Techniques for teaching critical thinking in a first year physics laboratory

ORAL

Abstract

One of the highest aims of education research is to explore how students can learn scientific reasoning and critical thinking skills. At UBC, we took on the ambitious goal of engaging students in meaningful reflection of the data they collect in an introductory physics lab. Our aim was to develop habits of mind that were essential to critical thinking. This included a procedural subgoal to teach students a set of data handling skills that spanned from histograms and standard deviation to weighted least-squares fitting. These analytic skills supported the development of advanced experimentation behaviours, including reflecting on data to identify systematic errors and adjusting models based on the quality of fits. This presentation will describe some of the new teaching techniques and course elements that went into achieving these goals and present the dramatic improvements in students' unsupported experimentation behaviours over previous iterations of the course.

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Authors

  • N.G. Holmes

    University of British Columbia

  • William H. Dowd

    Oregon State University, University of Washington, University of Hong Kong, University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, University of British Columbia, Univ of Washington, Univ of Cambridge, Michigan State University, Universit\'e de Caen, Argonne National Laboratory, Texas A\&M University -Commerce, Texas A\&M University, Department of Physics, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho 83844, USA, Universidad de Salamanca, E-37008 Salamanca, Spain, Department of Physics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, USA, University of Cambridge, Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto, Seoul National University, Chungnam National University, Department of Physics, Oregon State University, TRIUMF, Roosevelt High School, Department of Physics, University of Washington, Oregon State Department of Chemistry, Oregon State School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Oregon State Department of Physics, University of Idaho, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Department of Chemistry, Oregon State University, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Oregon State University, Washington State University, Harvard University, Idaho Accelerator Center, Idaho Accelerator Center, Idaho State University, 1500 Alvin Ricken drive, Pocatello, ID 83201, USA, CENPA, University of Washington, Physics Division, ANL, NSCL, Michigan State University, Division, ANL, LPC, CAEN, France, Paul Scherrer Institute, US Geological Survey, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, VA, 20192, USA, University of Calgary Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary Department of Geoscience, None, University of the Fraser Valley, Univ of California, Berkeley, Simon Fraser University, Los Alamos Natl. Lab., University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, U of Washington, Georgia Institute of Technology, Washington State Univ, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Maryland, American University