Helping physics students learn how to learn
Andrew Elby
Dept. of Physics, University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-4111
elby@physics.umd.edu
Abstract:
Students "epistemological" beliefstheir views about the nature of knowledge and learningaffect how they approach physics courses. For instance, a student who believes physics knowledge to consist primarily of disconnected facts and formulas will study differently from a student who views physics as an interconnected web of concepts. Unfortunately, previous studies show that physics courseseven ones that help students learn concepts particularly wellgenerally do not lead to significant changes in students epistemological beliefs. In this paper, Ill discuss instructional practices and curricular elementssuitable for both college and high schoolthat helped students develop substantially more sophisticated beliefs about knowledge and learning, as measured by the Maryland Physics Expectations Survey (MPEX) and by the Epistemological Beliefs Assessment for Physical Science.