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Supplementary Resources for Conceptual Physics from Paul Hewitt
60 questions Physics Students Should Know...
Dear Fellow Physics Teachers,
Here are 60 questions on basic physics that you likely think your students
can handle. But if you’re not focusing on the qualitative question sets in
addition to problem sets in your algebra or calculus based introductory
course, be prepared for your students to do poorly with these questions
about basic content we take for granted.
The people working on Physics Education Research, PER, have made great
strides in validating the use of multiple-choice questions to test for
conceptual understanding. The questions presented here have not been through
the rigorous validation process of questions on tests like the Force Concept
Inventory, FCI. Rather, they are some of my favorites, honed by use and
reuse over my teaching career at City College of San Francisco. I see the
questions as straightforward, without tricks or subtleties, treating only
essential content, which every student should be able to answer after
completing an introductory physics course—particularly the course for
engineers and scientists.
The questions can also be given to students before the beginning of a
course, to let an instructor know of their students’ initial grasp of the
material that lies ahead. If marked improvement is observed between the
beginning and end of a course, or good performance is demonstrated without
the pre-test, then successful teaching efforts can be better seen as
verified. If classes do poorly, then for one thing, perhaps more attention
should be paid to the qualitative questions in the end-of-chapter material
of almost every physics textbook.
From the 60 questions in this inventory, choose those that are relevant to
your course. Detailed answers are also included in the download file.
Good Energy,
Paul Hewitt
Download the file
Note: The 60
Questions documentation is contained in a "zip file". To unzip or open the
file you will need Winzip (PC) or StuffIt (Mac) installed on your computer.
If you do not have this software you can download it free at
www.winzip.com
Next Time
Questions
Next-Time Questions are favorite insightful questions I have asked my
students over my teaching career. I have embellished them with cartoons to
catch interest. Their intention is to elicit student thinking. My use of
them was posting several in a glass case outside my lecture hall—without
answers. The wait-time for answers was one week. I could have called them
Next-Week Questions, which would have been more appropriate. Most of these
have been published over the years as Figuring Physics in The Physics
Teacher magazine. They have also been in ancillaries to my Conceptual
Physics textbooks, and physical science textbooks as well. My hope is that
teachers will pose the questions, and withhold answers to “next time,” which
could be as early as the next class meeting. Their educational value is the
long wait time!
~Paul
Hewitt
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