choice made now in the experiment may be compulsory for them in five years time. This disadvantage is strengthened by the fact that the science innovation projects are only facilitated for one test- cycle. The Commission and project team responsible for the innovation were confronted with a devilish choice. Should they say no to an innovation project that would violate the law that one should never rely on a one-cycle trial? Or say yes to a unique opportunity to work with several dozens of teachers in a curriculum wide development on both contents and pedagogical approaches, and parallel to similar projects in sister subjects? The choice was made to do the latter, and therefore this address is possible now. You will be offered a look into the kitchen as well as some reflections by the developers and feedback from the pilot teachers.

Introducing new approaches in the curriculum: what do teachers need to make it possible?

Abstract
A considerable amount of work has been carried out on the design of teaching learning sequences (TLS), on specific subjects, based on research results. At the same time, strategies and tools for teachers’ preparation have been studied and proposed. While different approaches in the construction of TLS have been suggested, research has shown that the implementation of innovative sequences in the classroom generally implies a transformation of the original proposals, sometimes with the loss of important aspects of innovation. A study carried out with high school physics teachers, attending a web-based course on the teaching of modern physics in high school, allowed us to focus on the complexity of the process the teachers have to go through in order to master innovative proposals, to compare them with more traditional ones, and to design their own path for the class activity. Since innovative proposals are generally the result of complex educational reconstruction processes, where epistemological and educational choices are intertwined with choices on the content structure, they often appear as closed and non transparent systems to teachers. A work of clarification and analysis of all the different components, made by researchers together with teachers, is therefore required. This kind of work, is valuable for at least two reasons: a) it may help teachers analyse innovative educational approaches, and use them without loosing consistency with the original proposal; b) it allows researchers acquire an insight on the difficulties a teacher meets accepting a new perspective on a specific content area, and in finding a cognitive motivation to personally reconstruct his/her vision of the topic. Examples are discussed, aimed at showing how the results of this kind of research can orient the design of teaching learning sequences and the development of methods and tools for pre-service and in-service teacher education.

LivePhoto Physics: Using Video Analysis to Relate Physical Phenomena to Analytic Mathematical Models

Abstract
Short digital videos, between 20 and 30 frames in length, can be extremely useful in physics research and teaching. Computer analysis of these "live photos" involves measuring the positions of objects in successive video frames by pointing and clicking with a mouse. Data from some phenomena can be graphed and analyzed using a method called Analytic Mathematical Modeling. In this type of modeling researchers and students use graphing software to compare their data to an analytic function suggested by the shape of their data graph or by a previous hypothesis or theory. Instead of using curve fitting, students are asked to select an equation and then vary parameters until of graph of the equation matches the data. The goal of this form of modeling is to strengthen the student’s ability to relate analytical and graphical representations of functional relationships to each other and with physical phenomena. The Mathematical Modeling Conceptual Evaluation (MMCE) was developed by Ronald Thornton in 1995 to determine how well students understand the relationship between physical phenomena, graphs and analytic equations. In a preliminary study, the MMCE was administered to students who completed first year physics at comprehensive university and to Workshop Physics students at Dickinson College who completed video assignments using analytic mathematical modeling. In this talk, we will report on the outcomes of the preliminary study and also describe a new research project in which the MMCE will be administered to students in a number of introductory courses after completing LivePhoto modeling assignments.

Digna Couso
CRECIM, Education Faculty, University of Barcelona.
digna.couso@uab.es

Authentic collaboration: implications and results of a promising paradigm for science education reform and research

Abstract
Over the last decades there has been an increasing amount of research results showing the importance of teachers’ active participation, sense of ownership and increasing leadership regarding innovation in science education. This has proven to be demanding for both teachers and researchers, implying changes in their professionalism and the establishment of a new working culture of authentic collaboration and life-long learning, which the literature relates with empowerment, development and sustainability. However, much research still assumes, either consciously or unconsciously, that there is a fundamental separation between design and implementation processes, which take place in isolation from each other at university and school, respectively. As mentioned, this standpoint has proven ineffective, particularly to promote the required multi-dimensional (both locally and globally meaningful), long-term change that Science Education is demanded today. In addition, by oversimplifying science education reform and reform research, it diminishes the potential development of the involved agents and institutions and restricts the types of scenarios able to be explored. In contrast, the mentioned proposals that work around the idea of authentic collaboration between teachers themselves and researchers, such as partnerships, Communities of Practice and Professional Learning Communities, are scenarios where educational activity and research can develop more creatively, allowing a major degree of local adaptation and fitness to purpose. In these proposals the researchers’ agenda evolves to become a shared one, sometimes less ambitious but with better chances to succeed within the constraints of the real world. The strength of these communities relates with the personal and professional implication of both teachers and researchers, mainly due to their mutual recognition of beneficial networking. As a consequence, these projects generally last longer and have higher impact than traditional ones. In our talk we will discuss particular examples and their potentialities, limitations and difficulties for science education innovation and teacher development.

