A Study of the Development of the Paradigms in Physics Program

Section 4.6 Design and Implement Course that Teaches Science with an Emphasis on Sense Making

• Think about three kinds of goals: science content goals, math content goals, and sense-making goals. Consider:

  • how these goals are related to each other
  • how to interleave these goals in sensible ways
  • how to make the sense-making goals central and not peripheral

• Think about what content to cover when combining multiple courses into one. Consider:

  • what content is going to be relied upon in subsequent courses
  • what content is motivating for students
  • what combination of content makes a coherent story
  • what content can be omitted

• Think about how to build on prior courses and prepare for later courses

  • consult with other instructors to find out what language, if any, they use to foster sense making and to begin developing a common language around sense-making strategies.

• Think about how to assess sense-making skills at the beginning and end of the term

  • consider how to design questions where students are not expected to solve a problem explicitly but to use other strategies for selecting the answer from several choices.

• Think about how to embed sense-making goals in all aspects of the course. Consider:

  • how to make sense-making goals explicit in class, during both small group work and interactive lectures
  • how to request sense-making as an expected part of problem-solving in homework
  • how to create the expectation of sense-making as required in exams.
  • how to foster sense making at the beginning in orienting oneself to the problem situation as well as at the end in evaluating an answer, how understand an answer and have confidence that it is correct.

• Think about how to scaffold and then fade instruction in sense making

  • early in course be explicit about requesting sense-making in class, on homework, and the first exam, such as “Consider special cases: Does your result for the maximum range of a projectile on an incline make sense if the ground is horizontal? If the ground is vertical (like right up against a cliff)?”
  • state explicitly that credit will be given on an exam for sense making about an answer, about why an answer is correct; even if just realize something is wrong and explain why know it is wrong
  • in the middle of the course, fade to a more general format such as “utilize at least two sense-making strategies to evaluate an answer”
  • near the end of the course, fade to an even more general format such as “Be sure to do some sense-making around your result.”

• Do a lot of thinking about what will happen during Week 1, because this first week sets the tone for the rest of the course

  • focus on thinking about how to engage students in doing physics as well as on how to convey specific physics content.
  • gain the student perspective at this early stage by involving graduate students, postdocs, and/or advanced undergraduates in the conversation.
  • draw on sense-making strategies discussed in the research literature (((schoenfeld92))), such as asking small groups: What are you doing? Why are you doing it? How will it be helpful?
  • plan to keep small groups small, groups of 2, or at most groups of 3
  • be aware that the design of a classroom affects class dynamics; what may be possible in a studio classroom differs from what can be attempted in a traditional lecture hall.

• During the first week of class, do a variety of active engagement strategies to set the tone for the rest of the term

  • make sure there are a lot of student voices during each class
  • learn student names quickly and encourage students to speak up

  • engage students during an interactive lecture by, for example,

    • asking students lots of questions to find out what they understand and how they are thinking about a topic
    • inviting students to say what the next step is when working out a problem on the board
    • welcoming students' questions as contributions useful for all to consider in the midst of collaborative thinking
  • ask small white board questions to which students respond individually in writing, even if only with a ? mark if they are feeling bewildered; then use some of the responses in various interactive ways. (See: http://physics.oregonstate.edu/portfolioswiki/strategy:smallwhiteboard:start.)
  • foster participation by asking students to talk briefly with their group members about a particular issue and then asking the small groups to share their thinking with the whole group
  • facilitate a whole group discussion in which many different students contribute their ideas (See examples at: http://physics.oregonstate.edu/portfolioswiki/strategy:smallgroup:start.)
  • do a small group activity in which, for example, students work on a problem, use a computer simulation, or explore phenomena.
  • when students are working on large whiteboards in small groups, make sure everyone has a pen, everyone has an eraser, everyone has access to the white board and is contributing to the thinking
  • during a small group activity, bring the whole group together several times briefly to provide guidance as groups encounter expected issues as they work.
  • have small groups work on large whiteboards and invite groups to present and discuss their work with the whole group
  • be supportive and positive as students become accustomed to what for many may be an unusual culture if they are used to sitting quietly during lectures.
  • get students up out of their chairs by doing a kinesthetic activity in which students use their own bodies to help them visualize a physical situation.
  • do a compare and contrast activity in which small groups work, for example, on slightly different versions of the same calculation and participate in a wrap-up discussion about what the different results mean.

• During first day of class, attend to administrative details related to using active engagement strategies

  • arrange for an assistant to take pictures of the students so you can learn their names
  • include time for downloading on their computers any software needed for small group work and homework, such as Mathematica
  • remember to ask students to pick up small whiteboards, pens, erasers, and large white board for their group as they enter the classroom so they already have these materials at hand when need to use them later in the class
  • remember to inform students of department resources for fostering a sense of community among majors, such as a room where they can study and work together on homework

• Be aware of and plan ways to mitigate as well as utilize a wide range of experience and preparation among the students, particularly if some are still completing the introductory series and others are transfer students already enrolled in upper-level courses.

