A Study of the Development of the Paradigms in Physics Program

Chapter 5 Organization of the Report

This report consists of seven parts:

Part I presents this Introduction.

Part II provides summaries of lessons learned.

Part III focuses upon the first decade of the Paradigms in Physics Program at Oregon State University during 1996–2005. The faculty collaborated in envisioning and initiating major changes in both the context and pedagogy of the junior and senior physics courses for majors.

Part IV focuses upon the second decade of the Paradigms in Physics Program during 2006–2015. New faculty assigned to teach the upper level courses had to learn how to adapt to an instructional culture that differed in both organization of content and in active engagement pedagogy that was very different from their own physics learning experiences.

Part V focuses upon the effort to re-envision the content and pedagogy of the program during winter and spring terms 2016. A colloquium, anonymous survey, focus groups, and individual consultations provided input for a small group of faculty, the Paradigms 2.0 committee, to ponder and use in developing a set of proposals for changes. The faculty voted unanimously to approve the changes near the end of spring term.

Part VI focuses upon changes in instruction as the faculty implemented the re-envisioned Paradigms in Physics program during 2016–2017. The changes included eliminating some courses, revising some courses, realigning existing courses with the revised courses, embedding "math bits" (just-in-time mathematics) in all the junior level courses, and designing and teaching two new sophomore physics courses for majors.

Part VII focuses upon ongoing and new ways of monitoring and refining changes underway. Although many refinements were made incrementally, the Paradigms 2.0 committee began meeting again during Winter 2019. They developed five options to address an emerging issue. The faculty voted in Spring 2019 to make a large change in the order of the upper-division courses, with a new schedule to be implemented during the next academic year.