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Utilizing Computer Coaches in Introductory Physics Courses to Improve Problem-Solving Skills for Post-Secondary Students

Undergraduate #331
Discipline: Physics
Subcategory: Education

Taiyee Vue - University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Co-Author(s): Kenneth Heller and Leonardo Hsu, University of MN, Minneapolis, MN



Often incoming college freshmen do not have the background knowledge nor problem-solving skills that are desirable in many of the STEM fields today, in fact many students are still novices in approaching problems and only become experts when they are graduate students. To asses and develop student’s problem-solving skills to proficiency, the Physics Education Research Group (PER) at the University of Minnesota (UofM) developed Customizable Computer Coaches for Physics Online (C3PO) for this purpose. This poster gives a brief overview of the research basis of problem solving instruction, initial data from the prototype computer coaches, and the process by which the second generation of these coaches are being prepared for testing during the academic year 2016-2017 at five different institutions of higher education.

Funder Acknowledgement(s): 3M; North Star STEM Alliance; NSF.

Faculty Advisor: Kenneth Heller, helle001@umn.edu

Role: So far, I have accomplished building two coaches using the graphical user interface, one focused on the kinematics (motion) and the other focused on rotational motion. Both coaches required my knowledge of physics but also my role as a student. I have taken the calculus-based introductory class as an incoming freshmen and am very familiar with the difficulties that many students face while in college. As a student, knowing that this type of resource is available would have been beneficial to my physics course experience because it’s so easy to use and definitely does not require a lot of time. Building these coaches is in itself, a problem-solving feat. It requires me to account for which solution building block gets unlocked as a student progresses through the coach.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. DUE-1930047. Any opinions, findings, interpretations, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of its authors and do not represent the views of the AAAS Board of Directors, the Council of AAAS, AAAS’ membership or the National Science Foundation.

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