arXiv subjects

Marcos D. Caballero

Publications and source records attributed to Marcos D. Caballero.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Peer Evaluation of Video Lab Reports in an Introductory Physics MOOC

Assessing student performance becomes challenging when course enrollment becomes very large (~10^4 students). As part of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in introductory physics offered by Georgia Tech in 2013, students submitted video reports on mechanics labs. Peer evaluation of these reports provided the primary method for evaluating student laboratory work. This paper describes the methods developed and used to guide students in evaluating each other's video lab reports. We also discuss how students' peer evaluation behavior changed with different interventions provided in the course.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2014

Development and Uses of Upper-division Conceptual Assessment

The use of validated conceptual assessments alongside more standard course exams has become standard practice for the introductory courses in many physics departments. These assessments provide a more standard measure of certain learning goals, allowing for comparisons of student learning across instructors, semesters, and institutions. Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have developed several similar assessments designed to target the more advanced physics content of upper-division classical mechanics, electrostatics, quantum mechanics, and electrodynamics. Here, we synthesize the existing research on our upper-division assessments and discuss some of the barriers and challenges associated with developing, validating, and implementing these assessments as well as some of the strategies we have used to overcome these barriers.

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arXiv2014

Analytic Framework for Students' Use of Mathematics in Upper-Division Physics

Many students in upper-division physics courses struggle with the mathematically sophisticated tools and techniques that are required for advanced physics content. We have developed an analytical framework to assist instructors and researchers in characterizing students' difficulties with specific mathematical tools when solving the long and complex problems that are characteristic of upper-division. In this paper, we present this framework, including its motivation and development. We also describe an application of the framework to investigations of student difficulties with direct integration in electricity and magnetism (i.e., Coulomb's Law) and approximation methods in classical mechanics (i.e., Taylor series). These investigations provide examples of the types of difficulties encountered by advanced physics students, as well as the utility of the framework for both researchers and instructors.

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arXiv2014

Peer Evaluation of Video Lab Reports in a Blended Introductory Physics Course

The Georgia Tech blended introductory calculus-based mechanics course emphasizes scientific communication as one of its learning goals, and to that end, we gave our students a series of four peer-evaluation assignments intended to develop their abilities to present and evaluate scientific arguments. Within these assignments, we also assessed students' evaluation abilities by comparing their evaluations to a set of expert evaluations. We summarize our development efforts and describe the changes we observed in student evaluation behavior.

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arXiv2014

Engaging Physics Faculty in Course Transformation

Research has shown that it is challenging to change departmental culture to support the adoption of transformed teaching practices. Michigan State University is working to transform its introductory physics courses by engaging faculty in discussions about the scientific practices and core ideas of the discipline, and to use those discussions to drive change to both assessments and classroom instruction. Here we discuss our model of change, its implementation in the Physics and Astronomy department, the challenges encountered along the way and how we've mitigated those challenges, and tools to measure the impact of this change.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2014

Student Use of a Single Lecture Video in a Flipped Introductory Mechanics Course

In the Fall of 2013, Georgia Tech offered a 'flipped' calculus-based introductory mechanics class as an alternative to the traditional large-enrollment lecture class. This class flipped instruction by introducing new material outside of the classroom through pre-recorded, lecture videos. Video lectures constituted students' initial introduction to course material. We analyze how students engaged with online lecture videos via 'clickstream' data, consisting of time-stamped interactions (plays, pauses, seeks, etc.) with the online video player. Analysis of these events has shown that students may be focusing on elements of the video that facilitate a 'correct' solution.

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arXiv2014

Rubric Design for Separating the Roles of Open-Ended Assessments

End-of-course assessments play important roles in the ongoing attempt to improve instruction in physics courses. Comparison of students' performance on assessments before and after instruction gives a measure of student learning. In addition, analysis of students' answers to assessment items provides insight into students' difficulties with specific concepts and practices. While open-ended assessments scored with detailed rubrics provide useful information about student reasoning to researchers, end users need to score students' responses so that they may obtain meaningful feedback on their instruction. One solution that satisfies end users and researchers is a grading rubric that separates scoring student work and uncovering student difficulties. We have constructed a separable rubric for the Colorado Classical Mechanics/Math Methods Instrument that has been used by untrained graders to score the assessment reliably, and by researchers to unpack common student difficulties. Here we present rubric development, measures of inter-rater reliability, and some uncovered student difficulties.

