Studien syftade på att undersöka elevers tankeprocesser när de ställs framför fysikaliska problem, med ett särskilt fokus på samspelet mellan vetenskapligt tänkande och vardagsföreställningar. Kvalitativa tekniker valdes som forskningsmetod då elevers tankeprocesser är svåra att klassificera på ett kvantitativt sätt. Totalt 15 elever valdes ur två klasser på det sista året av en italiensk gymnasieskola och intervjuades. Intervjuerna var semistrukturerade och utgick ifrån frågor från Force Concept Inventory som diskuterades muntligt med eleverna. Intervjuerna spelades in och analyserades för att försöka hitta mönster och få insikter om elevernas tankeprocesser. Studiens resultat pekade på att vetenskapligt tänkande och vardagsföreställningar kan samexistera och stå i konflikt under en och samma uppgifts lösning, men att elever oftast tacklar fysikaliska problem antingen på ett sätt eller det andra. Samspel mellan de två tankesätten är därför mer sällsynt. Ett ytterligare möjligt mönster hittades i eleverna uttryck och ordval, som verkades vara relaterade till deras tankeprocesser.

This study was conducted to determine if the use of the technology known as Classroom Performance System (CPS), specifically referred to as “Clickers”, improves the learning gains of students enrolled in a biology course for science majors. CPS is one of a group of developing technologies adapted for providing feedback in the classroom using a learner-centered approach. It supports and facilitates discussion among students and between them and teachers, and provides for participation by passive students. Advocates, influenced by constructivist theories, claim increased academic achievement. In science teaching, the results have been mixed, but there is some evidence of improvements in conceptual understanding. The study employed a pretest-posttest, non-equivalent groups experimental design. The sample consisted of 226 participants in six sections of a college biology course at a large community college in South Florida with two instructors trained in the use of clickers. Each instructor randomly selected their sections into CPS (treatment) and non-CPS (control) groups. All participants filled out a survey that included demographic data at the beginning of the semester. The treatment group used clicker questions throughout, with discussions as necessary, whereas the control groups answered the same questions as quizzes, similarly engaging in discussion where necessary. The learning gains were assessed on a pre/post-test basis. The average learning gains, defined as the actual gain divided by the possible gain, were slightly better in the treatment group than in the control group, but the difference was statistically non-significant. An Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) statistic with pretest scores as the covariate was conducted to test for significant differences between the treatment and control groups on the posttest. A second ANCOVA was used to determine the significance of differences between the treatment and control groups on the posttest scores, after controlling for sex, GPA, academic status, experience with clickers, and instructional style. The results indicated a small increase in learning gains but these were not statistically significant. The data did not support an increase in learning based on the use of the CPS technology. This study adds to the body of research that questions whether CPS technology merits classroom adaptation.

The thesis introduces many examples of outreach activities, primarily from the Czech Republic and other European countries. Various possibilities of measure- ments of factors of their effectivity are discussed in the thesis. The used methods were: literature review, conceptual assessment tests - pre- and post-tests (CCI, PPCI), questionnaires (IMI), data analyses of participants of activities, semi-structured interviews (for validation of concept inventories), and the work also has a glimpse of ethnography because the author has organised outreach activities for ten years. The individual chapters of the work are dedicated to: the overview of outreach activities, research methods, translation of the Calculus Concept Inventory (CCI) into Czech, the first steps for developments of the Particle Physics Concept Inven- tory (PPCI), loyalty of participants of competitions, and description of various metrics which can be used for statistical evaluation of events. 1

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I detta arbete undersöktes och jämfördes begreppskoherens och attityd till fysik blandelever på fysik- respektive naturvetenskapsprogrammet vid gymnasieskolanPolhemskolan i Lund. Begreppskoherensen undersöktes med Force Concept Inventorysom är ett omdiskuterat flervalstest från USA som ska mäta studentersbegreppskoherens för kraftbegreppet inom den klassiska mekaniken. Eftersom mångaundersökningar visar att intresset för fysik minskar undersöktes också elevernas attitydtill fysik med ett svenskt test av Likertmodell.Undersökningarna gjordes på elever som precis börjat åk 1 och på äldre elever som lästkursen Fysik A inom båda programmen. Resultatet av undersökningarna är att elevernapå fysikprogrammet har större begreppskoherens för kraftbegreppet än eleverna pånaturvetenskapsprogrammet och att begreppskoherensen höjs efter Fysik A. Attitydentill fysik är dessutom mer positiv på fysikprogrammet men eleverna pånaturvetenskapsprogrammet har större spridning i attityd. Slutsatsen är attPolhemskolans fysikprogram har lyckats locka de elever som det är tänkt för. / In this paper the conceptual coherence and towards physics among students in thephysics and science program at Polhemskolan in Lund were measured and compared.The conceptual coherence was measured with the Force Concept Inventory, a muchdebated multiple choice test from USA that is supposed to measure students’ conceptualcoherence for the concept of force in classical mechanics. Since many studies show thatthe interest in physics is declining the students’ attitude towards physics was alsomeasured with an attitude test of Likert model.The study is done among students that just started year one and older students that havehad instruction in physics at the Swedish correspondence to high school. The result ofthe study is that the students at the physics program have a higher conceptual coherencefor the concept of force than the students at the science program and that the coherence4is improved with the physics course Fysik A. The attitude towards physics is morepositive at the physics program but the attitudes among the students at the scienceprogram are more widely scattered. The conclusion is that the physics program atPolhemskolan has succeeded in attracting the students it is meant for.

