This front page is the public face to the page with blurbs about who we are, what we're doing, and our recent activities and publications. Within the wiki, our research group documents projects, shares notes, plans studies, and keeps records. Most of the pages require login access.

See the physics department's general Physics Education Research webpage with blurbs about each of the major departmental projects: http://www.physics.oregonstate.edu/ResearchPER

We recently hosted Stephanie Chasteen for a colloquium - people expressed interest in her slides so they are posted here: osu-colloquium3.pptx.pdf

Dedra Demaree

• Assistant professor of physics, joined Oregon State University in 2007
• Research interests: Assessing curricular reform, Building faculty development communities, Studying faculty discourse practices
• Dedra's webpage: http://www.physics.oregonstate.edu/~demareed/
• Private pages for Dedra's projects and students: Dedra's Group, Dedra, grant

Corinne Manogue

• Professor of physics, joined Oregon State University in 1988
• Research interests: Developing and assessing the paradigms in physics program, The vector calculus gap, Field Theory in Curved Spacetime, Dimensional Reduction and Octonions
• Corinne's webpage: http://www.physics.oregonstate.edu/~corinne/Myhomepages/

• Mary Bridget Kustusch: Postdoc for the paradigms program
• Wendi Wampler Postdoc for the faculty community development project

• Len Cerney: Working with Corinne to study the paradigms program
• Victoria Nwosu Victoria (Student at UCT) Working with Dedra on understanding the role of identity and espistemology in the success of disadvantaged students at Griffiths level E&M, as part of our general work on assessing and improving the extended honors NASSP program at UCT
• Julian Taylor: Julian (Student at UCT) Working with Dedra on the role of audience in the way students report measurement
• Sam Settelmeyer: SamS Undergrad working with Dedra on the faculty community development project - and was recently showcased by the college of education in this article: http://education.oregonstate.edu/beyond-classroom

• Emily Van Zee: Associate Professor in Science and Math Education at OSU: http://smed.science.oregonstate.edu/node/49
• Nam-Hwa Kang: Assistant Professor in Science and Math Education at OSU: http://smed.science.oregonstate.edu/node/46
• Saalih Allie : Professor of Physics and Academic Development, University of Cape Town: http://www.phy.uct.ac.za/courses/dept/phyedu.htm
• Dennis Gilbert: Faculty, Lane Community College Physics
• Paul Bunson: Faculty, Lane Community College Physics
• Greg Mulder: Professor of Physics at Linn-Benton Community College
• Toni King: Faculty, Linn-Benton Community College Physics
• David Bannon: Faculty, Oregon State University Physics
• Chris Coffin: Faculty, Oregon State University Physics
• Jim Ketter: Faculty, Oregon State University Physics
• Xueli Zou: Associate Professor of Physics, California State University, Chico: http://www.csuchico.edu/~xzou/index.html
• Phil Southey: Masters student at UCT Phil

• George DeBeck V: GeorgeD Masters completed March 2012 working with Dedra studying TA-student interactions in our SCALE-UP teaching environment
• Sissi Li: (sissi) PhD received fall 2011 under Dedra Demaree - title “Learning in a Physics Classroom Community: Physics Learning Identity Construct Measurement Development and Validation” - and she was a finalist for the national 'dance your PhD' competition: http://vimeo.com/30123248
• Jennifer Roth: JenniferR Masters received winter 2010, Project title: “Small Group Discussions in Large Lecture: Connections between Teacher Facilitation and Student Participation.”, advised by Dedra Demaree
• Mike Low: Master's received Spring 2008, Project Title: “A Quantitative Analysis of Summary Writing in Physics”, advised by Dedra Demaree
• Elizabeth Gire: Postdoc working with the paradigms project from fall 2007 to spring 2009, Research interests: students' views about physics, problem solving, students' understanding of quantum mechanics, Elizabeth's webpage: http://www.physics.oregonstate.edu/~giree/
• Ramsi Hawkins: Undergraduate senior thesis student
• Scott Marler: Undergraduate senior thesis student

This section is specifically for active projects involving the group members listed above. Also see the physics department's general Physics Education Research webpage with blurbs about each of the major department projects: http://www.physics.oregonstate.edu/ResearchPER

Presentations, activities, and publications for each project are listed with that project's blurb.

