Section 3.2 Responding to a challenge that prompted a major refinement in the course schedule
¶The primary impetus for a major refinement in the course schedule was the difficulty encountered by including two very different populations in the new sophomore courses.
Addressing the needs of two different populations.
The two new sophomore courses had been serving two populations:
a) sophomores on the OSU campus who had completed at least the first quarter of the calculus level introductory physics series (Physics 211) before Physics 315 winter term and the first two quarters of this introductory physics course (Physics 211 and 212) before Physics 335 spring term and
b) transfer students from community colleges who were concurrently enrolled in the second and third terms of the junior-level paradigms in physics courses. The rationale for including the latter more experienced group was that these students needed access to the content moved to the new sophomore courses from the eliminated modern physics course, mechanics capstone, and math methods capstone. In addition, the transfer students perhaps would be motivated by connecting their physics studies with the contemporary challenges explored in Physics 315 as well as become more successful by using some of the sense-making strategies emphasized in Physics 335.
Unfortunately, combining these two populations had not worked out well in either course. The sophomores concurrently enrolled in introductory physics courses seemed to feel underprepared by comparison with the transfer students concurrently enrolled in paradigms in physics courses; the transfer students seemed to feel under-challenged by some of the material with which they were already familiar. As one of the faculty members reflected:
I think a big part of it is that in the class discussions it was almost like a dichotomy of the types of questions that the two populations would ask. They wouldn't necessarily be interested in hearing each other so a student from the paradigms (courses) would ask a question that was really interesting to the paradigm students and a student currently taking 212 (second term of the introductory physics course) would ask a question that was really interesting to that group of students but it was really hard to get the whole class all engaged in the same discussion.
Few of the transfer students seemed to appreciate the opportunity to learn more deeply what they already knew by assisting the younger students, which had been anticipated to be a possible way to combine these populations but did not work out as well as anticipated during active engagement activities and discussions.