WFU Physics Colloquium

From Robert Millikan at the turn of the last century, through the post-Sputnik era through today, every few decades sees a call for physics teaching reform, based on disappointing results in student learning. One of the advantages of being a physics instructor today is that we now know a lot more about the mental processes that go on during learning. Advances in neuroscience and research into cognitive development have allowed us to better answer to the question: "How can we teach students effectively?" Paraphrasing physicist Edward Redish of the University of Maryland:

1. Students construct mental patterns to make sense of the information that they receive. These mental patterns may be quite different from those of the instructor.
2. What students construct depends on the context of the learning and what they previously knew or think they know.
3. Changing a student's incorrect ideas or patterns of association is difficult but necessary before correct learning can take place.
4. Students exhibit significant variations in learning styles, which must be considered by the instructor in order for all students to learn.
5. For most students, social interactions during the instructional process lead to increased learning.

This presentation will summarize the results from the past two decades of instructional research conducted by physicists and present various models of effective physics instruction based on that research.

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Professor Keiner will also give a colloquium Thursday, Sept. 28th at 4 PM in Olin 101 Oh the places you'll go: A Wake Forest Physics major, 16 years (!) later.

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100 Olin Physical Laboratory, 7507 Reynolda Station Wake Forest University Winston-Salem, NC 27109-7507 Phone: (336) 758-5337, FAX: (336) 758-6142 E-mail: wfuphys@wfu.edu	Quick Links Academics Research People Colloquia Info Physics