Learning thermal physics by guided inquiry

Abstract
Participants will work through excerpts from a series of research-based tutorials on thermal physics.  The tutorials cover the ideal gas law, a microscopic model for an ideal gas, and the first and second laws of thermodynamics.¹  The workshop will provide direct experience with a type of guided inquiry designed to help students develop the reasoning ability necessary to apply physics concepts to problems that cannot be solved through rote memorization of formulas.  The workshop will also include a discussion of how research has guided the development of tutorials that supplement (but do not replace) traditional instruction.  These instructional materials have proved effective in promoting the intellectual involvement of university students from the introductory to the graduate level.  The same approach has also worked well in the professional development of pre-university teachers.
¹L.C. McDermott, P.S. Shaffer, and the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington, Tutorials in Introductory Physics, Prentice Hall, 2002.

New input to the mechanics curriculum by multimedia

MOSEM: Teaching Minds-On Experiments on Electromagnetism in Secondary Schools
Grzegorz Karwasz ^1,2) , Andrzej Karbowski ²⁾ , Marisa Michelini ³⁾, Rossana Viola³⁾, Wim Peeters ⁴⁾
“SUPERCOMET” project group within Leonardo da Vinci EU network

While the Leonardo da Vinci project SUPERCOMET2 produced top level digital on-line materials on electromagnetism and superconductivity, packed in 9 modules, the MOSEM project (8 countries, 27 partners) introduces real experiments for class room use. Inspired by the Physics is cool project of the University of Antwerp [2], both low-tech and easy to do, and high-tech series [3] of fascinating experiments are worked out in several experimental kits. All experiments aim at an in dept understanding of physics phenomena. They are divided in 8 topics, each linked to the online digital materials of the SUPERCOMET2 project.  In this workshop the format of the teacher seminar, based on the results of SUPERCOMET2 and adapted to minds-on experiments is presented in detail. The more than 30 low-tech state-of-the-art experiments of MOSEM and the teacher support materials are also discussed. A combination of elements of both are used to give participating teachers a good idea of the way in which teaching electromagnetism with these materials could be carried out. They will experience how to teach these topics using active teaching methods, one example of how a  sequences of experiments, logically can lead to better conceptual understanding of physics phenomena and how to organise this in a class room situation and how some simple experiments also enable to gather real numerical data ready for quantitative analysis. Throughout the workshop the participants will be invited to discuss the suggested strategies among each other and with the project participants. The will get all information available at that moment on both SUPERCOMET2 and MOSEM projects.

¹⁾ Faculty of Engineering, Trento University – Italy
²⁾ University of Torun – Poland
³⁾ University of Udine - Italy
⁴⁾ University of Antwerp – Belgium

Interactive Lecture Demonstrations:
Active Learning in large lectures and small one-computer classrooms*

Abstract
Physics education research has shown that learning environments that engage students and allow them to take an active part in their learning can lead to large conceptual gains compared to traditional instruction.  An active learning environment is often difficult to achieve in lecture sessions. This presentation will involve the participants in the use of sequences of Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (ILDs) using real-time data logging. ILDs use real experiments and student interaction to create an active learning environment that has been successful in large lecture classes, smaller high school classes, and in classes for pre-service and in-service teachers.  Interactive lecture demonstrations will be done in the area of mechanics using motion and force probes and the Visualizer.®  in energy, electric circuits, and sound. ILDs have been found useful in many areas of science. The use of video measurements and modeling will also be incorporated. The demonstrations will also serve to demonstrate laboratory activities that students do in small groups in RealTime Physics laboratories. Video clips of students involved in interactive lecture demonstrations will be shown.  The results of a number of research studies at various institutions to measure the effectiveness of ILDs compared to traditional instruction and guided inquiry conceptual laboratories will be presented

 *This work was partially funded by the NSF and by The Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE, US Department of Education).