College students' evolution of ideas in geometrical optics in a Constructing Physics Understanding (CPU) learning environment
Abstract
This paper describes the pedagogy and instructional materials used by the researcher in his dissertation research as part of a Ph.D. degree in Physics Education at the University of the Philippines. The present study attempts to understand and systematize students' development of ideas about light in geometrical optics. It investigates what students learn and how and why they learn what they do in that learning environment. The study focuses on the detailed description of how students' ideas about light in geometrical optics evolve, starting from their pre-instructional ideas toward those held by the scientific community. It also investigates the processes that the students engage in while constructing their understanding of some concepts in geometrical optics. The researcher of this study is interested in understanding the process of learning of individuals and groups in a learning environment in all its complexity.
To provide a platform for examining the learning process, the researcher used the CPU pedagogy and materials developed by the CPU Project. CPU stands for "Constructing Physics Understanding." Permission for use of these materials was granted by Dr. Fred Goldberg of the San Diego State University, in San Diego, California, USA while the researcher did an internship program in that university from January 5 to June 12, 1999. The goals of these materials are for students to develop robust and valid understandings of physical phenomena and models, to develop some understandings of how scientists investigate nature, to let students develop more confidence in their abilities to do and understand science, and to become more aware of and in control of their own learning. The course materials emphasize conceptual development and sense-making. The topics for geometrical optics are contained in the Light and Color unit, one of the content units developed by the project. These instructional materials are referred to as CPU materials. The set of teaching strategies is referred to as the CPU pedagogy.