Abstract
This study investigates how the beliefs and values of physics faculty influence their choice of physics problems for their students in an introductory physics course. The study identifies the goals these instructors have for their students, the problem features they believe facilitate those goals, and how those features correspond to problems they choose to use in their classes. This analysis comes from an artifact-based interview of 30 physics faculty teaching introductory calculus-based physics at a wide variety of institutions. The study concludes that instructors' goals and the problem features they believe support those goals align with research-based curricular materials intended to develop competent problem solvers. However, many of these instructors do not use the beneficial problem features because they believe these features conflict with a more powerful set of values concerned with clarity of presentation and minimizing student stress, especially on exams.
Highlights
Three central goals are presented in the educational literature for using problems in the introductory physics course as a means of: ͑1͒ helping students construct physics knowledge1,2͔, ͑2͒ helping students develop generalized problem-solving skills3͔; and3͒ introducing students to the nature of scientific culture4͔
The study identifies the goals these instructors have for their students, the problem features they believe facilitate those goals, and how those features correspond to problems they choose to use in their classes
The study concludes that instructors’ goals and the problem features they believe support those goals align with researchbased curricular materials intended to develop competent problem solvers
Summary
Three central goals are presented in the educational literature for using problems in the introductory physics course as a means of: ͑1͒ helping students construct physics knowledge1,2͔, ͑2͒ helping students develop generalized problem-solving skills3͔; and3͒ introducing students to the nature of scientific culture4͔. Multistep problems that avoid explicit physics cues5–7͔ can focus students on the underlying physics concepts useful in that problem situation Such problems promote the integration of conceptual knowledge and the skills of planning and evaluation. The instructors came from a variety of institutions: large state research universities, primarily undergraduate state universities, primarily undergraduate private colleges and community colleges The information from this analysis can help curriculum developers in designing problems that will be both valued and used by instructors, and help professional development leaders address instructors’ concerns regarding problem formats. 1 and 2͒, reflect on how these problems are similar or different to the problems they use, and try to articulate their reasons for favoring particular problem features Assume that these problems are designed for a calculus-based introductory physics class
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