Improving learning and the learning experience for students in introductory physics

In this talk, I will discuss the two main areas of my research in physics education, helping students become better problem solvers and investigating students' attitudes towards physics and the learning of physics. Problem Solving: One of the goals of many physics courses is to help students learn to use physics principles to solve novel problems. However, as anyone who has taught a physics course knows, this is a difficult task. I have been investigating an approach to helping students learn to become competent problem solvers through the use of interactive, web-based problem-solving coaches. These coaches are an integral part of a pedagogy known as cognitive apprenticeship. Students' attitudes: One of the surprising and unwelcome findings from physics education research has been that students' attitudes towards physics and the learning of physics often degrade over the duration of an introductory physics course, even courses taught with modern research-based curricula. I will discuss my investigations of this phenomenon in an introductory course for non-science majors, including some dramatic gains as measured by the CLASS survey and factors with which those gains are correlated.