Teresa L. Larkin

• Ph.D. Physics Education
• Professor (Associate) at American University

Over the past year, the global pandemic caused by Covid-19 challenged educators from around the world to almost instantaneously become experts in online teaching and learning. While these challenges were often intense, frustrating, and very time-consuming, faculty from institutions of higher learning stepped up to the plate. As all courses ranging...

This paper provides an overview of a team-based approach to learning physics in a second-level course for non-majors entitled Light, Sound, Action (LSA) taught at XX University. Designed using a workshop format, LSA provides students numerous opportunities to learn physics using a number of interactive engagement strategies. These interactive engag...

This paper focuses on a study conducted with undergraduate students at two institutions of higher education – American University in Washington, DC and the University of Porto in Portugal - undertaken in spring 2018. Student participants in the U.S. were enrolled in a first-level introductory physics courses taken primarily by students who are not...

There is no question that the digital age is upon us. For many of us, the trans-formation to the digital age has been gradual; and, most often, welcomed. In the classroom, we have developed many useful and innovative applications technolo-gy-based pedagogies. Outside of the classroom, we use routinely rely on tech-nology to communicate with our stu...

Rapid changes in technology over the past two decades have provided many benefits. For many of us, the transformation to the digital age has been gradual; and, most often, welcomed. We have discovered innovative ways to make use of technology in our classes with the aim of enhancing the learning experience for our students. But what about today’s s...

Introductory physics courses are an important rung on the curricular ladder in STEM. These courses help to strengthen students critical thinking and problem solving skills while simultaneously introducing them to many topics they will explore in more detail in later courses in physics and engineering. For these reasons, introductory physics is a re...

Introductory physics courses are a fundamental offering in physics departments around the globe. Most often, introductory physics is offered as a two-semester sequence with basic mechanics being taught in the first semester and electricity and magnetism in the second. Introductory physics is required for students pursuing engineering and many other...

One of the primary objectives in most STEM classrooms is to provide educational experiences that will build and enhance students’ ability to think critically and to solve a wide set of different types of problems. To be competitive in the increasingly global society of the twenty-first century, scientists and engineers must often be able to innovat...

The use of creativity-based assignments to assess student learning is not as common in STEM classrooms as perhaps it is within those of other disciplines. On the other hand, there is a great demand for creative and innovative thinkers in STEM. While scientists and engineers are often perceived as only being concerned about hard facts and numerical...

Most of us who teach within the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) curricular areas expect to have teaching assignments that directly align with these disciplines. A teaching assignment in a curricular area outside of STEM is much less common. One focus of this paper is to describe a course that is taught by our physics facult...

The importance of effective communication, both written and oral, has been widely documented within the STEM community. In fact, the ability to communicate effectively is a skillset that is often required by employers. Often-times it is challenging to make the transition from academia to the work place. The ability to communicate well is a critical...

In the global STEM professional arena, the ability to communicate, both orally and in writing, is a skillset demanded by employers. Unfortunately, typical academic exercises that involve written and oral communication are often just that … academic exercises. To provide a more authentic and robust experience, a student conference activity has been...

In the global marketplace, the ability to com-municate, both orally and in writing, is a skillset demanded by employers. Unfortunately, typical academic exercises that involve written and oral communication are often just that … academic exercises. To provide a more authentic and robust experience, a student conference activity has been developed f...

This paper will provide an overview of an alternative model for assessment of student learning in introductory physics. A synopsis of how assessment methods can be designed to better capture what students are actually learning will be shared. This synopsis will include a general discussion of assessment, assessment methods, and the "language of ass...

!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE This paper provides an overview of the evolution of an introductory physics course for non-majors entitled Physics for a New Millennium (PNM) at American University. Following a brief summary of the research and pedagogical framework for the course design, a summary of the course cur...

Whether a physics department is situated within an engineering program or within a liberal arts program, assessment can play an important part of overall program development and curricular enhancement. Regardless of the accrediting agency, assessment is of critical importance at the institutional level as well. At the 2007 ASEE conference in Honolu...

