arXiv subjects

Eleanor C. Sayre

Publications and source records attributed to Eleanor C. Sayre.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Becoming a Physicist: The Roles of Research, Mindsets, and Milestones in upper-division student perceptions

As part of a longitudinal study into identity development in upper-level physics students, a phenomenographic research method was used to examine students' perceptions of what it means to be a physicist. The results revealed four different categories of perception of what it means to be a physicist, with a clear distinction in the level of exclusivity students associate with being a physicist and differences of importance of research and its association with being a physicist. We find a relationship between students' perceptions of physicists and students' goal orientation. The paper highlights a need for faculty to not just emphasize the importance of research to students' academic development but also to further demonstrate and explain what research entails and the role it plays in a physicist's identity.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2015

Brief, embedded, spontaneous metacognitive talk indicates thinking like a physicist

Instructors and researchers think "thinking like a physicist" is important for students' professional development. However, precise definitions and observational markers remain elusive. We reinterpret popular beliefs inventories in physics to indicate what physicists think "thinking like a physicist" entails. Through discourse analysis of upper-division students' speech in natural settings, we show that students may appropriate or resist these elements. We identify a new element in the physicist speech genre: brief, embedded, spontaneous metacognitive talk (BESM talk). BESM talk communicates students' in-the-moment enacted expectations about physics as a technical field and a cultural endeavor. Students use BESM talk to position themselves as physicists or non-physicists. Students also use BESM talk to communicate their expectations in four ways: understanding, confusion, spotting inconsistencies, and generalized expectations.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2015

Research-based assessment affordances and constraints: Perceptions of physics faculty

To help faculty use research-based materials in a more significant way, we learn about their perceived needs and desires and use this information to suggest ways for the Physics Education Research community to address these needs. When research-based resources are well aligned with the perceived needs of faculty, faculty members will more readily take them up. We used phenomenographic interviews of ordinary physics faculty and department chairs to identify four families of issues that faculty have around research-based assessments (RBA). First, many faculty are interested in using RBAs but have practical needs around how to do so: how to find them, which ones there are, and how to administer them. They want help addressing these needs. Second, at the same time, many faculty think that RBAs are limited and don't measure many of the things they care about, or aren't applicable in their classes. They want assessments to measure skills, perceptions, and specific concepts. Third, many faculty want to turn to communities of other faculty and experts to help them interpret their assessment results and suggest other ways to do assessment. They want to norm their assessment results by comparing to others and interacting with faculty from other schools to learn about how they do assessment. Fourth, many faculty consider their courses in the broader contexts of accountability and their departments. They want help with assessment in these broader contexts. We also discuss how faculty members role in their department and type of institution influence their perceived wants and needs around assessment.

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arXiv2014

Just Math: A new epistemic frame

A goal of PER is to understand how students use math in physics contexts. To investigate how students use math, we need to identify transitions between conceptual sense-making about physical systems and using mathematics to describe and to make predictions about those systems. We reviewed video of students solving a variety of physics problems in small groups through the lens of epistemic frames (e-frames). In this paper, we present a new e-frame, which we are calling "Just Math", that is similar to the Worksheet e-frame, but is characterized by brief, low-level, math-focused utterances between students. Future work will focus on analyzing the transitions into and out of this e-frame so that we may develop a more coherent understanding of students' use of math in physics.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2014

Upper-Level Physics Students' Perceptions of Physicists

As part of a longitudinal study into identity development in upper-level physics students, we used a phenomenographic research method to examine students' perceptions of what it means to be a physicist. The results revealed four different categories. We find a clear distinction in the exclusivity students associate with being a physicist and the differences in the importance of research and its association with being a physicist. A relationship between perceptions of physicists and goal orientation is indicated.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2014

Learning about the Energy of a Hurricane System through an Estimation Epistemic Game

As part of a study into students' problem solving behaviors, we asked upper-division physics students to solve estimation problems in clinical interviews. We use the Resources Framework and epistemic games to describe students' problem solving moves. We present a new epistemic game, the "estimation epistemic game". In the estimation epistemic game, students break the larger problem into a series of smaller, tractable problems. Within each sub-problem, they try to remember a method for solving the problem, and use estimation and reasoning abilities to justify their answers. We demonstrate how a single case study student plays the game to estimate the total energy in a hurricane. Finally, we discuss the implications of epistemic game analysis for other estimation problems.

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arXiv2014

Gender gap on concept inventories in physics: what is consistent, what is inconsistent, and what factors influence the gap?

We review the literature on the gender gap on concept inventories in physics. Across studies of the most commonly used mechanics concept inventories, the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation (FMCE), mens average pretest scores are always higher than womens, and in most cases mens posttest scores are higher as well. The weighted average gender difference on these tests is 13% for pretest scores, 12% for posttest scores, and 6% for normalized gain. This difference is much smaller than the average difference in normalized gain between traditional lecture and interactive engagement (25%), but it is large enough that it could impact the results of studies comparing the effectiveness of different teaching methods. There is sometimes a gender gap on commonly used electromagnetism concept inventories, but it is usually much smaller and sometimes is zero or favors women. The weighted average gender difference on these tests is 3.7% for pretest scores, 8.5% for posttest scores, and 6% for normalized gain. Based on our analysis of 26 published articles, no single factor is sufficient to explain the gap. Several high-profile studies that have claimed to account for or reduce the gender gap have failed to be replicated in subsequent studies, suggesting that isolated claims of explanations of the gender gap should be interpreted with caution. Other factors, such as gender differences in background preparation, scores on different kinds of assessment, and splits between how students respond to test questions when answering for themselves or for a scientist do contribute to a difference between male and female responses, but the size of these differences is smaller than the size of the overall gender gap, suggesting that the gender gap is most likely due to the combination of many small factors rather than any one factor that can easily be modified.

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arXiv2013

Conditions for building a community of practice in an advanced physics laboratory

In this paper we explore the theory of communities of practice in the context of a physics college course and in particular the classroom environment of an advanced laboratory. We introduce the idea of elements of a classroom community being able to provide students with the opportunity to have an accelerated trajectory towards being a more central participant of the community of practice of physicists. This opportunity is a result of structural features of the course and a primary instructional choice which result in the development of a learning community with several elements that encourage students to engage in more authentic practices of a physicist. A jump in accountable disciplinary knowledge is also explored as a motivation for enculturation into the community of practice of physicists. In the advanced laboratory what students are being assessed on as counting as physics is significantly different and so they need to assimilate in order to succeed.

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arXiv2010

Fluctuations in Student Understanding of Newton's 3rd Law

We present data from a between-student study on student response to questions on Newton's Third Law given throughout the academic year. The study, conducted at Rochester Institute of Technology, involved students from the first and third of a three-quarter sequence. Construction of a response curve reveals subtle dynamics in student learning not captured by simple pre/post testing. We find a a significant positive effect from direct instruction, peaking at the end of instruction on forces, that diminishes by the end of the quarter. Two quarters later, in physics III, a significant dip in correct response occurs when instruction changes from the vector quantities of electric forces and fields to the scalar quantity of electric potential. Student response rebounds to its initial values, however, once instruction returns to the vector-based topics involving magnetic fields.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2010

Students' Responses To Different Representations Of A Vector Addition Question

We investigate if the visual representation of vectors can affect which methods students use to add them. We gave students one of four questions with different graphical representations, asking students to add the same two vectors. For students in an algebra-based class the arrangement of the vectors had a statistically significant effect on the vector addition method chosen while the addition or removal of a grid did not.

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