Lillian C. McDermott
26
History
3/15/10
finger and were asked to compare the total mass to the left and right of the balance point.
Only about 20% of the introductory students and 15% of the K-12 teachers responded
correctly. Almost all incorrect answers claimed there must be equal mass on both sides.
The treatment of balancing in
PbI
has been effective in
addressing this mistaken belief.
Sinking and Floating
62
is a popular topic in elementary school science.
It is introduced in
Properties of Matter
through careful development of the concepts of mass, volume, and
density.
Archimedes Principle is taught in introductory physics in the context of buoyant
force.
These students have not done as well as our elementary school teachers in
predicting whether five blocks of the same size but different mass will sink or float.
Control of Variables
63
is a reasoning skill that K-8 students are expected to acquire.
Their
teachers must be able to decide whether a variable determines, influences, or has no effect
on the outcome of a given experiment or other situation.
In collaboration with Andrew
Boudreaux (Western Washington U.), who had earned his Ph.D. with our group, we
examined control of variables in a general education physics course at WWU and in the
calculus-based course at UW. K-8 teachers from our Summer Institutes and short
workshops were included.
All had similar serious reasoning difficulties.
Helping students
develop this reasoning skill remains a challenge.
F.
Publication of
Physics
by Inquiry
A preliminary version of
Physics by Inquiry
was used at UW and at a few other
institutions during the 1980s and early 1990s.
Despite its apparent success, we delayed
formal publication. Finally, Cliff Mills (then Physics Editor at Wiley) persuaded Peter
and me that the time had come.
We agreed to a publication date in 1996, reluctantly
admitting that perfection is not possible.
By this time,
PbI
contained initial or revised
versions of:
Properties of Matter, Kinematics
,
Electric Circuits
,
Heat and Temperature
,
Astronomy by Sight
,
Light and Color
,
Light and Optics
,
Magnets
, and
Electromagnets.
64
62
M.E. Loverude, C.H. Kautz, and P.R.L. Heron, “Helping students develop an understanding of
Archimedes’ principle I. Research on student understanding,”
Am. J. Phys.
71
(11), 1178 (2003) and
P.R.L. Heron, M.E. Loverude, P.S. Shaffer, and L.C. McDermott;
ibid.
“II.
Development of research-
based instructional materials,”
ibid
.
71
(11), 1188 (2003).
63
A. Boudreaux, P.S. Shaffer, P.R.L. Heron, and L.C. McDermott,
“Student understanding of control of
variables:
Deciding whether or not a variable influences the behavior of a system,”
Am. J. Phys.
76
(2),
163 (2008).
64
See III.c. in the Endnotes.
Lillian C. McDermott
27
History
3/15/10
G.
Production of
Physics by Inquiry: A Video Resource
In the late 1990s, Joyce Evans at NSF suggested that we collaborate with WGBH
Boston to demonstrate how we work with teachers.
WGBH would create a video during
our NSF Summer Institute that could be used by faculty to prepare K-12 teachers to teach
by inquiry.
We were not eager to undertake this project because of concern about possible
negative effects on the Institute participants.
When we were assured, however, that we
would hardly notice that videotaping was taking place, we submitted a proposal to NSF.
Early in the summer of 1999, a filming crew with massive videotaping equipment
arrived.
It was impossible to ignore their presence.
It was often necessary to move in
order for the camera angle to be adjusted or for a voice to be picked up by the microphone.
In some ways, the filming was a harrowing experience, but the crew were invariably polite
and the teachers were good sports.
My colleagues and I were self-conscious about being
interviewed on film.
Everyone was relieved when the experience was over.
Peter and I
traveled to Boston to consult on the final version.
Not wanting to spend much time on
production details, we did not fuss as much as we later wished that we had on the choice
of background music or animated cartoons.
I guess our judgment was not universally
shared because
Physics by Inquiry: A Video Resource
received an
International
Association of Audio Visual Communicators (CINDY) Award Gold Medal
in 2001.
65
IV.
Research and Development:
Tutorials in Introductory Physics
Until the 1990s, the Physics Education Group had been known primarily for our
work with K-12 teachers.
Our earlier development of curriculum had been devoted to
Physics by Inquiry.
Tutorials in Introductory Physics
began a new era in our history.
66
A.
Relevance of Research to Introductory Physics Courses
During the development of
Physics by Inquiry
, we posed a number of qualitative
questions, not only to preservice and inservice teachers but also to students in the large
introductory courses.
The responses demonstrated that on certain types of non-
quantitative problems, the average performance of students in introductory courses is
65
Physics by Inquiry: A Video Resource
, Boston: WGBH Educational Foundation (2000).
66
L.C. McDermott, P.S. Shaffer, and the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington,
Tutorials in Introductory Physics
,
First Edition
(Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2002);
Instructor’s Guide
(2003).
(The
Preliminary Edition
was published in 1998.)