This paper will provide an overview of a student research conference activity in a second-level physics course entitled Physics for a New Millennium (PNM) at American University. Following a description of the course curriculum, the specific structure for the conference paper activity will be outlined and highlights of student work will be shared w...

Assessment of student learning is an important vehicle for understanding the effectiveness of various pedagogical approaches. There are a number of assessment tools currently available within the domain of STEM education. Perhaps most notable are those that are a direct result of Physics Education Research (PER). One assessment tool that is widely...

A variety of assessment tools have become more prevalent in introductory physics courses as a way to enhance and assess conceptual learning. At the interface of modern physics and quantum mechanics, these tools are not presently as widely used. The Modern Physics course at American University presents an ideal opportunity for conceptual assessment...

Assessment of student learning is of critical importance in terms of revealing effective pedagogical learning tools and strategies. This paper reports on a study of student learning of basic mechanics concepts in an introductory physics course. Both qualitative and quantitative assessment strategies were employed. Free-writing activities were used...

Historically, engineering has been widely thought of as a field of study best suited for men. In fact, the masculine face that engineering often assumes has overshadowed, and in some respects, continues to overshadow the concept of the engineer in many people's minds. While this conception has prevailed historically, in recent decades, the feminine...

Just a century ago, the common perception was that engineering was a field best-suited for men. While this perception has gradually changed over the past 100 years, the fundamental picture of the engineer remains a predominantly masculine one. Women began slowly populating college-level engineering classrooms in the 1950s and 1960s; however, the nu...

A number of studies have shown that the active process of writing can promote deeper and more meaningful student learning. Writing can also serve as a motivator to learn, and lead to longer term retention of the material under study. However, for the instructor, adopting a writing approach in the classroom often means additional time spent grading....

respectively. She received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with special emphasis in Physics and Science Education from Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS in 1997. Dr. Larkin's research interests primarily involve the assessment of student learning in introductory physics courses. She makes use of writing as a learning and assessment t...

Writing can be a unique way for students to learn topics in physics and engineering. A unique writing activity for students in a second-level physics course at American University and a freshman engineering course at the University of Pittsburgh involves having students prepare a formal research paper for presentation at a student conference. The a...

The educational benefits of adapting a writing approach in the classroom have been widely documented. Writing can serve as an effective tool to improve the quality of teaching through the promotion of deeper and more meaningful student learning. This paper will explore strategies in which writing can be used to enhance student understanding within...

This paper focuses on a case study of significant change and reorientation within the curriculum and subsequent course progression of the physics program at American University. The change and reorientation of the curriculum was based on data obtained from comparative research of 22 national undergraduate programs in physics. Two major categories o...

The educational benefits of adapting a writing approach in the classroom have been widely documented. Writing can serve as a tool to improve the quality of teaching as well as to promote deeper and more meaningful student learning. In this workshop we will explore various strategies in which writing can be used to enhance student understanding in i...

The Plus 3 Program is an optional three-credit study abroad opportunity offered jointly by the school of business and engineering as a follow-up to the freshman year. The course consists of a field study trips to a number of locations including: Brazil, Chile, China, Czech Republic, France; or Germany. The course involves lectures at the local univ...

The educational benefits of adapting a writing approach in the classroom have been widely documented. Writing can serve as a tool to improve the quality of teaching as well as to promote deeper and more meaningful student learning. In this session, we explore various strategies in which writing can be used to enhance student understanding in introd...

A growing body of research suggests that increased learning gains can be achieved with college students when instruction is designed with learning styles in mind. In addition, several practitioners within the domains of science and engineering education have noted the importance of embedding a learning style approach within a variety of teaching st...

During the 2002-2003 academic years a decision was made at American University to reform the introductory general education science classes by increasing the number of credit hours from 3 to 4. The intent of this reform effort was to add more substance to the introductory courses by increasing the laboratory experiences offered, and to make them co...

ENGR0035 is an optional three-credit study abroad opportunity offered jointly by the school of business and engineering as a follow-up to the freshman writing assignments. The course consists of a field study trip to Valparaiso, Chile; Nanjing, China; Prague, the Czech Republic; or Augsburg, Germany. The course involves lectures at the local univer...

