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This is the first part of the presentation prepared for 2016 PhysTEC conference (http://www.phystec.org/conferences/2016). This part is related to to standardization of measuring learning outcomes in physics. This is “a manifesto”, a call for building a consensus on a universal standard for measuring learning outcomes in physics (more at http://teachology.xyz/mocc.htm).
The second part is related to an active form of teacher professional development named “Professional Designing” (more at http://www.teachology.xyz/pd.htm) and available at www.teachology.xyz/PrD.htm.
The full presentation is available at www.teachology.xyz/pr16.htm.
(1) Hello, I am Dr. Valentin Voroshilov.
LINKS: pdf www.teachology.xyz/FW.pdf video https://youtu.be/sDO0kiodsRw
(2) I’ve been in the field of education for many years playing many different roles.
I was born and grew up in Russia. I had a pretty good career in Russia, but when I got a chance to move my family to the US, I took that chance.
LINKS: pdf www.teachology.xyz/FW.pdf video https://youtu.be/sDO0kiodsRw
(3) After starting again from the bottom I have regained most of my previous career achievements. I am pretty proud of this, considering I had no formal education in English and no professional network to support my efforts.
LINKS: pdf www.teachology.xyz/FW.pdf video https://youtu.be/sDO0kiodsRw
(4) Here I would like to present a framework for developing a universal standard for measuring learning outcomes of students taking physics courses. I would like to start my presentation from two statements:
LINKS:
pdf
www.teachology.xyz/FW.pdf
video
https://youtu.be/sDO0kiodsRw
(5) Physics is a science. Teaching physics is not.
Of course, these statements are based on a certain definition of “science”.
LINKS: pdf www.teachology.xyz/FW.pdf video https://youtu.be/sDO0kiodsRw
(6) Personally, I do not like descriptive definitions like “science is the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment” (this is the top Google search result for “definition of science”). In fact, such a definition does not really allow to distinguish a science from a religion. I prefer operational definitions, like “A science is an internally consistent body of knowledge based on the scrupulous and logical analysis of a vast amount of data”. In particular, this definition allows us to see when a school of thoughts becomes a science.
LINKS: pdf www.teachology.xyz/FW.pdf video https://youtu.be/sDO0kiodsRw
(7) For example, Astronomy dropped Astrology and became a science when Kepler finished his analysis of huge amount of data collected before him, and wrote his famous laws. Of course, in reality there is always back and forth between theorizing and data collecting, or as we call it today – data mining, but in the end,
LINKS: pdf www.teachology.xyz/FW.pdf video https://youtu.be/sDO0kiodsRw
(8) every science is based on a solid foundation of the results of intensive data mining.
If teaching physics is not a science, can it become such?
Of course. All we need is to mine a lot of reliable and comparable data.
LINKS: pdf www.teachology.xyz/FW.pdf video https://youtu.be/sDO0kiodsRw
(9)
I
want to stress the latter word – comparable. Educational data
mining is a young field. It starts producing a large amount of data.
LINKS: pdf www.teachology.xyz/FW.pdf video https://youtu.be/sDO0kiodsRw
(10) However, having a lot of data without being able to make a comparison is like using different currencies without establishing exchange rates.
LINKS: pdf www.teachology.xyz/FW.pdf video https://youtu.be/sDO0kiodsRw
(11) The history of physics shows us a means for establishing the comparability we need – such means are called standards.
LINKS: pdf www.teachology.xyz/FW.pdf video https://youtu.be/sDO0kiodsRw
(12) We would have never had a hadron collider built in Geneva if after an almost hundred year long journey physicists would not agree on a set of common standards.
LINKS: pdf www.teachology.xyz/FW.pdf video https://youtu.be/sDO0kiodsRw
(13) There are standards in education, too. But when an educator says “a standard”, he or she means something very different from what it meant in physics. In education, a standard is a description of “the learning goals for what students should know and be able to do at each grade level”. However, people using the same educational standards still can use different measuring procedures leading to incomparable results.
LINKS: pdf www.teachology.xyz/FW.pdf video https://youtu.be/sDO0kiodsRw
(14) Based on those results all we can conclude so far is that: if we take two large groups of similar students, and one group of students will have a more extensive or divers learning experience (for example, more contact hours, or more time spent on certain exercises, or training through more different exercises, etc.) students from that group, on average, will demonstrate better learning outcomes than the students in a controlled group.
LINKS: pdf www.teachology.xyz/FW.pdf video https://youtu.be/sDO0kiodsRw
(15) This conclusion becomes almost obvious if we employ the notion that a brain is basically a muscle, or a collection of muscles, the development of which strongly correlates with the variety and intensity of exercises it goes through.
LINKS: pdf www.teachology.xyz/FW.pdf video https://youtu.be/sDO0kiodsRw
(16) In order to move beyond the obvious we need to adapt to teaching physics the same approach which had been adopted to doing physics. We need a standard which, like in physics, is an actual object, or a feature of an object, accompanied by a specific procedure which allows comparing similar features carried by other objects with the one of the standard (that is why “a standard” is also called “a prototype”, or “an etalon”). For example, a standard of mass is an actual cylinder. A verbal description such as: “A standard of mass looks like a cylinder “with diameter and height of about 39 mm, and is made of an alloy of 90 % platinum and 10 % iridium” would not work as a standard, because it is impossible to compare the mass of an object with a sentence.
LINKS: pdf www.teachology.xyz/FW.pdf video https://youtu.be/sDO0kiodsRw
(17) I believe that “a standard” for measuring learning outcomes must satisfy the following five conditions:
(a) Every aspect of the development and the use of the standard has to be open to public and be able to be examined by anyone.
(b) The use of the standard must lead to gradable information on student’s skills and knowledge.
(c) The use of the standard must lead to gradable information on student’s skills and knowledge, AND must not depend on any specific features of teaching or learning processes.
(d) The use of the standard must lead to gradable information on student’s skills and knowledge, and must not depend on any specific features of teaching or learning processes, AND must allow to compare on a uniform basis the learning outcomes of any and all students using the standard.
(e) Any institution adopting the standard should automatically become an active member of the community utilizing the standard and can propose possible alternations to the standard to accommodate changes in the understanding of what students should know and be able to do.
LINKS: pdf www.teachology.xyz/FW.pdf video https://youtu.be/sDO0kiodsRw
(18) I have more than just a belief. I have developed a specific approach which will lead to designing such a standard. The approach is based on using MOCCs (MOCC stands for “a map of operationally connected categories”); the link on the screen leads to a detailed description of what MOCC is and ways to use it (http://teachology.xyz/mocc.htm).
LINKS: pdf www.teachology.xyz/FW.pdf video https://youtu.be/sDO0kiodsRw
(19) I believe that the time has come to create a coalition of individuals and institutions which goal is to developing the universal standard for measuring learning outcomes in physics (for starters). And that is one of the reasons why I am attending this conference.
Thank you!
Dr. Valentin Voroshilov www.TeachOlogy.xyz
P.S. All the pictures above a courtesy of the Internet and/or MS Office tools.
The link to a video: https://youtu.be/sDO0kiodsRw
The link to a pdf: www.teachology.xyz/FW.pdf
The link to the article: http://teachology.xyz/mocc.htm
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