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John Denker (2013) called attention to the recent Oersted Medal Award
[AAPT (2012)] to Edward F. (Joe) Redish <http://bit.ly/z0Labzat> at
the New Orleans AAPT (2013) meeting and to Joe's talk "The
"Implications of a Theoretical Framework for Physics Education
Research" [Redish (2013)]. The abstract reads [my CAPS]:
"Much of PER focuses on how to teach physics more successfully. But
for many of us, our interest in PER is 'curiosity driven.' PER lets
us apply our scientific skills to a new field, one that plays a
pivotal role in the construction and evolution of our profession. It
permits us to study such intellectually engaging questions as, 'What
does it mean to understand something in physics?' and, 'What skills
and competencies do we want our students to learn from our physics
classes?' To address questions like these we need to do more than
observe student difficulties and build curriculum. WE NEED A
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK- a structure for talking about, making sense
of, and modeling how one thinks about, learns, and understands
physics. This necessarily involves us in the complex and subtle
issues of mind and society. In this talk I will outline the
*Resources Framework*, a way of creating a phenomenology of physics
learning that ties closely to modern developments about how people
think and learn from research in NEUROSCIENCE, PSYCHOLOGY, AND
LINGUISTICS."
Hats off to Joe on his Oersted Award!
A theory of PER is what he works toward -
With neuro, psych, and linguistics,
All a part of his heuristics,
He provides understanding that's all aboveboard!
" . . . . . . those of us in physics know well that advancement in
science is a continual dance between the partners of theory and
experiment, first one leading, then the other. It is not sufficient
to collect data into a 'wizard's book' of everything that happens.
That's not science. Neither is it science to spout high-blown
theories untainted by 'reality checks.' Science must build a clear
and coherent picture of what is happening at the same time as it
continually confirms and calibrates that picture against the real
world."
Joe Redish (2003, p. 15)
REFERENCES [All URL's shortened by <http://bit.ly/> and accessed on
08 Jan 2013.]
AAPT. 2012. "Oersted Medal: The Oersted Medal recognizes those who
have had an outstanding, widespread, and lasting impact on the
teaching of physics." Lists award winners, 1936 - 2012; online at
<http://bit.ly/UDinva>.
AAPT. 2013. Oersted Medal Award to Joe Redish, page 18 of the New
Orleans AAPT program at <http://bit.ly/VLuOR9> (10.1 MB).
Denker, J. 2013. "Oersted Medal 2013," online on the CLOSED! PhysLrnR
archives at <http://bit.ly/THx4KV>. Post of 5 Jan 2013 14:31:34-0700
to PhysLrnR. Denker's post initiated a 10-post PhysLrnR thread at
<http://bit.ly/UyM3En>. To access the archives of PhysLnR one needs
to subscribe : - (, but that takes only a few minutes by clicking on
<http://bit.ly/nG318r> and then clicking on "Join or Leave
PHYSLRNR-LIST." If you're busy, then subscribe using the "NOMAIL"
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MAIL from the list!
Redish, E.F. 2003. "Teaching Physics With the Physics Suite", John
Wiley, online at <http://bit.ly/gdE3Tu>. Note the crucial correction
of Fig. 5.2 and its caption on page 100.
Redish, E.F. 2013. "The Implications of a Theoretical Framework for
Physics Education Research." Oersted Award Address; an abstract is
online on page 47 of the New Orleans AAPT program at
<http://bit.ly/VLuOR9> (10.1 MB).. The complete talk is online as a
946 kB pdf at <http://bit.ly/WJ2JsN>.