This paper outlines the current status of technology integration in schools from the perspective of researchers and policy makers. The focus of the paper then turned to how teacher education programs in the U.S. have been preparing future teachers to use technology. In order to illustrate the complex issues that must be addressed when preparing tea...

This paper outlines the current status of technology integration in schools from the perspective of researchers and policy makers. The focus of the paper will turn then to how teacher education programs have been preparing future teachers to use technology. In order to illustrate the complex issues that must be addressed when preparing teachers to...

The Blackboard Learning System™ is widely used on many college and university campuses today. This paper will explore the use of this system as a teaching and learning tool in introductory physics. Particular emphasis will be placed on the online chat feature available through blackboard. During the fall 2002 pilot semester, students enrolled in an...

This paper explores relevant research documenting that a learning-style approach in the classroom leads to enhanced learning gains. Particular emphasis will be placed on the Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Model. The basic tenets of this learning-style model are highlighted. The Dunn and Dunn model forms the basis of the Productivity Environmental Pre...

SMET educators have been inundated with pedagogical buzzwords such as constructivism, authentic assessment, active learning, etc. These terms are the outgrowth of various educational theories that suggest that learning can be enhanced if these approaches are adopted for use in the classroom. However, there often seems to be a divide between the the...

During the Fall 2000 and Fall 2001 semesters, a joint study was undertaken between the Physics and Literature Departments at American University. The study involved the linking of two introductory general education Liberal Arts courses: an introductory physics class for nonmajors and an introductory college writing class. One goal of the study was...

This paper provides an international and interdisciplinary look at how research on learning styles can be utilized in science and engineering classrooms. An overview of learning style and learning style assessment is provided. Particular emphasis is placed on a description of the Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Model. The Dunn model is used at America...

The use of a constructivist approach has been shown to enhance teaching and learning. During summer 2001, an interdisciplinary team of faculty members and graduate students from American University hosted a workshop for 15 middle school teachers and 5 gifted middle school students within the District of Columbia. This interactive workshop provided...

During the fall 2000 semester, a joint study was undertaken between the Physics and Literature Departments at American University. The study involved the linking of an introductory physics class for non-majors with an introductory college writing class. One goal of the study was to provide more content-specific writing assignments within the colleg...

Providing opportunities for K - 12 educators to further their use and understanding of current technologies in the classroom has never been more important than it is at present. This paper will explore ways that university faculty members can work with K - 12 educators with relevant information and hands-on experiences to develop and enhance their...

Several approaches to teaching undergraduate physics and engineering students using both the Dunn and Dunn and the Kolb learning style models are discussed. The Dunn and Dunn learning style model is employed with nonmajors enrolled in introductory physics at American University and the Kolb learning style model is employed with freshman engineering...

During the fall 2000 semester, a joint study was undertaken between the Physics and Literature Departments at American University. The study involved the linking of an introductory physics class for non-majors in the liberal arts with an introductory college writing class. One goal of the study was to provide more content-specific writing to materi...

The use of the computer and other technologies (i.e. the Internet, world-wide web, etc.) are being aggressively used by many educators as tools in the learning process. This paper reports on an on-going research study at American University designed to address the role of student understanding in physics using an on-line discussion group format. In...

Providing opportunities for K-12 educators to further their use and understanding of current technologies in the classroom has never been more important than it is at present. This paper explores ways that university faculty members can work with K-12 educators with relevant information and hands-on experiences to develop and enhance their use of t...

Summary form only given as follows. Writing has long been established to be an effective means of expressing one's ideas, thoughts, and understanding about nature and the world. Through this interactive workshop we report on an ongoing research study designed to address the role of writing in terms of the assessment of student learning. To this end...

During the fall 2000 semester, a joint study was undertaken between the Physics and Literature Departments at American University. The study involved the linking of an introductory physics class for nonmajors in the liberal arts with an introductory college writing class. One goal of the study was to provide more content-specific writing assignment...

The educational benefits of adapting a writing approach in the classroom have been widely documented. Writing can serve as a tool to improve the quality of teaching as well as to promote deeper and more meaningful student learning. In this paper we explore strategies in which writing can be used to enhance student understanding in introductory phys...