  • ask department advisor to make sure students have course pre-requisites before they enroll; clearly state course pre-requisites on the first day of class
  • make a list of prerequisite knowledge and skills that students ought to have for undertaking the topics and activities planned; consider where students might have learned this and how to provide for those who have not
  • perhaps create a visual display with post-it notes in one's office, as a reminder of the many aspects that need to be addressed
  • choose an initial problem in a familiar context, a challenging problem but one for which even the least prepared students likely have resources for doing the kind of sense-making intended
  • acknowledge the wide range of experience and preparation within the class; encourage those who hear a word or idea expressed that they do not understand to ask immediately for clarification
  • keep a list of student ideas that emerge from small group and whole group discussions
  • encourage or arrange for the more advanced students to be spread out among the small groups rather than clustered within one or a few groups
  • invite the more advanced students to learn deeply by teaching others, as informal mentors within their small groups
  • make clear that all members of a group need to understand a problem's solution, that the success of a group depends on every member being able to report and discuss the group's solution
  • make explicit the expectation that all members of a group will stand up and participate in the group's presentation to the class and that any member of the group may be called upon to explain some aspect of the group's solution

• Be aware of language issues for students who are not native speakers

  • write sentences on the board that mirror what you are saying
  • make sure they have access to the textbook
  • encourage students to come to office hours
  • create opportunities where they can feel comfortable, have more time, and less pressure so are more able to formulate some questions

• Re-adjust plans as find out how students are having trouble and what their questions are

  • recognize that the proposed schedule was too ambitious and revise it to allow for the extra time and practice students seem to need
  • if feasible, schedule course for longer sessions, such as two 85 minute blocks instead of three one hour blocks

• Focus upon the reasoning part of a solution during small group problem-solving activities

  • as move among small groups to monitor progress and assist as needed, consistently ask metacognitive coaching questions such as what are you doing? Why are you doing it? How will it be helpful?

• Invite small groups to report out their answers and to talk about strategies they used to look for mistakes as well as to build confidence in their answers

  • ask each group to discuss one thing they did to evaluate their final answer
  • make a list on the board of the strategies students mention
  • identify this list as an initial sense-making framework for use in class, on homework and exams

• When working a problem on the board, ask students what to do next

  • encourage students to think about how to get started on a problem
  • welcome student contributions even if incorrect
  • try to elicit common stumbling blocks and discuss them explicitly
  • elaborate on suggestions that seem to need more explanation

• Listen closely to what students are saying in their small groups and during class discussions to learn more about how they are thinking

  • if a problem is more challenging than anticipated, take more time than initially planned to explore its nuances
  • invite small groups to come up to the board and do the solution, to write it large enough for all to see, to talk about each step, and to welcome questions from other students
  • make clear that it is the responsibility of the other students to ask questions and to express their confusion even if they are so lost they are not even able to articulate a question
  • if a student makes a mistake, wait to see if it is noticed by other students, and commend a thoughtful discussion among the students that addresses the issue without embarrassing the student presenter
  • if a student presents a novel correct solution, discuss the similarities and differences among productive strategies

• Early in the course, include explicit sense-making prompts on worksheets setting up small group problem-solving activities in class and on homework. Ask students, for example:

  • to consider special cases
  • to plot a function and to physically interpret its shape
  • to compare an answer with an expectation based on prior knowledge or everyday experience
  • to analyze if and how the answer depends upon certain physical quantities
  • to check that units and dimensions are the same on both sides of equations
• Be sure grading of the homework provides feedback on the sense-making aspects of a problem.

• During office hours, engage students in working problems together; be a resource for them as they help one another rather than doing all the talking

  • enjoy and learn from watching students problem-solve “in the wild”
  • ask questions to help students develop new understandings rather than telling answers
  • affirm that lots of practice helps in working lengthy problems written symbolically
  • use a variety of sense-making prompts, some specific to the context, some more general, in interacting with the students

• Design examinations to assess sense-making skills explicitly as well as content knowledge and mathematical fluency

  • recognize that writing about sense-making on an exam takes time and impacts how many questions one can ask

• Meet before each class with assistant(s) to discuss their impressions of the previous class, plan the upcoming class, and discuss ways to improve those plans

  • rehearse plans for small group activities and interactive lectures
  • discuss likely student difficulties
  • listen to informal feedback about student experiences in the course

• After a few weeks in the course, ask for direct student feedback with an anonymous survey

  • ask how difficult the course seems with a Likert scale from very easy to about right to very difficult
  • ask what if anything students like about the course * ask what if anything students would like to change about the course
  • ask how much time students are spending on the homework and encourage those who seem to be spending too much time on it to come to office hours and get help by asking questions

• As course progresses, consider whether choices of subject matter and/or resources to include are appropriate and whether topics thought to be important for later courses are really necessary to be addressed in this one

  • if a topic seems to take more time than expected, reconsider its importance in the course
  • consult with colleagues if contemplating dropping a topic that would have prepared students for a later course
  • consider wrapping up a topic by ‘telling’ information needed if students are not making enough progress on their own
  • choose not to use software such as Mathematica in class if it seems too distracting; limit use to homework with help offered in office hours as needed
  • choose to continue specific sense-making prompts in contexts where the subject matter calls for a different kind of sense-making than used earlier.

• Recognize one's own limitations in launching a new complex endeavor

  • when discussing a challenging problem with lots of parts, recognize that the cognitive load of keeping in mind what needs discussing may limit your ability to engage with students to see what their ideas are
  • be aware that it is hard to predict a reasonable schedule when teaching interactively; expect to readjust plans as find out how students are having trouble and what their questions are
  • acknowledge that it is hard to respond in the moment to students who are struggling when encountering their difficulties for the first time
  • accept that teaching relatively new content means multiple stresses, in making sure one is correct in what one is teaching, in devising elegant ways to say things clearly, in becoming aware of and responding to student difficulties, and in creating a coherent narrative where there is a strong progression of ideas and everything fits well together.
  • acknowledge the tension between recognizing that not every student is going to understand everything in the course and caring about every student, wanting to help every one of them.

• Reflect often and keep a record for oneself

  • write briefly about each class session
  • create a binder with session plans, handouts, and commentary that will help one remember what one wants to change during the next version of the course
  • debrief frequently with a more experienced faculty member to gain perspective and insights about these challenging ways of teaching and learning