Activity-Based Tutorials

Home | Volume 1: Intro | Volume 2: Modern
Understanding How Students Learn | Teacher's Guide

M.C. Wittmann, R.N. Steinberg, E.F. Redish and the University of Maryland Physics Education Research Group

Volume 1: Introductory Physics

Overview
Classroom Materials
Software
Videos

Volume 1: Overview

In this web site, we provide resources for instructors using Activity-Based Tutorials in their classes. Materials are divided into three areas.

• a set of physics education research papers and documents that give perspectives on how students learn physics. Many research studies are linked directly to specific instructional materials. (more info)
  
• a set of classroom materials. These materials are not intended to stand alone, but rather to serve as adaptable curricula that supplement traditional or innovative classes. Students work constructively in small groups on research-based worksheets. (more info)
  
• an overview of classroom teaching strategies that we have found to be effective. The use of technology in the classroom is emphasized, but conceptual learning is always the primary goal of instruction. (more info)

Click on the links at the top of each page (or in the left column) to find out more about Activity-Based Tutorials.

Curriculum History

As part of the Activity Based Physics Project, we created a collection of Activity-Based Tutorials (ABT). The ABT are developed in the same model as Tutorials in Introductory Physics,[1] a research [2] and curriculum development project by Lillian C. McDermott and the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington.

The Activity-Based Tutorials and Tutorials in Introductory Physics¹ are based on systematic investigations into the learning and teaching of introductory physics. The results of this research are then used to design new curricula and teaching approaches, which lead to modified instruction.

The figure below represents the iterative, three-step research and design process by a wheel.

The axle for this wheel is the model of how students think and learn. This model guides - and is informed by - the research and development cycle.

For a description of an appropriate model of thinking and learning, see "Implications of cognitive studies for teaching physics," E. F. Redish, Am. J. Phys. 62, 796-803 (1994).

1. L.C. McDermott, P.S. Shaffer, and the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington, Tutorials in Introductory Physics, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1998.
2. For examples of tutorials and the research that underlies the development of materials in reference 1, see, L.C. McDermott, P.S. Shaffer, and M.D. Somers, "Research as a guide for teaching introductory mechanics: An illustration in the context of the Atwood's machine," Am. J. Phys. 62, 46-55 (1994); L.C. McDermott and P.S. Shaffer, "Research as a guide for curriculum development: an example from introductory electricity, Part I: Investigation of student understanding," Am. J. Phys. 60, 994-1003 (1992); P.S. Shaffer and L.C. McDermott, "Research as guide for curriculum development: an example from electricity, Part II: Design of instructional strategies," Am. J. Phys. 60, 1003-1013 (1992).