Providing opportunities for K - 12 educators to further their use and understanding of current technologies in the classroom has never been more important than it is at present. This paper will explore ways that university faculty members can provide K - 12 educators with relevant information and hands-on experiences to develop and enhance their us...

This paper will report on an ongoing research study designed to address the role of writing in terms of the assessment of student learning. The study to be described involves a new instructional technique for incorporating writing into the curriculum for non-majors. This technique was developed to bring science and engineering topics to the forefro...

The paper reports on an ongoing research study designed to address the role of writing in terms of the assessment of student learning. The study to be described involves a new instructional technique for incorporating writing into the curriculum for non-majors. This technique was developed to bring science and engineering topics to the forefront in...

A growing body of research suggests that increased learning gains can be achieved with adult learners when instruction is designed with learning styles in mind 1 -3 . The adoption of any type of new teaching and/or learning approach has the potential to require a good deal of valuable faculty time and energy. In this paper, the question of why scie...

1Abstract — In this paper, successful approaches to teaching introductory physics students using strategies developed from a comprehensive learning style model will be discussed. The particular learning style model to be described is the Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Model. This model is currently being employed with non-science majors enrolled in i...

Distance (or distributed) learning, via the Internet in particular, is fast becoming one of the most popular ventures of colleges and universities across the globe. Research on delivery modes and their correlation to student achievement outcomes has shown that students learn better via teletraining mode than face-to-face instruction.

In this paper, successful approaches to teaching undergraduate physics and engineering students using strategies developed from two independent learning style models will be described. The first learning style model to be described is the Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Model. The Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Model is employed with non-science majors...

The computer and other related technologies are currently being used with vigor within many domains of science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) education. In this paper we will address strategies designed to assess student learning following instruction that utilizes technology-based learning tools in the introductory physics labora...

This paper discusses a particular writing strategy, called a folder activity, which is used in an introductory physics course for non-science majors at American University. The folder activity has proven to be an effective tool for students to discover their misconceptions regarding a particular concept in physics while the learning is actually tak...

Distance (or distributed) learning, via the Internet in particular is fast becoming one of the most popular ventures of colleges and universities across the globe. Research on delivery modes and their correlation to student achievement outcomes has shown that students learn better via teletraining mode than face-to-face instruction. One explanation...

The computer and other related technologies are being used with vigor within many domains of science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) education. In this paper we address strategies designed to assess student learning following instruction that utilizes technology-based learning tools in the introductory physics laboratory. To addres...

In this paper, successful approaches to teaching undergraduate physics and engineering students using strategies developed from two independent learning style models are described. The first learning style model described is the Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Model. The Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Model is employed with nonscience majors enrolled in...

This paper will review two particular learning style models and their application to physics and engineering education. The first model to be described is the Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Model. The Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Model is employed with non-science majors enrolled in introductory physics at American University. The second model to be...

The computer and other technologies (i.e. the Internet, the World Wide Web, and various types of groupware) are currently being aggressively used by many educators as a tool in the learning process. As a result, a critical question has emerged. How can student understanding be effectively assessed when learning occurs using these new technological...

This study was conducted to incorporate interactive digital video techniques (IDV) into the laboratory portion of an introductory course for nonscience majors at American University in Washington, DC. A total of 68 students in four sections of laboratory participated in the study. Two kinematics experiments were designed. Students in two lab sectio...

Student ability to analyze and interpret motion graphs following laboratory instruction that utilized interactive digital video as well as traditional instructional techniques was investigated. Research presented suggested that digital video tools serve to motivate students and may be an effective mechanism to enhance student understanding of motio...

Freshman engineering students have a number of writing assignments during the first year that are designed to meet the instructional objectives of the academic, advising, and library programs at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Engineering. The two semester writing projects are the result of a collaboration between the Freshman Program, Fre...

Technology, particularly computer-based applications are currently being incorporated within many domains of science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) education. The primary goal of this incorporation is the improvement of student learning. In this paper we focus on strategies designed to improve student learning following instructio...