Here is the agenda for our group meetings: Group Meeting

Dedra Demaree leads this project and involves every group member and anyone else she can wrangle! This project currently involves:

• classroom renovations and course restructuring
• curriculum development
• assessing student learning and attitudes in the reformed classes
• faculty development and studying faculty discourse within the classroom
• TA training and development

An outcome of this focus has been working with a team of faculty from OSU and local community colleges to build a discourse community to share and develop effective activities and to share PCK through the discourse that we have about the course content.

Here is an OSU news article about our new classroom: http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/lifeatosu/2010/cutting-edge-physics-studio-helps-big-classes-learn-in-new-ways/

In our large-enrollment introductory calculus-based physics class we are moving from a structure with 3 hours of lecture and 3 hours of lab, to one with 2 hours of lecture, 2 of lab, and 2 of an activity-based session. This will allow us to incorporate interactive-engagement while minimally increasing the teaching load on the instructors. In order to achieve this, we remodeled our large lecture hall to facilitate peer interaction, and built a SCALE-UP (http://www.ncsu.edu/PER/scaleup.html) inspired activity-based classroom. We are working on a documenting a curriculum inspired by ISLE (http://www.islephysics.net/) and Matter and Interactions (http://www4.ncsu.edu/~rwchabay/mi/) with a specific emphasis on documenting productive discourse strategies and PCK.

• Contributed AAPT talk on Affordances of Studio, July 2012
• Contributed AAPT talk on faculty mentoring, February 2012: aaptwint12.ppt}
• Invited poster at PERC targeted poster session, July 2010 (related proceedings paper is given below): perc_discourse_poster_dd_final.ppt
• Contributed AAPT talk on faculty change: aapt_talk_july2010.ppt
• Contributed AAPT talk on promoting scientific discourse in large lecture: talk-facilitation-v4.ppt
• Contributed PERC poster on measuring active engagement in a large lecture classroom: (to be added)
• Contributed PERC poster on TA change: perc_poster_george.ppt
• Poster presented at FFPER on the logistics of curricular reform, June 2009. ffper_poster.ppt
• Interactive presentation given to science and math education graduate students at Oregon State, Oct 2009. smed_611_guest_talk.ppt
• Colloquium given at the University of the Western Cape, August 2008: Promoting interaction in large-class lectures and engaging students in the practices of science, Dedra Demaree. colloquium_uwc.ppt
• Colloquium at California State University, Chico, March 2008: Bridging Gaps: integrating research expertise with curricular development aimed to synchronize upper division course goals with our large introductory classes, Dedra Demaree. colloquium_chico.ppt
• Invited talk at the American Physical Society NorthWest Meeting, April 2008: Integrating writing research with curricular development in large-enrollment introductory physics, Dedra Demaree. aps_talk_sp08.ppt

• PERC paper: Reflective discourse techniques: from in-class discussions to out-of-classroom problem solving, July 2012: wendi_perc_2012.pdf
• NARST 2012 proposal: narst_proposal_2011.pdf
• Invited PERC proceedings paper: Assessing Physics Learning Identity: Survey Development and Validation, July 2011: li_demaree_perc_2011.pdf
• Invited PERC proceedings paper: Promoting and Studying Deep-Level Discourse During Large-Lecture Introductory Physics, July 2010: perc_2010_li_demaree.pdf
• Paper in PERC proceedings, July 2009. demaree_perc_2009.pdf
• AERA paper, April 2011. sli_aera2011.pdf
• AERA paper, April 2010. aera2010paper.doc

Corinne Manogue leads this project, with Elizabeth Gire and Len Cerny fully involved. Other faculty members are also involved, as detailed on the department PER page: http://www.physics.oregonstate.edu/ResearchPER

The Paradigms in Physics Program at Oregon State University is a restructuring of the traditional upper-division curriculum to be more modern, more flexible, and more inclusive. The focus of our current NSF-grant is to design materials to support faculty teaching more traditional courses who may wish to experiment with one or more pieces of our successful curriculum, be it a single activity or an entire course. Among other things, the group is doing research into students’ ability to reason harmonically and metacognitively, and into how these capabilities are affected by Paradigms curricular materials. Extensive information about the paradigms project can be found on the Paradigms Wiki: http://www.physics.oregonstate.edu/portfolioswiki/doku.php

