How Much Have They Retained? Making Unseen Concepts Seen in a Freshman Electromagnetism Course at MIT

Abstract

The introductory freshmen electromagnetism course at MIT has been taught since 2000 using a studio physics format entitled TEAL-Technology Enabled Active Learning. TEAL has created a collaborative, hands-on environment where students carry out desktop experiments, submit web-based assignments, and have access to a host of visualizations and simulations. These learning tools help them visualize unseen electromagnetic concepts and develop stronger intuition about related phenomena. A previous study has shown that students who took the course in the TEAL format (the experimental group) gained significantly better conceptual understanding than those who took it in the traditional lecture-recitation format (the control group). The present longitudinal study focuses on the extent to which these two research groups (experimental and control) retain conceptual understanding about a year to 18 months after finishing the course. It also examines students attitudes about whether the teaching format (TEAL or traditional) contributes to their learning in advanced courses. Our research has indicated that the long-term effect of the TEAL course on studentsÕ retention of concepts was significantly stronger than that of the traditional course. This research is significant because it documents the long-term cognitive and affective impact of the TEAL studio physics format on learning outcomes of MIT students.KEY WORDS: conceptual understanding; electromagnetism; longitudinal study; retention; undergraduate physics education; visualization INTRODUCTIONStudies of how much conceptual understanding college students retain from their science courses are quite rare. Related studies include Barufaldi and Spiegel (1994), and Martenson et al. (1985). As Halpern and Hakel (2003) have discussed, educators need to provide students with education that lasts a lifetime. Thus, instructors need to adopt teaching and learning strategies for long-term retention in order for their students to remember what they have learned beyond the end of the semester.Beginning in 2000, the introductory freshmen electromagnetism course (E&M) at MIT has been taught using a new approach-Technology-Enabled Active Learning (TEAL). This study was reported by Dori and Belcher (2005a, b). The objective of the TEAL Project was to reform a mandatory largeenrollment physics class in order to increase studentsÕ conceptual understanding of electromagnetism and decrease failure rates in the course. The problems with passive learning in large classes were identified and researched over a decade ago (Hake, 1998;McDermott, 1991;Redish et al., 1997;Sokoloff and Thornton, 1997 stronger intuition about, and create more robust conceptual models of electromagnetic phenomena.In the previous study (Dori and Belcher, 2005a, b) we used pre-and post-tests which were administered to students taking the class in the TEAL format and to those taking the class in the traditional lecturerecitation format. We showed that students who took the course in the TEAL format gained significantly bett...

Experimenting with electromagnetism using augmented reality: Impact on flow student experience and educational effectiveness

“…The control group participants required a higher cognitive effort to learn and solve problems that required visualization whereas the experimental group had better opportunities to understand the combined behavior of electromagnetic forces. The findings of the current study extend those of Dori et al (2007) who found that students improved learning outcomes through the use of visualization in a web-based course. Further studies with a larger data sample are necessary to identify the causes of learning effectiveness of the AR-based application over the web-based application.…”

“…Unlike what happens in other Physics' conceptual areas, when dealing with electromagnetism, students' mental models should include abstractions and invisible factors for which students have no reallife references (Maloney, O'Kuma, Hieggelke, & Van Heuvelen, 2001). The relevance of presenting learning materials not only through words but also through visual assets to fully understand the nature of scientific phenomena and processes was reported by Dori, Hult, Breslow, and Belcher (2007). Indeed, these concerns were already addressed in the MIT Technology Enabled Active Learning (TEAL)/Studio Project where students developed much better intuition about, and conceptual models of, physical phenomena through the use of visualization in an electricity and magnetism course using web-based technologies (Belcher & Bessette, 2001;Dori et al, 2007).…”

“…The relevance of presenting learning materials not only through words but also through visual assets to fully understand the nature of scientific phenomena and processes was reported by Dori, Hult, Breslow, and Belcher (2007). Indeed, these concerns were already addressed in the MIT Technology Enabled Active Learning (TEAL)/Studio Project where students developed much better intuition about, and conceptual models of, physical phenomena through the use of visualization in an electricity and magnetism course using web-based technologies (Belcher & Bessette, 2001;Dori et al, 2007). Consequently, developing effective pedagogical strategies and using emergent technologies for helping students in this endeavor will be a step ahead to validate TEAL Project findings when using AR technology.…”

An Educational Physics Laboratory in Mobile Versus Room Scale Virtual Reality – A Comparative Study

“…In active learning approaches for physics education students, one way to teach abstract concepts is the interaction with these concepts through computer-based visualizations or animations, which make unseen phenomena visible and also allow small experiments [9] [13]. Simulations have been shown by Wieman and Perkins as more effective, safe, and cost-efficient compared to traditional experiments [18].…”

What do seniors remember from freshman physics?

“…Many studies of retention on other standardized instruments testing conceptual physics knowledge [9][10][11][12] show little or no loss of knowledge over retention intervals ranging from several months to several years. Indeed, this is consistent with our finding that the average score on the MBT among the retest participants is remarkably stable over the interval from the completion of freshman mechanics to graduation.…”