[CEER Internal List 103] STEM Teaching Essentials, Thursday, Feb 19, 11:30 - 1:30

[Mark Urban-Lurain]

The next STEM Teaching Essentials seminar will be on Feb 19. 
Register at http://teachingessentials.msu.edu/ 
Modeling + Computation: Project-based Learning in Introductory Physics
Presented by Dr. Danny Caballero and Dr. Paul Irving
Thursday, February 19, 2015 11:30 - 1:30
 
NOTE ROOM CHANGE: Room 244 Natural Science
 
Lunch Provided
 
Bring your CHARGED laptop/tablet to the session if you can.
Abstract Most introductory science courses emphasize the acquisition of
conceptual and procedural knowledge, but fail to prepare students to engage
in the practices of science (e.g., developing and using models, constructing
explanations of phenomenon). Introductory courses also tend towards ignoring
the socio-cultural aspects of learning such as encouraging students to
develop their science identity. This overemphasis on content learning stems
from an incomplete theory of learning. We have designed a new introductory
mechanics course, piloted in the fall of 2014 and offered again this
semester, that engages students in science practice through the use of
modeling projects. By engaging students in the authentic practices of a
scientist, we aim to help students develop their science identity while they
also appropriate the practices and understanding of a scientist. The
projects require students to negotiate meaning in small groups, develop a
shared vision for their group's approach, and employ science practices to
successfully navigate their projects. The projects the groups are presented
with are designed to be sufficiently complex so that students must make use
of both analytical and computational techniques. In this interactive
workshop, we will present the motivation for and structure of this new
course including preliminary data on student performance, engagement, and
identity development. In addition, workshop participants will engage in a
short modeling project that demonstrates the student experience in the
course, and provides an opportunity for discussing transformed teaching
practices. This work was funded by LPF-CMP2 Innovation grant.

Danny Caballero is a physics education researcher who studies how tools
affect student learning in physics, and the conditions and environments that
support or inhibit this learning.

Danny earned his B.S. in physics from the University of Texas at Austin in
2004. He worked on opto-microfluidics transport and control experiments at
the Georgia Institute of Technology where he earned his M.S. in physics
before shifting his research focus to physics education. Danny helped found
the Georgia Tech Physics Education Research group in 2007 and earned the
first PER-focused PhD from Georgia Tech in 2011 working on computational
modeling instruction and practice. He moved to the University of Colorado
Boulder as a postdoctoral researcher where he helped transform
upper-division physics courses to more active learning environments.

Danny conducts research from the high school to the upper-division and is
particularly interested in how students learn physics through their use of
tools such as mathematics, computing, and language. His work employs
cognitive and sociocultural theories of learning and aims to blend these
perspectives to enhance physics instruction at all levels. Danny's projects
range from the fine-grained (e.g., how students engage with particular
mathematical tools) to the course-scale (e.g., how students learn the tools
of classical mechanics) to the very broad (e.g., how do students in a
massively open on-line course act like scientists?). While starting work
with the Physics Education Research Lab at MSU, he continues collaborates
with physics education groups at Georgia Tech and Colorado on a number of
these and other projects.

Paul Irving is a physics education researcher who studies how learning
environments influence student learning in explicit and hidden curriculum
learning goals. Paul earned his B.S. in physics from Dublin Institute of
Technology in 2005. Paul earned a PhD in physics education from the Dublin
Institute of Technology in 2011 on a project that focused on how students
approached their learning in a introductory physics problem-based learning
course. He also helped implement both peer instruction and problem-based
learning courses at the Dublin Institute of Technology. He moved to Kansas
State University as a postdoctoral researcher where he conducted research in
the area of identity development, specifically focused on upper-level
physics students, and how they develop an identity as a professional
physicists. More recently, Paul is now affiliated with Michigan State
University and the CREATE for STEM institute, and is involved in a
curriculum development project focused on redeveloping an introductory
physics course to be more focused on the authentic practices of physics.
 
 
Mark Urban-Lurain, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Center for Engineering Education Research
Undergraduate Studies Office
College of Engineering
Michigan State University
 
428 S. Shaw Lane
1410 B Engineering 
East Lansing, MI  48824
 
517-432-2108
 
urban at msu.edu
www.msu.edu/~urban
 
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