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The structure of education has changed dramatically in the last few decades. Despite major changes in how students are learning, there has not been as dramatic of a shift in how student learning is assessed. Standard letter grades are still the paradigm for evaluating a student's mastery of course content and the grade point average is still one of the largest determining factors in judging a graduate's academic aptitude. This research presents a modern approach to modeling knowledge and evaluating students. Based upon the model of a closed-loop feedback controller it considers education as a system with an instructor determining the set of knowledge he or she wishes to impart to students, the instruction method as a transfer function, and evaluation methods serving as sensors to provide feedback determining the subset of the information students have learned. This method uses comprehensive concept maps to depict all of the concepts and relationships an educator intends to cover and student maps to depict the subset of knowledge that students have mastered. Concept inventories are used as an assessment tool to determine, at the conceptual level, what students have learned. Each question in the concept inventory is coupled with one or more components of a comprehensive concept map and based upon the answers students give to concept inventory questions those components may or may not appear in a student's knowledge map. The level of knowledge a student demonstrates of each concept and relationship is presented in his or her student map using a color scheme tied to the levels of learning in Bloom's taxonomy. Topological principles are used to establish metrics to quantify the distance between two students' knowledge maps and the distance between a student's knowledge map and the corresponding comprehensive concept map. A method is also developed for forming aggregate maps representative of the knowledge of a group of students. Aggregate maps can be formed for entire classes of students or based upon various demographics including race and gender. XML schemas have been used throughout this research to encapsulate the information in both comprehensive maps and student maps and to store correlations between concept inventory questions and corresponding comprehensive map components. Three software packages have been developed to store concept inventories into an XML Schema, to process student responses to concept inventory questions and generate student maps as a result, and to generate aggregate maps. The methods presented herein have been applied to two learning units that are part of two freshman engineering courses at Virginia Tech. Example student maps and aggregate maps are included for these course units. / Ph. D.

Previous studies have shown that many students have misconceptions about basic concepts in physics which persist after instruction. It has been concluded that one of the challenges lies in the teaching methodology. To address this, Georgia State University (GSU) has begun teaching studio algebra-based physics. Although many institutions have implemented studio physics, most have done so in calculus-based sequences. Additionally, the unique environment of GSU’s population as a diverse, urban research institution is considered. The effectiveness of the studio approach for this demographic in an algebra-based introductory physics course was assessed. This five-semester pilot study presents demographic survey results and compares the results of student pre- and post-tests using the Force Concept Inventory (FCI). FCI results show that 1) the studio approach yields higher learning gains than the conventional course, 2) there are significant performance differences among ethnic groups, and 3) a gender gaps exists regardless of instructional method.

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Data Structures and Algorithms (DSA) courses are critical for any computer science curriculum. DSA courses emphasize concepts related to procedural dynamics and Algorithm Analysis (AA). These concepts are hard for students to grasp when conveyed using traditional textbook material relying on text and static images. Algorithm Visualizations (AVs) emerged as a technique for conveying DSA concepts using interactive visual representations. Historically, AVs have dealt with portraying algorithm dynamics, and the AV developer community has decades of successful experience with this. But there exist few visualizations to present algorithm analysis concepts. This content is typically still conveyed using text and static images. We have devised an approach that we term Algorithm Analysis Visualizations (AAVs), capable of conveying AA concepts visually. In AAVs, analysis is presented as a series of slides where each statement of the explanation is connected to visuals that support the sentence. We developed a pool of AAVs targeting the basic concepts of AA. We also developed AAVs for basic sorting algorithms, providing a concrete depiction about how the running time analysis of these algorithms can be calculated. To evaluate AAVs, we conducted a quasi-experiment across two offerings of CS3114 at Virginia Tech. By analyzing OpenDSA student interaction logs, we found that intervention group students spent significantly more time viewing the material as compared to control group students who used traditional textual content. Intervention group students gave positive feedback regarding the usefulness of AAVs to help them understand the AA concepts presented in the course. In addition, intervention group students demonstrated better performance than control group students on the AA part of the final exam. The final exam taken by both the control and intervention groups was based on a pilot version of the Algorithm Analysis Concept Inventory (AACI) that was developed to target fundamental AA concepts and probe students' misconceptions about these concepts. The pilot AACI was developed using a Delphi process involving a group of DSA instructors, and was shown to be a valid and reliable instrument to gauge students' understanding of the basic AA topics. / Ph. D.