July 13–17, 2013
67
Monday afternoon
PST1C04: 9:15-10 p.m. Development of Tutorial for Teaching
Electric Potential in High School
Poster – Joon Hee Hong, Korea National University of Education, Depart-
ment of Physics Education, Cheongwon, CB 363-791, Korea; bradjjun@
naver.com
Jung Bog Kim, Korea National University of Education
The purpose of this study was to develop a tutorial for teaching electric
potential. For this study, we investigated the 7th national curriculum and
the previous studies about the misconceptions about electric potential
difference. Tutorial for total eight class hours consisted of three sub-units.
On the basis of the two preliminary tests, the final version was developed.
We applied the developed tutorial to 10th grade women students. Students
said that the experiment and reasoning were very helpful in learning and
that the reasoning was not difficult and particularly the one using the pic-
tures was very helpful. Also they said that they could resolve the curiosity
produced in the pretest through the tutorial activity and could understand
what was wrong in their prior thought.
PST1C05: 8:30-9:15 p.m. Evaluations of Video Lab Reports in
an Introductory Physics MOOC
Poster – Shih-Yin Lin, Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Physics, 837
State St., Atlanta, GA 30332;
John M. Aiken, Ed Greco, Scott Douglas, Michael F. Schatz, Georgia Institute
of Technology
Marco D. Caballero, University of Colorado-Boulder
Brian D. Thoms, Georgia State University
John B. Burk, St. Andrew’s School, Middletown, DE
Assessing student performance becomes challenging when course enroll-
ment becomes very large (~10^5 students). As part of an introductory
physics Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) offered via Coursera in
summer 2013, students submit video reports on force and motion labs.
Peer evaluation of reports provides the primary method for evaluating
student laboratory work. This poster describes the methods developed and
used to guide students in evaluating each others’ video lab report.
PST1C06: 9:15-10 p.m. Investigating Interactive Whiteboard
Use with Design-based Research Approach
Poster – Bor Gregorcic, University of Ljubljana, Faculty for Mathematics and
Physics, Jadranska 19, Ljubljana, 1000 Slovenia;
Eugenia Etkina, Rutgers University
Gorazd Planinsic, University of Ljubljana
Interactive Whiteboards have become widely used in the last decade. Most
studies of the IWB use are fairly general and there is still a great need for
studies addressing effective IWB use for teaching specific subjects, includ-
ing physics. The framework for our study is based on the Design Based
Research approach. It is a cyclical process of designing, implementing,
evaluating and redesigning of a learning unit. As the cycle is repeated, the
result is an improved unit and emergence of principles for IWB use and
curriculum material design. Combining the IWB with dynamic interaction
software (Algodoo, for example) is of special interest to us, as the interac-
tive surface of the board is one of major advantages of IWB technology
over a standard computer-projector setup. It makes possible a personal and
creative, graphical and even kinesthetic input from the students.
PST1C07: 8:30-9:15 p.m. Placement of Students’ Group and
Individual Problem-Solving Activities
Poster – Bijaya Aryal, University of Minnesota-Rochester, 300 University
Square, 111 S Broadway, Rochester, MN 55904;
The body of research aimed at explaining the effect of peer group interac-
tion has indicated that social constructivism involved in group interaction
has positive impact on students’ group performances. However, it has not
provided adequate evidence on students’ individual learning after small
group interactions. This study used three types of group and individual
problem-solving sequences. As a part of group learning, students were
engaged in small groups of three to four to complete problem-solving
activities. Students later completed isomorphic problems as individual as-
signments. Students’ scores on multiple tasks from various semesters were
used as data in this study to investigate the influence of group interactions
on individual learning. Data analysis revealed the impact of placement of
group and individual problem-solving activities on students’ subsequent
individual performance. Results of this study provide insights into the
design of effective learning sequences involving peer group interaction in
physics classroom.
PST1C08: 9:15-10 p.m. Student Collaborative Networks and
Academic Performance in Physics
Poster – David R. Schmidt, Colorado School of Mines, 2015 Infinity Circle,
#191, Golden, CO 80401;
Ariel M. Bridgeman, Patrick B. Kohl, Colorado School of Mines
Undergraduate physics students commonly collaborate with one another
on homework assignments, especially in more challenging courses.
However, it is not well known if the types of collaboration students engage
in affect their performances. We empirically investigate collaborative
networks and associated performances through a required collaboration
reporting system in two sophomore- level and three junior-level courses
during the 2012-2013 academic year. We employ social network analysis to
quantify the structure and time evolution of these networks, which involve
approximately 140 students. Analysis includes analytical and numerical as-
signments in addition to exam scores. We discuss results from this analysis.
PST1C09: 8:30-9:15 p.m. Student Understanding of Newton’s
Second Law with Computational Modeling
Poster – John M. Aiken, Georgia State University, 3736 Gloucester Drive,
Tucker, GA 30084;
Shih-Yin Lin, Scott S. Douglas, Michael F. Schatz, Georgia Institute of
Technology
Marcos D. Caballero, University of Colorado-Boulder
John B. Burk, St. Andrews’ School
Brian D. Thoms, Georgia State University
When learning with any representation of a physical model (e.g., graphs,
diagrams, computation), students must learn to connect the model to the
individual representation. This paper follows previous work where com-
putational modeling (using VPython) was integrated into a high school
Modeling Instruction physics course. To characterize student understand-
ing of Newton’s second law, five representative students were recruited in
a think-aloud session with a follow-up interview. During the think-aloud
session, students wrote a program modeling the motion of a baseball.
Students’ understanding of the physics concepts behind the computational
model will be reported. In particular, we will focus on students’ ability to
relate Newton’s second law to the velocity update in a computational model
of force and motion.
PST1C10: 9:15-10 p.m. Student Understanding of Traditional
and Standards-based Grading Methods
Poster – Joshua Gates, The Tatnall School, 5 E Brookland Ave., Wilmington,
DE 19805;
Student qualitative and quantitative understanding of traditional grading
systems (points-based and category-based) and a standards-based system
were examined. Students were asked to articulate their current grading sys-
tem, to determine how a new grade (given an existing set of grades) would
change their overall grade, and to calculate an overall grade (given a set of
existing grades). Student comprehension of the grading systems is com-
pared and contrasted, and may be a good response to those questioning
student understanding of a ‘new’ SBG system—did they really understand
the traditional method in the first place?
