1. Survey (N = 9)/Interviews (N = 4) Using Spaced Recall to Encourage Expert Practice Eugene Torigoe Dominic Licata Thiel College PERC 2016 etorigoe@thiel.edu Trends 1)High Scores for Immediate Recall 2)Lowest score for first Spaced Recall 3)Steady to improved score for more spaced recall attempts. 4)Students can remember the diagrams, but not equations 5)Transfer problems generally lower than last spaced recall, but not the lowest. Introduction This is a formative methodology to help students gain appreciation for expert practices such are translating between representations, and to understand the value of reasoning through a solution rather than relying on memorization. Because students are asked to recall the solution over a period of weeks, they find that pure memorization is cumbersome, and that strategically memorizing and then working your way to the solution to be much easier. Discussion Almost all of the students found the exercise to be helpful. Many expressed that they gained an appreciation for working through a problem rather than just memorizing it, and to use diagrams to generate equations. The transfer problems served as feedback on how well they understood the reasoning behind their work. Some students failed to make progress, and their notes did not seem to offer enough quality feedback. Future Work 1)Better Feedback – Instructor presentations to encourage expert practice 2)More transfer problems to show the advantages of general procedures. 3)Pre and Post Epistemological Surveys. Procedure 1) View a video of a worked example problem, while taking notes. 2) Study notes, and then recall the solution without assistance only a few minutes after watching the video (immediate recall). 3) A week later, recall the solution (spaced recall). And repeat this once a week, over a period of weeks. Use notes for feedback after each recall as necessary. 4) Solve a related transfer problem. At first I just memorized it. However, as time progressed I approached the problems with more reason At first memorized, but when began to reason through (a lot easier) The [transfer problems] helped because I was able to apply basic/general techniques from the original ones to the new q’s. The first question we did [heat engine problem] I feel like I just memorized the problem and had trouble applying the techniques [to the transfer problem]. So tell me, do you think there is any change in the way you use diagrams since when you started this process? Yeah a little more I learned to look into the actual diagram, and look at what it is telling me, not that it’s just there as a picture to help explain the problem It isn’t a good idea to memorize everything. In fact, it’s impossible in the long run to do everything by memory. That doesn’t mean to do nothing by memory … but you should be able to re-create anything that you forgot. It is therefore of first-rate importance that you know how to “triangulate” – that is, to know how to figure something out from what you already know. It is absolutely necessary. - Richard Feynman, Feynman’s Tips on Physics Transfer Problems N = 9 N = 11 Problems Collision: Two balls traveling along the x-axis collide. Ball A has a mass of m, and a velocity of 11v to the right. Ball B has a mass of 2m, and a velocity of v to the left. When the balls collide, they stick together. Use the conservation of momentum to determine the speed and direction of the two balls after the collision in terms of m and/or v. Momentum: p = mv Conservation of momentum: p Ai + p Bi = p Af + p Bf Heat Engine: A heat engine operates between a hot thermal reservoir at a temperature T­ H and a cold thermal reservoir at T C. Create an energy flow diagram for the thermal reservoirs and the heat engine, and use it to derive a symbolic expression for the thermal efficiency, η, (pronounced eta) of the heat engine in terms of the heat from the high temperature reservoir Q H and the heat to the cold temperature reservoir Q C.