Physics Education Research Conference 2008

PER Topical Group, AAPT Event
Jul 23, 2008 - Jul 24, 2008 in University of Alberta, Edmonton CA

PERC 2008 Theme: Physics Education Research with Diverse Student Populations

In the last ten years, the use of research-based instructional materials has moved well beyond the traditional research university.  There are two reasons for this: (1) individuals in PER are moving from positions as graduate students and post docs at research universities to beginning faculty positions at a wide variety of colleges and universities and (2) the instructional materials developed by the PER community are being used by more and more faculty members outside of PER, at their home institutions.

Despite the fact that the use of these materials is so widespread there is relatively little data documenting the effectiveness of these materials with different populations of students.  In this session we encourage those who are using research-based instructional materials with non-traditional students at either the pre-college level or the college level to share their experiences as instructors and researchers in these classes.

By inviting researchers from the education community, who specialize in these issues, we hope to establish a dialog between a diverse group of researchers in an effort to align the results from research with the instructional goals of the physics education community.

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Possible topics that fit our theme include, but are not limited to:

• The use of instructional materials with the non-traditional student
• The adaptation of research-based instructional materials to meet the needs of a diverse student population
• The identification of differences among populations that need to be factored into instruction (both strengths and weaknesses)
• The reproducibility of the results of PER with different populations of students.
• The identification of the resources and strengths that the non-traditional student uses in the context of mathematics and science.
• Collaborative projects that are conducted across institutions with the goal of comparing differences among the students.

We encourage participants at the 2008 PERC to be inclusive in their definition of diverse.  We encourage researchers / participants to consider: students from varied demographic backgrounds (cultural, socio-economic, etc); students not traditionally represented in physics (students of color, women, ...); students who do not perform well in our classes, whether at entrance or exit; students who are taking physics classes from other disciplines; and diverse environments / approaches: teaching physics in non-school / alternative school environments.

We are encouraging PERC attendees to remain through Thursday evening to participate in the closing panel discussion.

Registration for the 2008 PERC will be through the AAPT Summer Meeting web site.

Contact Information

Nicole Gillespie
Knowles Science Teaching Foundation
856-216-8080
ngillespie@kstf.org

Mel Sabella
Department of Chemistry and Physics
Chicago State University
773-995-2172
msabella@csu.edu

John Thompson
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Maine
207-581-1030
thompsonj@maine.edu