We transformed an upper‐division electricity and magnetism course for physics and engineering majors using principles of active engagement and learning theory. The teaching practices and new curricular materials were guided by observations and interviews to identify common student difficulties. We established explicit learning goals for the course, created homeworks that addressed key aspects of those learning goals, offered interactive help room sessions, created and ran small‐group tutorial sessions, and used interactive classroom techniques such as peer discussion and “clickers.” We find that students in the transformed course exhibit improved performance over the traditional course, as assessed by common exam questions and a newly developed conceptual post‐test. These results suggest that it is valuable to further investigate how physics is taught at the upper‐division, and how PER may be applied in this context.
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20 October 2008
2008 PHYSICS EDUCATION RESEARCH CONFERENCE
23–24 July 2008
Edmonton, Alberta (Canada)
Research Article|
October 20 2008
Transforming Upper‐Division Electricity and Magnetism
Stephanie V. Chasteen;
Stephanie V. Chasteen
aScience Education Initiative, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
bDepartment of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
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Steven J. Pollock
Steven J. Pollock
bDepartment of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
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AIP Conf. Proc. 1064, 91–94 (2008)
Citation
Stephanie V. Chasteen, Steven J. Pollock; Transforming Upper‐Division Electricity and Magnetism. AIP Conf. Proc. 20 October 2008; 1064 (1): 91–94. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3021282
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