ABP Tutorials

As part of the Activity Based Physics Project, we are developing a collection of ABP Tutorials.

These tutorials are developed in the same model as Tutorials in Introductory Physics,¹ a research² and curriculum development project by Lillian C. McDermott and the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington.

Tutorials in Introductory Physics,1 is based on systematic investigations into the learning and teaching of introductory physics. The results of this research are then used to design new curricula and teaching approaches, which lead to modified instruction. This model for the development of instructional materials, which is used by the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington and by us, consists of an iterative three-step process: research, curriculum development and instruction.

The figure at right represents this process by a wheel. The axle for this wheel is the model of how students think and learn. This model guides - and is informed by - the research and development cycle. For a description of the model of thinking and learning, see "Implications of cognitive studies for teaching physics," E. F. Redish, Am. J. Phys. 62, 796-803 (1994).

Click here for details about the implementation of tutorials

¹ L.C. McDermott, P.S. Shaffer, and the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington, Tutorials in Introductory Physics, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1998.

² For examples of tutorials and the research that underlies their development, see, L.C. McDermott, P.S. Shaffer, and M.D. Somers, "Research as a guide for teaching introductory mechanics: An illustration in the context of the Atwood's machine," Am. J. Phys. 62, 46-55 (1994); L.C. McDermott and P.S. Shaffer, "Research as a guide for curriculum development: an example from introductory electricity, Part I: Investigation of student understanding," Am. J. Phys. 60, 994-1003 (1992); P.S. Shaffer and L.C. McDermott, "Research as guide for curriculum development: an example from electricity, Part II: Design of instructional strategies," Am. J. Phys. 60, 1003-1013 (1992).