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This study reports the development, validation, and implementation of a practical exam to assess science practices in an introductory physics laboratory. The exam asks students to design and conduct an investigation, perform data analysis, and write an argument. The exam was validated with advanced physics undergraduate students and undergraduate students in introductory physics lecture courses. Face validity has been established by administering the practical in 65 laboratory sections over the course of three semesters. We found that the greatest source of variability in this exam was due to instructor grading issues and discuss the implications of this result for our ongoing assessment efforts.
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Bringing three-dimensional learning to undergraduate physics: Insight from an introductory physics laboratory course
Three-dimensional learning (3DL) is an approach to science instruction that was developed for K-12 science education and that can provide guidance for improving undergraduate physics laboratories. In this paper, we describe efforts to comprehensively integrate 3DL into a sequence of undergraduate introductory physics for life sciences (IPLS) laboratory courses. This paper is tailored for introductory physics faculty interested in advancing their course's learning goals by simultaneously engaging students in experimental practices, scientific reasoning, and conceptual knowledge. We first review how several well-known laboratory curricula are already implicitly aligned with 3DL. We then describe our IPLS course sequence and show how each 3DL dimension—science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts—is integrated throughout the curriculum. To support implementation, we provide samples of our course documentation, a detailed account of our 3DL integration efforts, a guide to training and supporting teaching and learning assistants in a 3DL course, and a sample set of activities to guide students in participating in 3DL instruction in the supplementary material.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1938721
- PAR ID:
- 10437262
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- American Journal of Physics
- Volume:
- 90
- Issue:
- 6
- ISSN:
- 0002-9505
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 452 to 461
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1119/10.0009715
