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Send suggestions for speakers to erickuo@umd.edu 

What: The Physics Education Research Group in the Department of Physics hosts seminar speakers from diverse fields such as physics/science education, psychology, cognitive science, and anthropology. 

When: 2 - 3:15 PM on select Wednesdays during the Fall 2010 Semester; 

Where: Physics Building, room 1303

Taking the Seminar for credit?  The course would involve weekly readings (book chapters and research articles), discussions and seminars around those readings. 
Students enrolled in the course for credit would be required to write a  short term-paper reviewing 1-3 research articles in PER (working with one of the faculty in the Physics Education 
Research Group) and make a presentation. For any questions related to the course, contact Ayush Gupta (ayush@umd.edu).

Scheduled speakers for Fall 2010:

Sept. 1      - Introductory meeting; Setting the agenda for the Fall etc.

Sept. 8      - Reading and Discussing Lillian McDermott, Millikan Award Lecture, 1990

Sept. 15    - Robert Mislevy, UMD Measurement, Statistics, and Evaluation (Article)

Sept. 22    - Reading/Discussing Reif (1994), and Redish (1998), Millikan Award Lectures.

Sept. 29    - Discussing Redish (1998)

Oct. 6       - Discussing Hammer (2000) Student Resources for Understanding Physics

Oct. 13     - Epistemology: Two Approaches to Learning Physics

Oct. 20     - Janet Coffey & Ann Edwards, UMD Curriculum and Instruction

                   Dynamics of Disciplinary Understandings and Practices of Attending in Elementary Teaching

In this talk we'll present data from a study of elementary teacher candidates’ participation in science and mathematics methods courses during a one-year master’s certification program to make an empirical case that attending to student thinking has disciplinary grounding and therefore does not necessarily transfer across disciplinary contexts. We also draw on data from practicing elementary teachers discussing video of math and science learning to propose that school context, in particular the content and organization of the curriculum, influences teachers’ disciplinary understandings and classroom attending practices.

Oct. 27     - Tentative: Invited: Jennifer Turns

Nov. 3      - Tentative: Elby

Nov. 10    - Tentative: Modeling

Nov. 17    - ***

Nov. 24    - No Seminar for Thanksgiving break

Dec. 1      - ***

Dec. 8      - ***

*** Other papers, led by one of the students :)

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