Studio Physics in a Seven-Week Term with Transportable Labs in a Shared Space

By applying a studio-style learning approach to an Introductory Mechanics course, students' learning and understanding of the material should be greatly enhanced. ~What makes the installation of studio physics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) unique is a studio space that will be shared with other departments and the school following a seven-week class schedule - a relatively short period of time for this method of learning. ~During the pilot course, techniques such as miniature lectures, problem solving, group laboratory experiments, and clicker questions were all utilized. ~Labs were tested not only for effectiveness at demonstrating concepts but also for ease of assembly and transportability. ~The Mechanics Baseline Test was administered at the beginning and end of the course to measure normalized gain. ~The results was an average class normalized gain of 0.18 and ranged from -0.11 to 0.64. ~Additionally, small amounts of qualitative student feedback were continuously collected over the duration of the pilot course while larger feedback reports were collected at the middle and end of the term. ~If the results from this pilot course are promising, studio physics has the potential to become an option for all students at WPI.