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arXiv2013

Bridging Physics and Biology Teaching through Modeling

As the frontiers of biology become increasingly interdisciplinary, the physics education community has engaged in ongoing efforts to make physics classes more relevant to life sciences majors. These efforts are complicated by the many apparent differences between these fields, including the types of systems that each studies, the behavior of those systems, the kinds of measurements that each makes, and the role of mathematics in each field. Nonetheless, physics and biology are both sciences that rely on observations and measurements to construct models of the natural world. In the present theoretical article, we propose that efforts to bridge the teaching of these two disciplines must emphasize shared scientific practices, particularly scientific modeling. We define modeling using language common to both disciplines and highlight how an understanding of the modeling process can help reconcile apparent differences between the teaching of physics and biology. We elaborate how models can be used for explanatory, predictive, and functional purposes and present common models from each discipline demonstrating key modeling principles. By framing interdisciplinary teaching in the context of modeling, we aim to bridge physics and biology teaching and to equip students with modeling competencies applicable across any scientific discipline.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2013

Integrating Numerical Computation into the Modeling Instruction Curriculum

We describe a way to introduce physics high school students with no background in programming to computational problem-solving experiences. Our approach builds on the great strides made by the Modeling Instruction reform curriculum. This approach emphasizes the practices of "Developing and using models" and "Computational thinking" highlighted by the NRC K-12 science standards framework. We taught 9th-grade students in a Modeling-Instruction-based physics course to construct computational models using the VPython programming environment. Numerical computation within the Modeling Instruction curriculum provides coherence among the curriculum's different force and motion models, links the various representations which the curriculum employs, and extends the curriculum to include real-world problems that are inaccessible to a purely analytic approach.

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arXiv2013

A Model for Incorporating Computation Without Changing the Course: An example from middle-division classical mechanics

Much of the research done by modern physicists would be impossible without the use of computation. And yet, while computation is a crucial tool of practicing physicists, physics curricula do not generally reflect its importance and utility. To more tightly connect undergraduate preparation with professional practice, we integrated computational instruction into middle-division classical mechanics at the University of Colorado Boulder. Our model for integration works within the constraints of faculty who do not specialize in computation teaching standard physics courses by placing a strong emphasis on {an adaptable curriculum}. Our model includes the construction of computational learning goals, the design of computational activities consistent with those goals, and the assessment of students' computational fluency. We present critiques of our model as we work to develop an effective and sustainable model for computational instruction in the undergraduate curriculum

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arXiv2013

The Initial State of Students Taking an Introductory Physics MOOC

As part of a larger research project into massively open online courses (MOOCs), we have investigated student background, as well as student participation in a physics MOOC with a laboratory component. Students completed a demographic survey and the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation at the beginning of the course. While the course is still actively running, we have tracked student participation over the first five weeks of the eleven-week course.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2013

Assessing Student Learning in Middle-Division Classical Mechanics/Math Methods

Reliable and validated assessments of introductory physics have been instrumental in driving curricular and pedagogical reforms that lead to improved student learning. As part of an effort to systematically improve our sophomore-level Classical Mechanics and Math Methods course (CM 1) at CU Boulder, we are developing a tool to assess student learning of CM 1 concepts in the upper-division. The Colorado Classical Mechanics/Math Methods Instrument (CCMI) builds on faculty-consensus learning goals and systematic observations of student difficulties. The result is a 9-question open-ended post-test that probes student learning in the first half of a two-semester classical mechanics / math methods sequence. In this paper, we describe the design and development of this instrument, its validation, and measurements made in classes at CU Boulder.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2013

How can we improve problem-solving in undergraduate biology? Applying lessons from 30 years of physics education research

If students are to successfully grapple with authentic, complex biological problems as scientists and citizens, they need practice solving such problems during their undergraduate years. Physics education researchers have investigated student problem solving for the last three decades. Although physics and biology problems differ in structure and content, the instructional purposes align closely: explaining patterns and processes in the natural world and making predictions about physical and biological systems. In this paper, we discuss how research-supported approaches developed by physics education researchers can be adopted by biologists to enhance student problem-solving skills. First, we compare the problems that biology students are typically asked to solve with authentic, complex problems. We then describe the development of research-validated physics curricula emphasizing process skills in problem solving. We show that solving authentic, complex biology problems requires many of the same skills that practicing physicists and biologists use in representing problems, seeking relationships, making predictions, and verifying or checking solutions. We assert that acquiring these skills can help biology students become competent problem solvers. Finally, we propose how biology scholars can apply lessons from physics education in their classrooms and inspire new studies in biology education research. (To appear in Cell Biology Education - Life Sciences Education)

