A major goal of undergraduate education in physics is fostering "thinking like a physicist" among physics majors. This is an elusive goal, and one that is hard to assess in our physics classes. In this talk, I'll discuss what we mean when we say "thinking like a physicist" and present some discourse markers for identifying when students are more likely to be physicist-like. I suggest instructional strategies to promote students thinking like physicists, and ways we can assess this in our upper-division physics classes.
1080 Physics Research Building - Smith Seminar Room - reception at 3:45 pm in Atrium Department of Physics physics@osu.edu America/New_York publicA major goal of undergraduate education in physics is fostering "thinking like a physicist" among physics majors. This is an elusive goal, and one that is hard to assess in our physics classes. In this talk, I'll discuss what we mean when we say "thinking like a physicist" and present some discourse markers for identifying when students are more likely to be physicist-like. I suggest instructional strategies to promote students thinking like physicists, and ways we can assess this in our upper-division physics classes.
