Results from research indicate that many students emerge from traditional courses without having developed a functional understanding of important basic concepts. These findings have motivated significant changes how we teach the sciences, mathematics, and engineering at the university level. We now recognize that students enter our classrooms with a wealth of ideas derived from their previous experiences and that those ideas have profound consequences for their subsequent learning. We also recognize that active engagement during class time is essential for restructuring their previous ideas and bringing them into alignment with expert views. Designing and evaluating new teaching strategies based on these principles is a complex process that requires the involvement of faculty in the disciplines, who combine deep subject-matter knowledge with appreciation for the educational culture of those disciplines. Examples will be used to illustrate the process of designing and evaluating instructional approaches and materials. The context will be physics but analogies can be made to other disciplines.
Paula R.L. Heron is a Professor of Physics at the University of Washington. Her research focuses on the development of conceptual understanding and reasoning skills. She has given numerous invited talks at international meetings and in university science departments. Dr. Heron is co-Founder and co-Chair of the biannual “Foundations and Frontiers in Physics Education Research” conference series, the premier venue for physics education researchers in North America. She has held leadership roles in the American Physical Society (APS), the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), and the European Physics Education Research Group (GIREP). She co-chaired an APS/AAPT joint task force that produced the report Phys21: Preparing Physics Students for 21st Century Careers and co-edited the first International Handbook on Physics Education Research (AIP, 2023). She also serves as an Associate Editor of Physical Review – PER. She is a Fellow of the APS, a co-recipient of the APS Education award with colleagues Peter Shaffer and Lillian McDermott, and recipient of the Homer Dodge Citation for Outstanding Service to the AAPT. Dr. Heron is a co-author on the upcoming 2nd Edition of Tutorials in Introductory Physics, an influential set of research-based instructional materials.
