Developing the learning physical science curriculum: Adapting a small enrollment, laboratory and discussion based physical science course for large enrollments

We report on the adaptation of the small enrollment, lab and discussion based physical science course, Physical Science and Everyday Thinking (PSET), for a large-enrollment, lecture-style setting. Like PSET, the new Learning Physical Science (LEPS) curriculum was designed around specific principles based on research on learning to meet the needs of nonscience students, especially prospective and practicing elementary and middle school teachers. We describe the structure of the two curricula and the adaptation process, including a detailed comparison of similar activities from the two curricula and a case study of a LEPS classroom implementation. In LEPS, short instructor-guided lessons replace lengthier small group activities, and movies, rather than hands-on investigations, provide the evidence used to support and test ideas. LEPS promotes student peer interaction as an important part of sense making via “clicker” questions, rather than small group and whole class discussions typical of PSET. Examples of student dialog indicate that this format is capable of generating substantive student discussion and successfully enacting the design principles. Field-test data show similar student content learning gains with the two curricula. Nevertheless, because of classroom constraints, some important practices of science that were an integral part of PSET were not included in LEPS.

Figure 1

Simulator generated speed-time graph.

Figure 2

Simulator generated force-time graph corresponding to the speed-time graph in Fig. 1.

Figure 3

Energy diagrams before, during, and after the cart is pushed. Students are asked to sketch the corresponding force diagrams.

Figure 4

Force diagrams corresponding to the energy diagrams in Fig. 3.

Figure 5

Image from PSET C2A1 homework. Skateboarder moving to the right is subject to a short push.

Figure 6

First clicker question in U2L01.

Figure 7

Second clicker question in U2L01.

Figure 8

Discussion between three fictional students about the relation between motion and force after the hand stops pushing the cart.

Figure 9

The first clicker question in U2L02, corresponding to the discussion represented in Fig. 8.

Figure 10

The second clicker question in U2L02.

Figure 11

Third clicker question in U2L02.

Figure 12

First clicker question in U2L03.

Figure 13

Third clicker question in U2L03.

Figure 14

Fourth clicker question in U2L03.

Figure 15

Three questions from the Physical Science questionnaire.

Figure 16

Average normalized course gain on PSQ. Error bars are standard error of the mean. Letters in the course identifiers indicate different courses taught by the same instructor.