[LON-CAPA-cvs] cvs: modules /gerd/concept description.tex

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Index: modules/gerd/concept/description.tex
diff -u modules/gerd/concept/description.tex:1.19 modules/gerd/concept/description.tex:1.20
--- modules/gerd/concept/description.tex:1.19	Sun Jul 18 15:25:14 2004
+++ modules/gerd/concept/description.tex	Sun Jul 18 15:52:52 2004
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@
 
 Expert and novice approaches to problem solving in physics have been studied extensively (e.g.~\cite{chi,larkin}). Two of the most apparent differences are that
 \begin{enumerate}
-\item experts initially characterize problems according to deep structure and physical concepts (e.g., "energy conservation"-problem), while novices tend to characterize them according to surface features (e.g., ``sliding-block-on-incline"-problem) or applicable formulas (e.g., ``$E=\frac12mv^2+mgh$"-problem")
+\item experts initially characterize problems according to deep structure and physical concepts (e.g., ``energy conservation"-problem), while novices tend to characterize them according to surface features (e.g., ``sliding-block-on-incline"-problem) or applicable formulas (e.g., ``$E=\frac12mv^2+mgh$"-problem)
 \item novices then continue to employ a formula-centered problem solving method~\cite{heuvelen}, frequently referred to as ``plug-and-chug."
 \end{enumerate}
 Redish~\cite{redish} somewhat bleakly  describes a novice approach to learning physics as follows:
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@
 \item Erase all information from your brain after the exam to make room for the next set of materials.
 \end{itemize}
 
-One cannot really blame learners for short-circuiting physics "learning" this way, since the cognitive and metacognitive skills, which physicists value so highly, are hardly ever made explicit, neither in instruction, nor in formative or summative assessment~\cite{lin,reif,mazur96}; in fact, they are mostly altogether ``hidden"~\cite{redish} from all aspects of a course, and students are affirmed in their novice expectations~\cite{hammer} of what it is to ``do physics." The challenge is to move students away from treating physics as a set of unrelated factoids and formulas, as well as away from focusing on memorizing and using formulas without interpretation or sense-making~\cite{hammer}, and toward both ``thinking like a physicist" and gaining conceptual understanding. 
+One cannot really blame learners for short-circuiting physics ``learning" this way, since the cognitive and metacognitive skills, which physicists value so highly, are hardly ever made explicit, neither in instruction, nor in formative or summative assessment~\cite{lin,reif,mazur96}; in fact, they are mostly altogether ``hidden"~\cite{redish} from all aspects of a course, and students are affirmed in their novice expectations~\cite{hammer} of what it is to ``do physics." The challenge is to move students away from treating physics as a set of unrelated factoids and formulas, as well as away from focusing on memorizing and using formulas without interpretation or sense-making~\cite{hammer}, and toward both ``thinking like a physicist" and gaining conceptual understanding. 
 
 As a result, some instructors turn to ``conceptual" curricular material, where however  ``conceptual" often seems to be defined simply as ``lacking numbers and formulas." The term  ``conceptual" will need a more specific definition if it is meant to indeed denote ``fostering conceptual understanding."  ``Conceptual understanding" in this project is defined as insight,
 as reflected in thoughtful and effective use of knowledge and skills in varied situations,
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@
 The network provides constant assessment of the resource quality through objective and subjective dynamic metadata. Selection of a learning resource by instructors at other institutions while constructing a learning module does both establish a de-facto peer-review mechanism and provide additional context information for each resource. In addition, access statistics are being kept, and learners can put evaluation information on each resource.
 
 In addition to faculty-provided content, the problem supplements to a number of commercial textbooks are available in LON-CAPA format.
-LON-CAPA provides highly customizable access control for such resources, and has a built-in key mechanism to charge for content access. \subsubsection{Formative and Summative Assessment Capabilities}LON-CAPA started in 1992 as a system to give personalized homework to students in introductory physics courses.  ÒPersonalized" means that each student sees a different version of the same computer-generated problem: different numbers, choices, graphs, images, simulation parameters, etc, Fig.~\ref{twoproblems}.
+LON-CAPA provides highly customizable access control for such resources, and has a built-in key mechanism to charge for content access. \subsubsection{Formative and Summative Assessment Capabilities}LON-CAPA started in 1992 as a system to give personalized homework to students in introductory physics courses.  ``Personalized" means that each student sees a different version of the same computer-generated problem: different numbers, choices, graphs, images, simulation parameters, etc, Fig.~\ref{twoproblems}.
 \begin{figure}
 \includegraphics[width=6.5in]{atwood}
 \caption{Web-rendering of the same LON-CAPA problem for two different students.\label{twoproblems}
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@
 \subsubsection{Analysis Capabilities}\label{anatool}
 LON-CAPA allows instructors to analyze student submissions both for individual students (Fig.~\ref{problemview}) and across the course (Fig.~\ref{problemanalysis}).
 
