We present an analysis of students' thinking skills as evidenced by free-response exam problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. We compare two inquiry-based, laboratory-based classical mechanics courses, one taught online and one taught in person during the pandemic, and two inquiry-based, laboratory-based electricity and magnetism courses, one…

Introducing abstract concepts to students from applied fields can be challenging. Electromagnetics is one of those courses where abstract concepts are introduced. This work presents a conceptual model which defines learning objectives in three levels for Engineering Electromagnetics. Each level is aligned with its own assessment and evaluation…

In physics education research (PER), concept inventories (CIs) have become standard instruments for assessing students' learning throughout instruction. To promote widespread use of concept inventories, previous studies have developed an approach to split a full length CI into short versions of CIs. This research extends the existing method to…

Formative assessment strategies are used to direct instruction by establishing where learners' understanding is, how it is developing, informing teachers and students alike as to how they might get to their next set of goals of conceptual understanding. For the science classroom, one rich source of formative assessment data about scientific…

Introduces the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism (CSEM) which was developed to assess students' knowledge of topics in electricity and magnetism. Reports on the number of student difficulties in electricity and magnetism. (Contains 23 references.) (Author/YDS)

This book is designed to be a quick and easy resource for anyone teaching physics for the first time. Written after extensive research, this book is filled with reliable labs, demos and activities that work well in the classroom. Also included are lesson plans, diagrams, and teacher notes for every activity. The book is not the end--it is just a…

Evaluates the use of drama to assess children's knowledge of scientific concepts. Describes a case study of 7-year-olds and the study of magnetism. By taking science concepts out of the context of practical science activities, teachers could assess student knowledge without simply seeing what was expected, and students could explore ideas and…

This volume presents 64 abstracts of keynote and parallel paper presentations of the Irish National Academy for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning's (NAIRTL) conference on the theme of flexible learning. The Flexible Learning conference was a joint initiative by NAIRTL and the Learning Innovation Network. The keynote presentations can…