Instructors of physics courses face the demanding challenge of creating a safe, nurturing community in their classroom while maintaining sufficient rigor. First-day activities are especially important, because they need to both motivate their students and prepare them for the course. Experienced instructors happily share their successful first-day activities,1,2 but what works for one instructor or class might not be as successful for another. We postulate that to be successful, an activity will set expectations, attend to the face needs of the students, and build the instructor's credibility. By modeling the course activities and fostering a supportive learning community, well-suited activities can both orient and motivate students.
References
1.
For example, see
Arthur
Eisenkraft
,“They're back! The first day of school
,” Phys. Teach.
27
, 424
–431
(Sept. 1989
). 2.
The Science Education Initiative collects first-day activities for STEM courses. See http://www.colorado.edu/sei/fac-resources/framing.html.
3.
For more about the importance of shifting pedagogical expectations, see
Jon D. H.
Gaffney
, Amy L. Housley
Gaffney
and Robert J.
Beichner
,“Do they see it coming? Using expectancy violation to gauge the success of pedagogical reforms
,” Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.
6
, 010102
(Feb. 2010
). 4.
Yvette Van
Hise
and Thomas
Phillips
,“What do you do the first day of physics class?
” Phys. Teach.
26
, 291
–292
(May 1988
). 5.
William B.
Lynch
,“First-day physics
,” Phys. Teach.
29
, 336
(Sept. 1991
). 6.
David
Keeports
,“Addressing physical intuition — A first day event
,” Phys. Teach.
38
, 318
–319
(May 2000
). 7.
Jon D. H.
Gaffney
, Evan
Richards
, Mary Bridget
Kustusch
, Lin
Ding
, and Robert J.
Beichner
,“Scaling up education reform
,” J. Coll. Sci. Teach.
37
, 48
–53
(May 2008
).8.
9.
David R.
Sokoloff
and Ronald K.
Thornton
,“Using Interactive Lecture Demonstrations to create an active learning environment
,” Phys. Teach.
35
, 340
–347
(Sept. 1997
).10.
11.
Erving
Goffman
, On Face-Work, Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face behavior
(Pantheon
, New York
, 1967
), pp. 5
–46
.12.
Tae-Seop
Lim
and John Waite
Bowers
,“Facework solidarity, approbation, and tact
,” Human Comm. Res.
17
, 415
–450
(March 1991
). 13.
Jeff
Kerssen-Griep
, Jon A.
Hess
, and April R.
Trees
,“Sustaining the desire to learn: Dimensions of perceived instructional face-work related to student involvement and motivation to learn
,” Western J. Comm.
67
, 357
–381
(Fall 2003
). 14.
Penelope
Brown
and Stephen C.
Levinson
, Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage
(Cambridge University Press
, Cambridge, UK
, 1978
).15.
Paul L.
Witt
and Jeff
Kerssen-Griep
,“Instructional feedback I: The interaction of facework and immediacy on students' perceptions of instructor credibility
,” Comm. Educ.
60
, 75
–94
(Jan. 2011
). 16.
See, for example,
Katherine S.
Thweatt
and James C.
McCroskey
,“The impact of teacher immediacy and misbehaviors on teacher credibility
,” Comm. Educ.
47
, 348
–358
(Oct. 1998
). 17.
See, for example,
Paul
Schrodt
and Paul D.
Turman
,“The impact of instructional technology use, course design, and sex differences on students' initial perceptions of instructor credibility
,” Comm. Quarterly
53
, 177
–196
(April 2005
).18.
John L.
Hubisz
,“Quarter-sheet questions
,” Phys. Teach.
48
, 138
–139
(Feb. 2010
). 19.
Gary A.
Smith
,“First-day questions for the learner-centered classroom
,” Nat. Teach. Learn. Forum
17
, 1
–4
(Sept. 2008
). 20.
David P.
Maloney
and Mark F.
Masters
,“Learning the game of formulating hypotheses and theories
,” Phys. Teach.
48
, 22
–24
(Jan. 2010
). 21.
Jon D. H.
Gaffney
,“Education majors' expectations and reported experiences with inquiry-based physics: Implications for student affect
,” Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.
9
, 010112
(April 2013
). 22.
Many useful examples can be found in the recurring column “Fermi Questions” in The Physics Teacher. Edited by
Larry
Weinstein
.23.
We learned this activity from Robert Beichner, who has used it on the first day of SCALE-UP courses.
© 2015 American Association of Physics Teachers.
2015
American Association of Physics Teachers
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