arXiv subjects

Olive Ross

Publications and source records attributed to Olive Ross.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Predictive Modeling for High Impact Active Learning Classrooms

Over the past several decades, a large body of research has shown that undergraduate science students learn more and more equitably in active learning classrooms; however, the term "active learning" lacks definition and little research has examined which types and combinations of active learning strategies are most effective. In this study, we use a dataset representing over 10,000 students and 24 institutions to create a predictive model that maps classroom time spent on different activities to student conceptual learning. We find that four variables -- classroom time spent on lecture, group worksheets, clicker questions, and student questions -- are sufficient to reliably predict student learning, as measured by concept inventory scores. We identify one type of class that consistently demonstrates exceptional student learning gains (effect sizes greater than 2): those that spend 10-20% of class time on group worksheets, 20-40% of class time on group clicker questions, and average two or more student questions per hour of class time. We also find that classes which do not utilize group worksheets consistently have learning outcomes comparable to fully lecture classes. These results provide testable recommendations for future controlled studies to investigate effective active learning implementation in undergraduate physics courses.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2025

Multi-institutional assessment of Peer Instruction implementation and impacts using the Framework for Interactive Learning in Lectures

Substantial research indicates that active learning methods improve student learning more than traditional lecturing. Accordingly, current studies aim to characterize and evaluate different instructors' implementations of active learning methods. Peer Instruction is one of the most commonly used active learning methods in undergraduate physics instruction and typically involves the use of classroom response systems (e.g., clickers) where instructors pose conceptual questions that students answer individually and/or in collaboration with nearby peers. Several research studies have identified that different instructors vary in the ways they implement Peer Instruction (e.g., the time they give students to answer a question and the time they spend explaining the correct answer); however, these studies only take place at a single institution and do not relate the implementation of Peer Instruction to student learning. In this study, we analyze variation in both the implementation and impacts of Peer Instruction. We use classroom video observations and conceptual inventory data from seven introductory physics instructors across six U.S. institutions. We characterize implementation using the Framework for Interactive Learning in Lectures (FILL+), which classifies classroom activities as interactive (e.g., clicker questions), vicarious interactive (e.g., individual students asking a question), or non-interactive (e.g., instructor lecturing). Our preliminary results suggest that instructors who use both interactive and vicarious interactive strategies may exhibit larger student learning gains than instructors who predominantly use only one of the two strategies.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2024

Carnot-Carath\'{e}odory metrics associated to degenerate elliptic operators in three dimensions

This note is a companion paper to arXiv:1608.01630 [math.CA]. Here we generalize some of the geometric results of arXiv:1608.01630 [math.CA] to the case of a $3\times 3$ matrix function $A(x)\approx \mathrm{diag}\{1,f(x_1), g(x_1)\}$. More precisely, we make explicit calculations of the geodesics in the Carnot-Carath\'{e}odory space associated to $A$, and provide estimates on the Lebesgue measures of metric balls centered at the origin in that space.

math.AP↗