• See the Paradigms Wiki: http://www.physics.oregonstate.edu/portfolioswiki/doku.php?id=publications:start#talks
• Talk on the “Quantum Measurement” paradigm, relating Prof. Demaree's teaching of it through the lens of the ISLE curricular goals: colloquium_march2010.pdf
• More focused talk showing how ISLE influenced Demaree's teaching of the Spins paradigm, including a very detailed example (NW APS meeting, Oct 2010): nwaps_oct2010.pdf

See the Paradigms Wiki: http://www.physics.oregonstate.edu/portfolioswiki/doku.php?id=publications:start

• Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings: Applying ISLE ideas to Active Engagement in the Spins Paradigm, Dedra Demaree, Porland, OR: demaree_perc2010_qmpaper.pdf and associated workshop activity: corinne_workshop_handout.doc

In August, 2007, Dedra began collaborating with Saalih Allie at the University of Cape Town. Here are descriptions of some of our projects:

• We asked the students in the Foundations program (a bridging program that allows disadvantaged students to do their first year over two in order to prepare them to successfully join the mainstream science programs) to write summaries of the textbook chapters in preparation for class. We developed a framework for analyzing the summaries, and Mike Low did the coding and analysis for his masters project in 2008.
• We are interested in activating productive resources for students when they are asked to report measurements. Julian Taylor is investigating this with probes that assign different audiences to whom the students must report their measurements.
• Other work involves the epistemological development of underprepared students as they progress from bridging programs to mainstream programs both at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
• We are very interested in the role of audience in activating feelings of authority in the students, and see a close tie with being asked to write an explanation and being put into the role of an authority. This has lead to other ongoing studies and progress toward developing a framework for addressing such issues.

These projects involve Saalih Allie, Dedra Demaree, Sissi Li, Victoria Nwosu, and Jullian Taylor.

• Invited PERC talk with associated paper listed below under presentations, July 2010.
• AAPT (American Association of Physics Teachers) Talk: Using summary writing for textbook engagement and student class preparation. Dedra Demaree, Saalih Allie, Michael Low and Julian Taylor, 2008 AAPT Summer Meeting: Edmonton, Canada aapt_talk_2008.ppt
• AAPT Poster: Applying a Framework to Analyze Student Textbook Summary Writing. Michael Low, Dedra Demaree, Saalih Allie, and Julian Taylor, 2008 AAPT Summer Meeting: Edmonton, Canada aapt_poster_2008.ppt
• Physics Education Research Conference Poster: Developing a Framework for Analyzing Student Summaries of Textbooks. Dedra Demaree, Saalih Allie and Michael Low, 2008 PERC conference: Edmonton, Canada perc_poster_2008.ppt
• Invited Poster: Physics Education Research Conference Poster: Making Sense of Measurements, Making Sense of the Textbook. Saalih Allie, Dedra Demaree, Julian Taylor, Fred Lubben and Andy Buffler, 2008 PERC conference: Edmonton, Canada
• Invited talk at the American Physical Society NorthWest Meeting, April 2008: Integrating writing research with curricular development in large-enrollment introductory physics, Dedra Demaree. aps_talk_sp08.ppt
• Invited talk for APS, Boston, 2012: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/MAR12/Event/163439

• Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings: Toward Meaning and Scientific Thinking in the Traditional Freshman Laboratory: Opening the “Idea Space”, Saalih Allie and Dedra Demaree, Porland, OR: perc_2010_allie_demaree.pdf
• Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings: Quantitative and qualitative analysis of student textbook summary writing. Dedra Demaree, Saalih Alie, Michael Low and Julian Taylor, 2008 PERC Proceedings: Edmonton, Canada: demaree_perc_2008.pdf
• Invited Paper: Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings: Making Sense of Measurements, Making Sense of the Textbook. Saalih Allie, Dedra Demaree, Julian Taylor, Fred Lubben and Andy Buffler, 2008 PERC conference: Edmonton, Canada allie_demaree_perc2008.pdf

• Blog of PER articles: http://www.citeulike.org/group/10888/library
• AAPT: http://www.aapt.org/
• PER Central: http://www.compadre.org/per/
• STEM Reform: http://www.stemreform.org/community/
• Videos of Modeling Instruction in High School Physics: http://vimeo.com/channels/modelingphysics