Umporn Wutchana

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Reality Physics Teaching (RPT) for Improving
Student Expectations in Learning Physics

• Umporn Wutchana

Institute for innovation and development of
learning process Mahidol University
2
Out line

• Introduction
• Motivation
• Pilot studies
• Research Questions
• Research Objectives
• Research Hypotheses
• Research Methodology
• Expected Outcomes

3
Introduction

• Student attitudes, beliefs and assumption about
  physics and learning physics play a critical role
  in their learning and understanding about
  physics.

4
Introduction

• Student attitudes, beliefs and assumption about
  physics and learning physics play a critical role
  in their learning and understanding about
  physics.

attitudes
beliefs
expectations
assumption
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Introduction

• Physics education researchers have probed student
  expectations.
• Physics education researchers distinguished the
  expectations of experts and the expectations of
  novices.
• Physics education researchers found relationships
  between student expectations and their learning.

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Motivation

• Student expectations affect their conceptual
  learning.
• Most students still have more novice-like
  expectations after physics courses.
• Can improving student expectations cause
  improvement of their conceptual learning?

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Survey and Test

• Maryland Physics Expectation Survey (MPEX)
• University of Maryland Physics Education Research
  Group in 1992
• Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation (FMCE)
• Thornton and Sokoloff 1998

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MPEX

• University of Maryland Physics Education Research
  Group in 1992
• 34 items
• 5-option Likert scale

Strongly disagree Neutral Agree
Disagree Strongly agree
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MPEX

• Responses agreeing with the experts were defined
  as favorable responses.
• Responses disagreeing with the experts were
  defined as unfavorable responses.

favorable
unfavorable
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(No Transcript)
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MPEX

• Independence
• Coherence
• Concepts
• Reality Link
• Math Link
• Effort

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MPEX

• Independence
• Coherence
• Concepts
• Reality Link
• Math Link
• Effort

Learning physics means reconstructing ones own
understanding.
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MPEX

• Independence
• Coherence
• Concepts
• Reality Link
• Math Link
• Effort

The structure of physics knowledge is based on a
single coherent system.
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MPEX

• Independence
• Coherence
• Concepts
• Reality Link
• Math Link
• Effort

The content of physics knowledge is based on
concepts that underlie the formulas.
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MPEX

• Independence
• Coherence
• Concepts
• Reality Link
• Math Link
• Effort

Physics is connected with reality.
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MPEX

• Independence
• Coherence
• Concepts
• Reality Link
• Math Link
• Effort

Mathematical formalism is used as a way of
representing information about physics phenomena.
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MPEX

• Independence
• Coherence
• Concepts
• Reality Link
• Math Link
• Effort

Activities and work are necessary to make sense
out of physics.
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FMCE

• Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation (FMCE) was
  developed by Thornton and Sokoloff (1998).
• FMCE was designed to probe students understanding
  of force and motion.
• 46 items

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Questions for Pilot Studies

• What are Thai student expectations toward
  learning physics?
• What are the relationships between student
  expectations and their physics learning?
• What are the student expectations after a physics
  course?
• What are the student expectations after an active
  learning?

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Pilot studies

• Student expectations toward learning physics
• Correlations between student expectations and
  their learning
• Student expectations after a traditional physics
  course
• Student expectations after an active learning

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Student expectations toward learning physics
MPEX
First-Year students High-School students
Student Expectations
Part 1
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Student expectations toward learning physics
Percentage () of students giving Favorable
responses on MPEX survey 2006.
Part 1
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Student expectations toward learning physics
Percentage () of students giving Favorable
responses on MPEX survey 2006.
Part 1
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Student expectations toward learning physics
FY FY

