CU Upper-Division E&M Curriculum
Developed by: Steven Pollock, Stephanie Chasteen, Bethany Wilcox, Qing Ryan, Charles Baily, and many others in the University of Colorado Boulder PER group and physics department
Level
middle schoolhigh schoolintro collegeinter-mediateupper levelgrad school other
middle schoolhigh schoolintro collegeinter-mediateupper levelgrad school other
Topics
Setting
Overview
What? Supplementary activities for upper-level E&M. Includes learning goals, interactive lectures, homework problems, student difficulties, tutorials, in-class group activities, and clicker questions. All materials are modular and can be mixed and matched with other teaching strategies or materials.
Student skills developed
Designed for:
- Conceptual understanding
- Problem-solving skills
- Using multiple representations
Can be adapted for:
- Making real-world connections
- Metacognition
Instructor effort required
- Medium
Resources required
- TAs / LAs
- Clickers / polling method
- Projector
Resources
Teaching Materials
You can download all course materials for free, including lecture slides, clicker questions, homework, exams, and solutions from the developer's website (you'll need to ask for a password to access solutions):
E&M I: https://physicscourses.colorado.edu/EducationIssues/Electrostatics/
E&M II: https://physicscourses.colorado.edu/EducationIssues/Electrodynamics/
Research
RESEARCH VALIDATION
Bronze ValidationThis is the third highest level of research validation, corresponding to:
- at least 1 of the "based on" categories
- at least 1 of the "demonstrated to improve" categories
- at least 1 of the "studied using" categories
Research Validation Summary
Based on Research Into:
- theories of how students learn
- student ideas about specific topics
Demonstrated to Improve:
- conceptual understanding
- problem-solving skills
- lab skills
- beliefs and attitudes
- attendance
- retention of students
- success of underrepresented groups
- performance in subsequent classes
Studied using:
- cycle of research and redevelopment
- student interviews
- classroom observations
- analysis of written work
- research at multiple institutions
- research by multiple groups
- peer-reviewed publication
References
- S. Chasteen, R. Pepper, M. Caballero, S. Pollock, and K. Perkins, Colorado Upper-Division Electrostatics diagnostic: A conceptual assessment for the junior level, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 8 (2), 020108 (2012).
- S. Chasteen, R. Pepper, S. Pollock, and K. Perkins, But Does It Last? Sustaining a Research-Based Curriculum in Upper-Division Electricity & Magnetism, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2011, Omaha, Nebraska, 2011.
- S. Chasteen and S. Pollock, Transforming Upper-Division Electricity and Magnetism, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2008, Edmonton, Canada, 2008.
- S. Chasteen and S. Pollock, Tapping into Juniors’ Understanding of E&M: The Colorado Upper-Division Electrostatics (CUE) Diagnostic, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2009, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2009.
- S. Chasteen and S. Pollock, A Research-Based Approach to Assessing Student Learning Issues in Upper-Division Electricity & Magnetism, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2009, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2009.
- J. Huffman, M. Vignal, and B. Wilcox, Investigating Upper-Division Students' Interpretations of the Divergence Theorem, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2020, Virtual Conference, 2020.
- R. Pepper, S. Chasteen, S. Pollock, and K. Perkins, Our best juniors still struggle with Gauss’s Law: Characterizing their difficulties, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, 2010.
- R. Pepper, S. Chasteen, S. Pollock, and K. Perkins, Observations on student difficulties with mathematics in upper-division electricity and magnetism, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 8 (1), 010111 (2012).
- K. Perkins and C. Turpen, Student Perspectives on Using Clickers in Upper-division Physics Courses, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2009, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2009.
- S. Pollock and S. Chasteen, Longer term impacts of transformed courses on student conceptual understanding of E&M, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2009, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2009.
- S. Pollock, S. Chasteen, M. Dubson, and K. Perkins, The use of concept tests and peer instruction in upper-division physics, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, 2010.
- S. Pollock, R. Pepper, S. Chasteen, and K. Perkins, Multiple roles of assessment in upper-division physics course reforms, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2011, Omaha, Nebraska, 2011.
- S. Pollock and B. Wilcox, Upper-Division Students' Use of Separation of Variables, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2015, College Park, MD, 2015.
- Q. Ryan, C. Baily, and S. Pollock, Multiple-Response Assessment for Upper-division Electrodynamics, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2016, Sacramento, CA, 2016.
- C. Wallace and S. Chasteen, Upper-division students' difficulties with Ampère's law, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 6 (2), 020115 (2010).
- B. Wilcox, M. Caballero, R. Pepper, and S. Pollock, Upper-division student understanding of Coulomb's law: Difficulties with continuous charge distributions, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, 2012.
- B. Wilcox, M. Caballero, D. Rehn, and S. Pollock, Analytic framework for students’ use of mathematics in upper-division physics, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 9 (2), 020119 (2013).
- B. Wilcox and S. Pollock, Multiple-choice Assessment for Upper-division Electricity and Magnetism, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2013, Portland, OR, 2013.
- B. Wilcox and S. Pollock, Upper-division student difficulties with the Dirac delta function, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 11 (1), 010108 (2015).
- B. Wilcox and S. Pollock, Validation and analysis of the coupled multiple response Colorado upper-division electrostatics diagnostic, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 11 (2), 020130 (2015).
- J. Zwolak and C. Manogue, Revealing Differences Between Curricula Using the Colorado Upper-Division Electrostatics Diagnostic, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2014, Minneapolis, MN, 2014.
