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In her Physhare post of 31 Aug 2003 06:18:57-0700 titled "Finding
good physics problems," Nancy Skrla asked:
Can anyone recommend some sources of practical physics problems?
In the suppressed Hake (1998b, footnote #66), I wrote [bracketed by
lines "HHHHHHH. . . ."; the references have been updated but those
appearing after about 1997 have not been added]:
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Problem and conceptual-question sources due to instructors referenced
[in the survey Hake (1998a,b)] in Tables I or II are:
(a) F. Reif, "Understanding Basic Mechanics" (Text and Workbook) (Wiley, 1994).
(b) E. Mazur, examples of ConcepTests see at <http://galileo.harvard.edu/> /
"Search hundreds of ConcepTests" (where "/" means "click on").
(e) R.D. Knight, "Physics: A Contemporary Perspective"
(Addison-Wesley-Longman, 1997), a reform calculus-based introductory
physics text that incorporates the results of physics education
research. According to information at
<http://www.calpoly.edu/~rknight/>, a revised edition, under the new
title "Physics for Scientists and Engineers: A Strategic Approach,"
will be available in January 2004.
(g) Hake, R.R. 2003.
"Socratic Dialogue Inducing" (SDI) Labs Web Site
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>. Contains a brief description
of SDI Labs with pertinent references and 9 SDI Lab Manuals that may
be freely downloadcd.
"SDI Labs," at the Harvard Galileo site
<http://galileo.harvard.edu/>. The Galileo site is a leading resource
for online teaching materials. Under "Teaching Materials" click on
"Socratic Dialogue Inducing Labs" to bring up sections on: "What is
SDI?", "Who Can Use SDI?", "More About SDI", "What Are the
Requirements?", "Benefits," and "Resources for SDI." In addition,
Teacher's Guides for SDI Labs #0.2 "Introduction to Kinematics" and
#3 "Circular Motion and Frictional Forces" are at
<http://galileo.harvard.edu/> / "Socratic Dialogue Inducing Labs"
/"Resources for SDI" / "Teacher's Guides", where "/" means "click
on." I hope to add Teacher's Guides for SDI Labs #1 and #2 on or
before December 2003.
(h) P. Heller, R. Keith, S. Anderson, "Teaching problem solving
through cooperative grouping, Part 1: Group vs individual problem
solving," Am. J. Phys. 60, 627-636 (1992); P. Heller and M.
Hollabaugh "Teaching problem solving through cooperative grouping,
Part 2: Designing problems and structuring groups," ibid., p.
637-644. See <http://www.physics.umn.edu/groups/physed/index.html>.
(i) D. P. Maloney, "Ranking Tasks: A new type of test item,'" J.
Coll. Sci. Teach 16, 510-514 (1987); "Fill-in problems," J. Coll.
Sci. Teach. 12, 104-107 (1982).
Other useful problem sources are:
(j) A.B. Arons, "A Guide To Introductory Physics Teaching" (Wiley,
1990), reprinted with minor updates in "Teaching Introductory
Physics" (Wiley, 1997) [also contains Homework and Test Questions for
Introductory Physics Teaching (Wiley, 1994) along with a new
monograph "Introduction to Classical
Conservation Laws"].
(n) L. Nedelsky, "Science Teaching and Testing" (Harcourt, Brace, and World,
1965);
(o) H. R. Crane, "Problems for Introductory Physics," Phys. Teach. 7, 371-378
(1969); ibid. 8, 182-187 (1970); "Better Teaching with Better
Problems and Exams" Phys. Today 22(3), 134-135 (1969);
(p) F. J. Blatt, "Principles of Physics" (Allyn and Bacon, 3rd ed.,
1989), excellent conceptually-oriented multiple-choice questions at
the end of each chapter;
(q) C. E. Swartz, "Used Math" (AAPT, 1993); C.E. Swartz and T. Miner,
"Teaching Introductory Physics: A Sourcebook" (AIP Press, 1997), chap. 1;
(r) E. Kashy, S.J. Gaff, N.H. Pawley, W.L. Stretch, S.L. Wolfe, D.J
Morrissey, Y. Tsai, "Conceptual questions in computer-assisted
assignments," Am. J. Phys. 63, 1000-1005 (1995).
(1) Activity-Based Thinking Problems: Problems created for the ABP
Project to help build students' qualitative understanding of physics
and to link it with quantitative problem solving.
(2) Estimation Problems: A collection of estimation problems ranging
from Fermi questions to apparatus design problems.
(3) Alternative Homework Assignments: Longer, project-like problems
that ask students to apply their physics learning to complex
real-world style problems.
(4) Essay Questions for Quantum Physics
(5) Exam Questions for Research in Quantum Learning: Exam questions
used by the group to study student learning in quantum physics.
REFERENCES
Hake, R.R. 1998a. "Interactive-engagement vs traditional methods: A
six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory
physics courses," Am. J. Phys. 66: 64-74; online as ref. 24 at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>.
Hake, R.R. 1998b. "Interactive-engagement methods in introductory
mechanics courses," online as ref. 25 at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>. Submitted on 6/19/98 to the
Physics Education Research Supplement to AJP (PERS)." In this sadly
unpublished (Physics Education Research has no archival journal!)
crucial companion paper to Hake (1998a): average pre/post
test scores, standard deviations, instructional methods, materials
used, institutions, and instructors for each of the survey courses of
Hake (1998a) are tabulated and referenced. In addition the paper
includes: (a) case histories for the seven IE courses of Hake (1998a)
whose effectiveness as gauged by pre-to-post test gains was close to
those of T courses, (b) advice for implementing IE methods, and (c)
suggestions for further research.