Examining the complex ways people go about understanding physics.
We are a group of physicists with common interests in the issues of teaching and student learning and since 1992 we have undertaken physics education research in the School of Physics.
Established in 1992, our group aims to carry out research into tertiary physics education and to improve how we teach physics at the University.
When the SUPER group was formed, the original members put together a document outlining their argument for pursuing physics education research in an academic physics context. That text lives on today as the SUPER Group Manifesto (pdf, 58KB).
SUPER students/collaborators bring in their own ideas for research, ranging from science communication, the use of multimedia, conceptual development, interactive pedagogies, critical thinking, affective learning, inquiry based learning, and professional development, to the impact of the changes in the new HSC syllabus.
As methods specialists the SUPER group members enable the delivery of these research projects, producing high quality publications and resources.
All SUPER graduates are trailblazers, some exceptional SUPER stars are: Derek Muller of Veritasium fame; Helen Georgiou, a researcher in science education drawing on the legitimation code theory (LCT) framework; Simon Crook, transforming the teaching of school science in NSW through Crooked Science.
The SUPER group has an extensive and expanding research program and is always looking for new ideas, students and collaborations.
We have developed a new style of tutorial, called a Map Meeting. A key feature is the Link Map, a colourful A4 diagram providing a conceptual overview of the weekly topic covered in our first year university physics course. We are evaluating the effectiveness of the Map Meetings as well as the influences of prior knowledge and gender.
Effectively utilising the potential of multimedia is not a trivial task. It requires research informed by extensive disciplinary knowledge. Educational researchers continue to debate the merits of dynamic visual representations versus static displays. Our projects in this area inform that debate and explore the challenges of communicating the real science behind complex phenomena.
Physics students hold particular conceptions, alternative conceptions and misconceptions about a range of phenomena. Exploring student notions provides useful insights into learning, curriculum and assessment.
A popular method of uncovering specific alternative conceptions about physics uses conceptual surveys. We have developed and adapted surveys to investigate a range of issues such as the consistency of students’ mental models.
Experimentation is a fundamental feature of science. Examination of goals across the three years of undergraduate physics laboratories provides useful insights. Evaluation of individual experiments provides fine-grained detail of factors which promote meaningful learning.
ILDs, developed by Thornton and Sokoloff, are a way to tease out and correct misconceptions that students hold about fundamental ideas in physics. We are testing the gains in students' understanding of subtle ideas in newtonian mechanics using these ILDs, comparing our students' results against the enormous gains reported in North American universities.
Reflecting on the international decline in numbers of physics students and physics teachers the question is asked ‘Why do our students choose to study physics?’ It is hoped that the research may provide insights into how to help redirect the downwards spiral.
SUPER is involved in a series of national projects examining a range of issues such as service teaching, graduate destinations and learning in laboratories.
Understanding student concerns can help provide better experiences. This is done using a survey, during Orientation Week, of the concerns and expectations of students entering the University of The Witwatersrand, South Africa. Results of the initial survey have been fed back to the Dean of Students at Wits.
SUPER is currently undertaking projects in the following areas of research:
- Inquiry in the laboratory and at university
- The use of multimedia for teaching and learning physics
- How to learn physics better from science communication and outreach
- Misconceptions of physics and how to address them
SUPER has an extensive and expanding research program and are always looking for new ideas, students and collaborations.For information about opportunities, please contact Professor Manjula Sharma.
