| ABSTRACT
It has been reported previously by numerous physics education studies that a great majority of students taking introductory physics at a university level had serious deficiencies in conceptual understanding of fundamental physical phenomena and laws. Importantly, this was observed both before and after instruction. This prompted a community-wide re-examination of the teaching effectiveness of traditional-style, lecture-based instructions that have been found largely ineffective in either dispelling pre-existing physics misconceptions or imprinting new concepts. A number of new teaching approaches have been developed and tested that are commonly referred as Interactive Engagement or Active Learning methods. In this talk, new measurement and analysis tools routinely used by “reformed” physics instructors are reviewed first. A description of the approach developed in teaching introductory calculus-based physics sequence at UAF is presented next, followed by analysis and discussion of results obtained in AY12-13.
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