A Study of the Development of the Paradigms in Physics Program

After successfully envisioning and implementing new approaches, leaders need to “institutionalize achieved changes and make continuous change part of the organization's culture,” (Beach [2], p. ix). Sustaining the reformed curriculum required, for example, enculturating new faculty members who would be teaching with approaches to content and pedagogy that differed from their own physics learning experiences. The guiding questions for this part of the study were:

• How did the faculty sustain the Paradigms in Physics program for so many years?

In particular:

• When did new faculty members first learn about the Paradigms in Physics program?
• How experienced were they as teachers when they joined the faculty?
• What was the effect of the technologically complex setting where they were teaching?
• How did they make sense of new ways of organizing physics content in planning to teach one of the Paradigm in Physics program courses?
• What helped them learn how to use the active engagement strategies characteristic of these courses?
• In what ways did they learn about what came before and what was coming after the course that they were now teaching?
• How free did they feel to make changes?
• What helped or would have helped them make progress toward teaching these courses effectively?

Data sources for this part of the qualitative study included audio-recorded interviews, the wiki documenting the program, and publications. The lead author interviewed eight new faculty members, a sabbatical visitor who chose to teach one of the paradigms courses, and a postdoctoral scholar. The interviews focused upon when and how the interviewees learned about the paradigm in physics program, how they planned and taught paradigm courses, and what they recommend departments do to help new faculty teach in new ways. The lead author selected excerpts from the interviews to illustrate the insights of these participants with respect to the questions stated above.