Henderson Yerushalmi Kuo Heller Heller - Phys Rev 2007

Physics faculty beliefs and values about the teaching and learning of problem solving. II. Procedures for measurement and analysis

Charles Henderson *
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008, USA
Edit Yerushalmi *
Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, 76100
Vince H. Kuo †, Kenneth Heller, and Patricia Heller
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA

Physical Review Special Topics Physics Education Research
Received 28 October 2005; published 12 December 2007

To identify and describe the basis upon which instructors make curricular and pedagogical decisions, we have developed an artifact-based interview and an analysis technique based on multilayered concept maps. The policy capturing technique used in the interview asks instructors to make judgments about concrete instructional artifacts similar to those they likely encounter in their teaching environment. The analysis procedure alternatively employs both an a priori systems view analysis and an emergent categorization to construct a multilayered concept map, which is a hierarchically arranged set of concept maps where child maps include more details than parent maps. Although our goal was to develop a model of physics faculty beliefs about the teaching and learning of problem solving in the context of an introductory calculus-based physics course, the techniques described here are applicable to a variety of situations in which instructors make decisions that influence teaching and learning.


©2007 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRSTPER/v3/e020110
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.3.020110
PACS: 01.40.Fk, 01.40.G−, 01.40.J−, 01.50.Kw

* Previously at School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
† Present address: Department of Physics: Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, 80401, USA.

Yerushalmi Hendersen Heller Heller Kuo - Phys Rev 2007

Physics faculty beliefs and values about the teaching and learning of problem solving. I. Mapping the common core

E. Yerushalmi *
Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, 76100
C. Henderson *
Department of Physics, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008, USA
K. Heller, P. Heller, and V. Kuo †
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA

Physical Review Special Topics Physics Education Research
Received 28 October 2005; published 12 December 2007

In higher education, instructors’ choices of both curricular material and pedagogy are determined by their beliefs about learning and teaching, the values of their profession, and perceived external constraints. Dissemination of research-based educational reforms is based on assumptions about that mental structure. This study reports the initial phase of an investigation of the beliefs and values of physics professors as they relate to the teaching and learning of problem solving in introductory physics. Based on an analysis of a series of structured interviews with six college physics faculty, a model of a common structure of such beliefs for all physics faculty teaching introductory physics was constructed. This preliminary model, when tested and modified by future research, can be used by curriculum developers to design materials, pedagogy, and professional development that gain acceptance among instructors.


©2007 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRSTPER/v3/e020109
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.3.020109
PACS: 01.40.Fk, 01.40.G−, 01.40.J−, 01.50.Kw

* Previously at School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
† Present address: Department of Physics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, 80401, USA.