In a Phys-L posting of 424/98, Rick Tarara writes:
"I want to move a discussion that has been going on over on PHYSLRNR to
Phys-L so that we can discuss our OPINIONS and feelings about some of
the aspects of the discussion without referenced ties to the PER
research..... I invite those who have been contributing to jump in with
more detail.."
Attached is a 4/23 PhysLrnR posting of mine regarding the relationship
of conceptual understanding to problem solving.
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<hake@ix.netcom.com>
<http://carini.physics.indiana.edu/SDI/>
In PhysLrnR posting of 4/23/98 entitled =93Contribution of mathematics in
understanding physics,=94 Rick Tarara writes:
"The whole emphasis (overblown IMO) about performance on the FCI and the
various techniques that have been researched and presented to improve
that performance seem to shy away from mathematical treatments, if for
no other reason that they require large time commitments.....=94
My survey (1) shows a high positive correlation (r =3D +0.91) of the
conceptual FCI posttest scores and Mechanics Baseline (MB) problem
solving posttest scores for 30 courses (N =3D 3259) which made use of
interactive engagement (IE) methods and for which both these tests were
given. As stated in ref. 1, the data =93shows that IE courses generally
show both higher FCI averages and higher MB averages than traditional
courses, especially when the comparison is made for courses with similar
student populations..... Thus it would appear that problem-solving
capability is actually enhanced (not sacrificed as some would believe)
when concepts are emphasized. This is consistent with the observations
of Mazur (29b) and with the results of Thacker et al.,(43) showing that,
at Ohio State, elementary-education majors taking an inquiry-based
course did better than students enrolled in a conventional physics
courses for engineers on both a synthesis problem and an analysis
problem.=94
REFERENCES
1. R.R. Hake, =93Interactive-engagement vs traditional methods: A
six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory
physics courses,=94 Am. J. Phys. 66, 64 (1998) and on the Web at
<http://carini.physics.indiana.edu/SDI/>.
29b. Eric Mazur, Peer Instruction: A User=92s Manual (Prentice Hall,
1997). A pdf copy can be downloaded at <http://galilio.harvard.edu/>.
43. B. Thacker, E. Kim, K. Trefz, and S.M. Lea, "Comparing problem
solving performance of physics students in inquiry-based and traditional
introductory physics courses," Am. J. Phys. 62, 627-633 (1994).