Redish et al., 1998

Part 1
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Correlations between student expectations and
their learning
MPEX/FMCE
Pre-test
First-Year Students
FMCE
Post-test
Student Expectations/Conceptual learning Outcomes
Part 2
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Correlations between student expectations and
their learning
Part 2
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Correlations between student expectations and
their learning
FAV
Part 2
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Student expectations after a physics course
MPEX
Pre-test
High-School Students (A traditional class)
Post-test
MPEX
Student Expectation Changes
Part 3
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Student expectations after a physics course
Percentage () of high-school students giving
favorable responses on MPEX survey before and
after a physics course 2007.
Part 3
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Student expectations after a physics course
Percentage () of high-school students giving
favorable responses on MPEX survey before and
after a physics course 2007.
Part 3
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Student expectations after an active learning
2 STATEMENTS
Pre-test
MPEX
High-School Students (An active learning class)
Post-test
2 STATEMENTS
Student Expectation Changes
Part 4
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Student expectations after an active learning
1 Physics has a relation to the real world.
2 Leaning physics helps me understand situations
in my everyday life.
Part 4
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Student expectations before an active learning
1 Physics has a relation to the real world.
Part 4
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Student expectations after an active learning
1 Physics has a relation to the real world.
Part 4
35
Student expectations before an active learning
2 Leaning physics helps me understand
situations in my everyday life.
Part 4
36
Student expectations after an active learning
2 Leaning physics helps me understand
situations in my everyday life.
Part 4
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Preliminary Results

• Thai student had more novice-like expectations.
• Student expectations were changed to be more
  novice-like after a physics course.
• Positive correlations between student
  expectations and their conceptual learning were
  found.
• Student expectations are important factor
  affecting their learning

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Research Questions

• What are Thai student expectations toward
  learning physics?
• Can Reality Physics Teaching (RPT) improve the
  student expectations in the Reality Link cluster?
  
• What are relationships between the student
  expectations and their physics learning?

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Research Objectives

• To investigate Thai student expectations toward
  learning physics.
• To design Reality Physics Teaching (RPT) for
  improving student Reality Link expectations
  toward learning physics.
• To study relationships between the student
  expectations and their physics learning outcomes.

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Research Hypotheses

• Students who have more sophisticated expectations
  toward learning physics learn physics better than
  others.
• Reality Physics Teaching (RPT) can be used to
  improve student Reality Link expectations toward
  learning physics.

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Research Methodology

• Phase 1 Student expectations and Conceptual
  learning Investigation
• Phase 2 Design Reality Physics Teaching
• Phase 3 Reality Physics Teaching Evaluation

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Phase 1 Student expectations and Conceptual
learning Investigation
Investigate Thai student expectations and their
conceptual learning
PHASE 1
Find the relationships between student
expectations and their conceptual learning
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Phase 2 Design Reality Physics Teaching
Design Reality Physics Teaching (RPT) for
improving student Reality Link expectations
PHASE 2
Use the RPT to teach students in order to improve
their expectations
Redesign RPT if No improvement in expectations
Determine student expectation changes
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Reality Physics Teaching (RPT)

• RPT focus on Kinematics
• Goals of Reality Physics Teaching
• Improve expectations about Reality Link
• Improve conceptual understanding
• Connect classroom learning with real-word
  experience

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Reality Physics Teaching (RPT)

• Principle for RPT each lesson plan includes
  activities that
• engage students to join in interactive learning
• provide activities that invite students to
  construct their own understanding about physics
  concepts
• help students modify their common conceptions
  about physical phenomena that make it difficult
  for them to understand general principle of
  physics
• connect real word experience with classroom
  learning
• provide opportunities for class discussion of
  student ideas and findings

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An Example of RPT Activities

• RPT SPEED

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An Example of RPT Activities

• 4-5 students were grouped.
• The student groups were asked to find how fast
  people or animals move.
• The students find the answer using the provided
  instrument.
• A Timer
• A Measuring Tape
• A Sheet of Paper
• The students present their method and results.
• All of them have time for discussion
• The students conclude how to find speed of things.

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An Example of RPT Activities
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An Example of RPT Activities
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An Example of RPT Activities
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An Example of RPT Activities
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An Example of RPT Activities
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Phase 3 Reality Physics Teaching Evaluation
Use the RPT to teach students in order to improve
their Reality Link expectations
Determine student expectation changes
PHASE 3
Find the relationship between student expectation
changes and their conceptual learning and
Evaluate RPT
Outcome RPT for improving Reality Link
expectations
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Expected Outcomes

• RPT learning unit
• RPT teaching medias
• More understanding about the impact of student
  expectations on their conceptual learning

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Expected Outcomes
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Research Plan
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Completed Work

• Student Expectations in First-year Physics Course
  presented at SPC 2007
• The Comparison between Teacher and Student
  Expectations in Learning Physics presented at STT
  2007
• Student Expectations after a Physics Course A
  Case Study from 39 High-School Students presented
  at ICASE 2007
• Finding Negative Correlation between Student
  Effort Expectations and Their Learning in
  Introductory Physics submitted to Physical Review
  Special Topics Physics Education Research