-For example, Fig.~\ref{problemview} indicates that in the presence of a medium between the capacitor plates, the student was convinced that the force would increase, but also that this statement was the one he was most unsure about: His first answer was that the force would double; no additional feedback except "incorrect" was provided by the system. In his next attempt, he would change his answer on only this one statement (indicating that he was convinced of his other answers) to "four times the force" --- however, only ten seconds passed between the attempts, showing that he was merely guessing by which factor the force increased. The graphs on the right of Fig.~\ref{problemanalysis} show which statements were answered correctly course-wide on the first and on the second attempt, respectively, the graphs on the right which other options the students chose if the statement was answered incorrectly. Clearly, students have the most difficulty with the concept of how a medium acts inside a capacitor, with the absolute majority believing the capacitance would increase, and only about 20\% of the students believing the medium had no influence.
+For example, Fig.~\ref{problemview} indicates that in the presence of a medium between the capacitor plates, the student was convinced that the force would increase, but also that this statement was the one he was most unsure about: His first answer was that the force would double; no additional feedback except ``incorrect" was provided by the system. In his next attempt, he would change his answer on only this one statement (indicating that he was convinced of his other answers) to ``four times the force" --- however, only ten seconds passed between the attempts, showing that he was merely guessing by which factor the force increased. The graphs on the right of Fig.~\ref{problemanalysis} show which statements were answered correctly course-wide on the first and on the second attempt, respectively, the graphs on the right which other options the students chose if the statement was answered incorrectly. Clearly, students have the most difficulty with the concept of how a medium acts inside a capacitor, with the absolute majority believing the capacitance would increase, and only about 20\% of the students believing the medium had no influence.
 
 \begin{figure}
 \begin{center}
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@
 In addition to having whiteboards and wireless laptop computers for students to work with in flexible group settings, the facility will have integrated observation equipment to video- and audio-record student interactions. All recorded information is immediately digitized and made available for transcription and analysis using the Transana~\cite{transana} software system.
 
 \subsection{Courses}\label{coursesdesc}
-The project will be carried out  in the two-semester LBS course sequence LBS 271/272,"Calculus-Based Introductory Physics I/II. These second-year non-major three-credit courses have a Calculus pre-requisite, and traditionally an enrollment of over 200 students. 
+The project will be carried out  in the two-semester LBS course sequence LBS 271/272, ``Calculus-Based Introductory Physics I/II." These second-year non-major three-credit courses have a Calculus pre-requisite, and traditionally an enrollment of over 200 students. 
 
 Starting Fall 2004, the course will be taught with less total lecturing time, where the third classroom hour will be used for peer-teaching~\cite{mazur} and more frequent quizzes in place of the midterm exams.
 
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@
 \begin{description}
 \item[Multiple-choice and short-answer questions] The most basic and most easily computer-evaluated type of question, representing the conventional (typical back-of-chapter textbook) problem.
 
-For the purposes of this project, "multiple choice" and "short-answer" will be considered as separate classes, where short-answer includes numerical answers such as ``$17 kg/m^3$," and formula answers, such as ``\verb!1/2*m*(vx^2+vy^2)!."  The problems on the left side of Figs.~\ref{threemasses} and \ref{trajectory} are examples of ``short-(numerical)-answer" problems.
+For the purposes of this project, ``multiple choice" and ``short-answer" will be considered as separate classes, where short-answer includes numerical answers such as ``$17 kg/m^3$," and formula answers, such as ``\verb!1/2*m*(vx^2+vy^2)!."  The problems on the left side of Figs.~\ref{threemasses} and \ref{trajectory} are examples of ``short-(numerical)-answer" problems.
 \item[Multiple-choice multiple-response questions]  This type of problem, a first step beyond conventional problems, requires a student to evaluate each statement and make a decision about it. The problems Fig.~\ref{problemview} and on the right side of Fig.~\ref{threemasses} are of this type.
 
 

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