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arXiv2012

Upper-division Student Understanding of Coulomb's Law: Difficulties with Continuous Charge Distributions

Utilizing the integral expression of Coulomb's Law to determine the electric potential from a continuous charge distribution is a canonical exercise in Electricity and Magnetism (E&M). In this study, we use both think-aloud interviews and responses to traditional exam questions to investigate student difficulties with this topic at the upper-division level. Leveraging a theoretical framework for the use of mathematics in physics, we discuss how students activate, construct, execute and reflect on the integral form of Coulomb's Law when solving problems with continuous charge distributions. We present evidence that junior-level E&M students have difficulty mapping physical systems onto the mathematical expression for the Coulomb potential. Common challenges include difficulty expressing the difference vector in appropriate coordinates as well as determining expressions for the differential charge element and limits of integration for a specific charge distribution. We discuss possible implications of these findings for future research directions and instructional strategies.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2012

ACER: A Framework on the Use of Mathematics in Upper-division Physics

At the University of Colorado Boulder, as part of our broader efforts to transform middle- and upper-division physics courses, we research students' difficulties with particular concepts, methods, and tools in classical mechanics, electromagnetism, and quantum mechanics. Unsurprisingly, a number of difficulties are related to students' use of mathematical tools (e.g., approximation methods). Previous work has documented a number of challenges that students must overcome to use mathematical tools fluently in introductory physics (e.g., mapping meaning onto mathematical symbols). We have developed a theoretical framework to facilitate connecting students' difficulties to challenges with specific mathematical and physical concepts. In this paper, we motivate the need for this framework and demonstrate its utility for both researchers and course instructors by applying it to frame results from interview data on students' use of Taylor approximations.

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arXiv2012

Understanding Student Computational Thinking with Computational Modeling

Recently, the National Research Council's framework for next generation science standards highlighted "computational thinking" as one of its "fundamental practices". 9th Grade students taking a physics course that employed the Modeling Instruction curriculum were taught to construct computational models of physical systems. Student computational thinking was assessed using a proctored programming assignment, written essay, and a series of think-aloud interviews, where the students produced and discussed a computational model of a baseball in motion via a high-level programming environment (VPython). Roughly a third of the students in the study were successful in completing the programming assignment. Student success on this assessment was tied to how students synthesized their knowledge of physics and computation. On the essay and interview assessments, students displayed unique views of the relationship between force and motion; those who spoke of this relationship in causal (rather than observational) terms tended to have more success in the programming exercise.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2012

Implementing and assessing computational modeling in introductory mechanics

Students taking introductory physics are rarely exposed to computational modeling. In a one-semester large lecture introductory calculus-based mechanics course at Georgia Tech, students learned to solve physics problems using the VPython programming environment. During the term 1357 students in this course solved a suite of fourteen computational modeling homework questions delivered using an online commercial course management system. Their proficiency with computational modeling was evaluated in a proctored environment using a novel central force problem. The majority of students (60.4%) successfully completed the evaluation. Analysis of erroneous student-submitted programs indicated that a small set of student errors explained why most programs failed. We discuss the design and implementation of the computational modeling homework and evaluation, the results from the evaluation and the implications for instruction in computational modeling in introductory STEM courses.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2012

Comparing large lecture mechanics curricula using the Force Concept Inventory: A five thousand student study

The performance of over 5000 students in introductory calculus-based mechanics courses at the Georgia Institute of Technology was assessed using the Force Concept Inventory (FCI). Results from two different curricula were compared: a traditional mechanics curriculum and the Matter & Interactions (M&I) curriculum. Post-instruction FCI averages were significantly higher for the traditional curriculum than for the M&I curriculum; the differences between curricula persist after accounting for factors such as pre-instruction FCI scores, grade point averages, and SAT scores. FCI performance on categories of items organized by concepts was also compared; traditional averages were significantly higher in each concept. We examined differences in student preparation between the curricula and found that the relative fraction of homework and lecture topics devoted to FCI force and motion concepts correlated with the observed performance differences. Limitations of concept inventories as instruments for evaluating curricular reforms are discussed.

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