Educational Change

A great visual resource on learning goals

January 30, 2012

I wish I could embed this visual tool here so that you’d see how awesome it is and jump up and down in your seat like I did when I first saw it (at least, if you’re an edu-geek like me). But no, I can only provide you with a link and say go here. [...]

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Learn about research-based teaching: The PER User’s Guide

December 8, 2011

There are a ton of research-based techniques for teaching, and we hear about them in bits and pieces.  There are great websites on modeling, for example, or our CU-Boulder  materials for using clickers and peer instruction.  But where can we go to find everything all in one place? I’m pleased to help spread the word [...]

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The Flipped Classroom: Using class time for learning, not presentation

December 5, 2011

I write a lot about teachniques (just coined that phrase, how do you like it?) to get students more interactive and engaged in your courses.  But a lot of teachers aren’t sure how to take the time to do those activities given how much content there is to cover.  As you might be aware, one [...]

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Learning Assistant Liveblogging: Pedagogy course

November 3, 2011

Once again, liveblogging from the national Learning Assistant Workshop in Boulder. When we started out the conference this afternoon, and participants shared their primary area of interest in learning more about effectively running an LA program, I’d say about half of the crowd Steve Iona talked to us about what that pedagogy course entails, and [...]

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Learning Assistant Liveblog: Weekly LA meetings

November 2, 2011

Once again, liveblogging from the national Learning Assistant Workshop in Boulder. One of the central features of the LA program are the weekly meetings between the teaching faculty and LAs.   Steve Pollock and Ben Spike led this session, discussing what these look like in our physics courses, where LAs help run out of group tutorials [...]

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Education Emergency First Responders: Learning Assistant workshop liveblog

November 2, 2011

I’m currently at the national Learning Assistant Workshop in Boulder.  Since I’m right here, I thought it would be useful for me to learn more about LA programs that are being created at various institutions.  I’ll liveblog from the conference a little bit.  One thing that I’ll say up-front though — if you’re interested in [...]

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Some things I learned on the conference circuit

October 17, 2011

I’ve been busily conferencing over the past several weeks, and wanted to share a few of the fantastic tips and ideas that I got along the way.  So, this is a bit of a smorgasbord post. First, I was at the Center for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL) conference in lovely Madison, WI.  [...]

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Teaching faculty about effective use of clickers #clickers

September 13, 2011

I’ve been working for the past several years to figure out the best ways to teach faculty about how to use clickers effectively; to engage students, ask questions that get students thinking, and to use peer discussion to help students work together to learn from the questions.  It’s not always easy.  Recent research has shown [...]

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Fancy schmancy new podcast page! (Learning about Teaching Physics)

September 6, 2011

Thanks to the wonderful efforts of Matt Riggsbee over at Compadre (whom I owe a beer or three), the Learning about Teaching Physics podcast has a beautiful webhome.  I still have just the two podcasts produced (on clickers and classroom demonstrations), but stay tuned for the next one on learning styles (or, the myth thereof).  [...]

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The Art (and Science) of In-Class Questioning via Clickers (Learning About Teaching Physics podcast) #clickers

August 22, 2011

In this second episode of the podcast, I explore recent research on teaching with clickers and in-class questioning:  What techniques do teachers use to make maximal benefit of this teaching approach? Are “clickers” or “personal response systems” just the latest fad in education? Or is there solid research behind their use? In this episode we [...]

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Teaching non-majors Light and Color (and making them love it)

August 18, 2011

I sacrificed my June and my sanity this summer to teach the non-majors Light and Color course (see below for course materials).  This was exactly the population I am interested in reaching with good science instruction — not the converted, science enthusiasts, but the often math-phobic rest of the population.  And I got my wish.  [...]

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Standards Based Grading… with Voice (#AAPTsm11)

August 11, 2011

We had a fantastic banquet speaker at the Physics Education Research Conference (PERC) last week, Andy Rundquist of Hamline college (@arundquist).  Unfortunately, I didn’t have my laptop with me, so didn’t take the kind of notes that helps me to report most accurately on a talk.  So here’s a test of sciencegeekgirl’s poor memory. When [...]

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Providing validated tests for instructors to use (#AAPTsm11)

August 4, 2011

Our plenary speaker this morning was Thomas Holme, of Iowa State University, speaking to us about the standardized assessments in chemistry.  Sounds boring, but he raised some interesting and insightful thoughts about assessment. He started out by describing the fine line he has to walk as an instructor: “Teaching is inherently personal and inescapably corporate.  [...]

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Adopt, Adapt or Abandon? Instructors’ Decisions to Use Research-Based Materials (#AAPTsm11)

August 3, 2011

Just gave my 10-minute talk at AAPT on my work examining the sustainability of our course transformation efforts in junior E&M. Physics education researchers often develop materials for classroom use. Instructors then choose which of those materials they would like to implement. We present a case study of University of Colorado’s transformed junior E&M course. [...]

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Teaching with Clickers: How, for What, and with What Mind-Set? #AAPTsm11 #clickers

August 1, 2011

Again, I’m here blogging from the AAPT.  Ian Beatty gave a particularly lovely talk on clickers today, a very nice example of presentation zen at its finest.  I think he had perhaps 3 main points and 10 main visuals for a 30 minute talk.  Nicely done.  But professional ego stroking aside, I very much liked [...]

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Seeing isn’t believing: Do classroom demonstrations help students learn? (Learning About Teaching Physics podcast)

July 29, 2011

In this first episode of my new Learning About Teaching Physics podcast, we explore classroom demonstrations.  Do they accomplish what we hope that they will? Physics is the study of nature. So, physics classes typically include demonstrations of how those laws of nature play out, often in surprising ways. But do students see what we [...]

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New podcast: Learning About Teaching Physics

July 28, 2011

This has actually been in the works for about a year, but I’m finally unveiling my brainchild of the past several years — a podcast to communicate physics education research to working teachers.  I’m calling it Learning About Teaching Physics, and our amazing local high school teacher Michael Fuchs is co-hosting it with me.  Here’s [...]

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Teaching with style: Physics to stake your life on

June 29, 2011

A friend just sent me this YouTube video, and I show it here as an example of how lecture can be used to utmost effectiveness.  A bit of showmanship, a memorable experiment, and crystal clear explanations: What strikes me is that this instructor has got this class in the palm of his hand. Not just [...]

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Instilling Scientific Curiosity in Students

June 20, 2011

Today is a guest post about scientific curiosity and its implications for STEM education.  What Jeremy writes about is something that I’ve seen referred to again and again — students drop from science in droves.  We lose science-interested students at every major transition — from elementary to middle school, from middle to high, and so [...]

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The Psychology of Climate Change Communication

June 16, 2011

I’m increasingly interested in how education researchers can more effectively get their messages across, so that people act on these findings (see my post about my FFPERPS talk, Get the Word Out).   I’ve been writing a lot about climate change communication lately because climate change communicators face some of the same challenges — communication of [...]

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