1	Reforming Introductory Physics Courses at Research Universities
2	Thank You I am honored to receive this award from the AAPT What does this award recognize? The Reform of the Introductory Physics Courses at Illinois What truth is most important to point out here? Our reform was the work of many people.. Indeed, reform at any research university requires the work/cooperation of many !!
3	The Problems Confronting Reform at Research Universities Size e.g., at Illinois a total of ~2500 students are taught in courses ranging in size from 300 – 1000 students. “Parallel Parking an Aircraft Carrier” “Educating in Bulk” Research First Primary Responsibility: New Knowledge Important Teaching Responsibility: Graduate Students Organizational Change An Unnatural Act Obstacles arising from personality and cultural issues of physicists
4	Road Map for Talk The Origins of Change Conditions that prompted change Our Response The Reform (www.physics.uiuc.edu/Research/PER/Course_Revisions.html) The Vision Faculty Participation The Pieces (Lectures, Discussions, Labs, Exams, Homework) How to Sustain the Reform? Infrastructure and Culture Physics Education Research Reflections on Difficulties of Implementing Change
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8	The Pieces Lectures, Discussions, Labs, Homework, Exams IMPORTANT RULE:
9	Lectures
10	"Three swimmers can swim equally..." Three swimmers can swim equally fast relative to the water. They have a race to see who can swim across a river in the least time. Relative to the water, Beth (B) swims perpendicular to the flow, Ann (A) swims upstream, and Carly (C) swims downstream. Which swimmer wins the race?
11	Discussion Sections
12	Labs
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14	Exams What we used to do: Exam composed of 4 multi-part calculational problems. Exam graded by faculty + TAs immediately afterward. Subjective partial credit given based on student’s approach. Problems? Students can learn to do these problems without understanding what they are doing. Whining, cheating on regrades, questionable application of partial credit. What we do now: Exam composed of Multiple Choice questions, both qualitative and quantitative, often using the same physical situation. We have always believed in the importance of conceptual understanding, but students didn’t believe us because we never explicitly asked these questions before! Partial credit scheme for quantitative (5 possible answers) questions. Students can choose to get reduced credit if they can successfully eliminate unphysical answers.
15	Homework Assignments Weekly Homework Assignments are done on the Web, using the TYCHO system developed by Denny Kane at Illinois. Preflights Students submit answers (usually multiple choice plus text box for explanation) Analysis tools available for faculty Homework A Quantitative and symbolic questions (enter number or expression), unlimited submissions.. Fixed “help” statements available. Immediate response.
16	How to Sustain Reform? Very Important Question People who create the reform are usually not the same kind of people who enjoy making the trains run on time. Two Keys for Us Establish Infrastructure (and change the culture) People (veteran faculty, computing help, lecture, lab & secretarial support, new Assoc Head position) Computing (all materials on central server, easily accessed by all) Culture Change (Welcome to 1XX, here’s how we do things….) Made easier by Team teaching Establish Physics Education Research Group Basis for continuing interest (not based on making trains run on time) Assessment of reforms Allows for “continuous change” On to specific example: Creation and Assessment of Interactive Example
17	Why Interactive Examples? In all other aspects of our revision, we have “borrowed freely” from the work of others! We created Interactive Examples (IEs) to address a specific problem for which we could find no existing solution. The Problem: It’s been our experience that 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 Solution: Create web-based exercises that engage the student in the solution of difficult quantitative problems using a “concept-based” method. Implementation status: We have created about 125 IEs for five courses at Illinois These IEs are being used for credit at 10 other institutions
18	What is an Interactive Example? Base question is a quantitative problem (multi-step). Students can request help which comes in the form of more questions. These questions are designed to guide the student along a path suggested by the UMASS PERG: Conceptual Analysis: What concepts and/or principles determine what will happen in the physical situation? Graphical representations? Qualitative Behavior? Strategic Analysis: What general approach to take? Develop a plan for applying the principles identified in conceptual analysis. Quantitative Analysis: What are the appropriate equations for this problem. Work out the mathematical solution. Meta Analysis: What have we done? Reflect on, make sense of the previous analyses. IEs use the optional follow-up questions to do this task. Students can opt to answer the base question at any time. Eventually, enough help is given to solve the problem (it is an “example”!) Once the base question is answered correctly: A Recap is given (Conceptual, Strategic and Quantitative Analyses). Follow-Up Questions (optional, i.e. no credit) are asked.
19	How Do Students Respond to IEs? They love them! We introduced some IEs to a class in another research university that had been using a well-known web-based homework system. We Classified the free response Comments from the class: Enthusiastic Positive Neutral Negative Awful 57% 38% 5% 0 0
20	Do Students Learn More? Final Exam Questions can be repeated (Pre and Post IE Implementation) to measure changes in Student Performance. Measure Change in Average Score on Individual Questions
21	Physics 112 Spring Results Do Post-IE (Spring02/03) vs Pre-IE (Spring99/00/01)
22	Physics 112 Final Results Combine Spring and Fall Results Are Spring and Fall Results Consistent? Plot Differences of Averages on Each Question in Spring and Fall
23	Conclusions and Reflections We have successfully reformed all of our introductory physics courses. The Big Idea: Integrate all aspects of a course using interactive engagement methods based on physics education research in a team teaching environment. We have effected organizational change to sustain this reform. Establish Infrastructure (and change the culture) People, Computing (Welcome to Phys 1XX, here’s how we do things..) Establish Physics Education Research Group Allows for “continuous change” What are the main difficulties in implementing this change at other research universities? The key is to realize organizational change is needed ! What is known about organizational change? Ask Google !
24	Cliff Notes with an Attitude Seven Tips for Managing Organizational Change You have to establish a darn good reason to change Pressure (Engineering College, Dept Head) You have to create a compelling vision Lemons to Lemonade.. Existing models, knowledge You need results – fast (???) Communicate, communicate, and communicate some more Build a strong committed, top management coalition People don’t resist their own ideas Committee of 8 met regularly for a year to generate the design Respected regular faculty that became the core of original implemention Don’t KISS (Keep it Simple, Stupid) – Keep it Complex Large-scale complex change may be easier to accomplish than small-scale incremental change Why? Interconnections (largely cultural) of the system make incremental change difficult.. Need to break connections.. Changed all aspects of course at once.. a leap of faith.. Just Do It !! Energizing and Liberating Experience Provides environment that supports the huge amount of work necessary for initial implementation to get done!! New culture: Teaching Intro Physics can be enjoyable and does not have to be a big deal!!
25	Final Thoughts What is the main obstacle to Change specific to Physics Departments?