Thematic Group 3

Recommendations and proposed future work

Group 3: Topics reported at EGF2007

• Survey of new teaching methods among STEPS members

• Survey of associated software tools among STEPS members

• Survey of alumni of EG3 members on software and transferable skills

• Evaluation of use of recommended multimedia within EG3 members’ departments

Group 3: New teaching methods

• Widely variable use of new methods and scale of adoption

• Probably a wide range of interpretation of the different categories of teaching methods

• STEPS is a vehicle that can assist the physics community in becoming familiar with new teaching methods

Group 3: New teaching methods -recommendation

• STEPS to provide unbiased overview of new teaching methods

• Present educational research results showing impact on understanding and student retention

• Disseminate resources• Provide examples of good practice• Highlight problems faced including resources

and inertia• More than a single talk – session/workshop?

Group 3: Software tools – future activity

• Most popular choices identified

• Next, identify – usefulness of various software– how the software is taught,

i.e. standalone or imbedded– what has been its impact on ‘mathematics for

physics’/’mathematical physics’/’modelling’

Group 3: Alumni – future activity

• Software and transferable skills identified• Effectively only surveyed alumni from EG3’s

departments• Expand to alumni of all STEPS departments• Additionally

– How do they value their own skills?– What skills have they needed in employment that

were not taught in the course?

Transferable skill: Keeping an open mind?

“There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now.

All that remains is more and more precise measurement”

Lord Kelvin

(Sir William Thomson)

1824 - 1907

Group 3: Multimedia – future activity

• Interested in assessing the quality and evaluating the use of multimedia

• Multimedia for mechanics and optics evaluated in 2006-07 academic year but only by EG3’s colleagues

• Recruit STEPS members to assess multimedia and separately evaluate the effectiveness of recommended titles during teaching in 2007-08 academic year

Group 3: Summary

Recommendation to STEPS• Provide overview of new teaching methods to provide

examples of good practice, effectiveness and implementation.

Future activities of Group 3• Software – how taught and used in physics courses?• Alumni – expand to STEPS members and ask

additional questions• Multimedia – expand to STEPS members and recruit

additional assessors and reviewers