A New Normal: Pedagogical Implications for Physics and STEM  Teaching and Learning in the Post-Pandemic Era

Teresa L. Larkin; Baishakhi Bose

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Pedagogy in Physics Education, Engineering Physics and Physics Division (EP2D) Technical Session 1
Tagged Division: Engineering Physics and Physics Division (EP2D)
Page Count: 20
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--42446
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/42446
Download Count: 187

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Paper Authors

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Teresa L. Larkin American University

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Teresa L. Larkin is an Associate Professor of Physics Education and Director and Faculty Liaison to the Combined Plan Dual-degree Engineering Program at American University. Dr. Larkin conducts educational research and has published widely on topics related to the assessment of student learning in introductory physics and engineering courses. Noteworthy is her work with student writing as a learning and assessment tool in her introductory physics courses for non-majors. One component of her research focuses on the role that various forms of technology play in terms of student learning in physics and in engineering. She has been an active member of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) for over 30 years. Dr. Larkin served on the Board of Directors for ASEE from 1997-1999 as Chair of Professional Interest Council (PIC) III and as Vice President of PICs. She has received numerous national and international awards including the ASEE Fellow Award in 2016 and the Distinguished Educator and Service Award from the Physics and Engineering Physics Division in 1998. In January 2014 the Center for Teaching, Research and Learning at AU presented Dr. Larkin with the Milton and Sonia Greenberg Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award 2013. Dr. Larkin was honored by the International Society for Engineering Education (IGIP) at the ICL conference held in Kos Island, Greece in September 2018 with the International Engineering Educator Honoris Causa award for outstanding contributions in the field of Engineering Education.

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Baishakhi Bose Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

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Baishakhi Bose is currently a Postdoctoral Scholar at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL). Her current research focus is on life cycle assessment of novel polymers, building materials and plastic recycling processes. She obtained her PhD. in Materials Engineering from Purdue University in 2021. Since 2014, she has taught courses in Civil, Materials and First Year Engineering to undergraduates, and mentored undergraduate and graduate students in STEM to foster research and professional development skills. She also has relevant experiences in organizing undergraduate research symposium/conferences, hosting professional development workshops, providing guidance on undergraduate/graduate school application. Currently, she serves as a Teaching Scholar for the K-12 STEM Education Program at Berkeley Lab and is involved with curriculum development of K-12 outreach at LBNL.

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Abstract

When the pandemic hit, we were all faced with making many immediate changes and adjustments in terms of how we dealt with educating our students. At that time, we quickly moved to an online format, and this certainly posed many challenges for educators and students alike. These challenges involved more than just a change in the physical landscape of how we crafted the learning experience for our students. We also had to adjust how we assessed student learning; and, oftentimes this felt like we were doing it while trying to hit a moving target. As we reflect on these teaching and learning experiences during the pandemic, it is important and timely to pause and reflect on how these experiences may impact our classrooms going forward. In fact, some of these experiences may actually have produced encouraging outcomes and if so, we need to take the time to assess and evaluate how to translate them back into the learning environment of our classrooms going forward. One may even be able to argue that the online experience had a positive impact on learners that, for one reason or another, were not comfortable interacting in an in-person classroom. For these students, we might say that the online experience gave them a front-row seat and perhaps allowed them to engage more comfortably. For other students, the exact opposite might be the case. Additionally, with online learning there were also new issues with work-life balance for both educators and students. Sometimes this actually assisted the work-life balance in terms of offering more flexibility as well as more modalities for teaching and learning. Ultimately, we need to pause and ask ourselves how we measure the successes and failures in terms of both teaching and learning that occurred during the pandemic. This paper aims to provide some examples of these successes and failures as a catalyst for moving forward in the post-pandemic higher education landscape. More importantly, this paper will bring to light the challenges experienced in the online learning environment during the pandemic. With a focus on two introductory physics courses offered at American University both during and after the pandemic, this paper will address how the challenges experienced during the pandemic have now created new teaching and learning challenges as we have returned to in-person classes. We address these challenges by sharing some of the changes and modifications made to the teaching strategies designed to help alleviate them. By addressing these modifications and through a synthesis of these teaching and learning experiences, the goal of this paper is to showcase some of the pedagogical lessons learned and to provide suggestions and ideas in terms of how to incorporate them into our classrooms going forward in the post-pandemic era.

Citation
Format

Larkin, T. L., & Bose, B. (2023, June), A New Normal: Pedagogical Implications for Physics and STEM Teaching and Learning in the Post-Pandemic Era Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42446

TY - CPAPER
AB - When the pandemic hit, we were all faced with making many immediate changes and adjustments in terms of how we dealt with educating our students. At that time, we quickly moved to an online format, and this certainly posed many challenges for educators and students alike. These challenges involved more than just a change in the physical landscape of how we crafted the learning experience for our students. We also had to adjust how we assessed student learning; and, oftentimes this felt like we were doing it while trying to hit a moving target. As we reflect on these teaching and learning experiences during the pandemic, it is important and timely to pause and reflect on how these experiences may impact our classrooms going forward. In fact, some of these experiences may actually have produced encouraging outcomes and if so, we need to take the time to assess and evaluate how to translate them back into the learning environment of our classrooms going forward. One may even be able to argue that the online experience had a positive impact on learners that, for one reason or another, were not comfortable interacting in an in-person classroom. For these students, we might say that the online experience gave them a front-row seat and perhaps allowed them to engage more comfortably. For other students, the exact opposite might be the case. Additionally, with online learning there were also new issues with work-life balance for both educators and students. Sometimes this actually assisted the work-life balance in terms of offering more flexibility as well as more modalities for teaching and learning. Ultimately, we need to pause and ask ourselves how we measure the successes and failures in terms of both teaching and learning that occurred during the pandemic. This paper aims to provide some examples of these successes and failures as a catalyst for moving forward in the post-pandemic higher education landscape. More importantly, this paper will bring to light the challenges experienced in the online learning environment during the pandemic. With a focus on two introductory physics courses offered at American University both during and after the pandemic, this paper will address how the challenges experienced during the pandemic have now created new teaching and learning challenges as we have returned to in-person classes. We address these challenges by sharing some of the changes and modifications made to the teaching strategies designed to help alleviate them. By addressing these modifications and through a synthesis of these teaching and learning experiences, the goal of this paper is to showcase some of the pedagogical lessons learned and to provide suggestions and ideas in terms of how to incorporate them into our classrooms going forward in the post-pandemic era.
AU - Teresa L. Larkin
AU - Baishakhi Bose
CY - Baltimore , Maryland
DA - 2023/06/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - A New Normal: Pedagogical Implications for Physics and STEM Teaching and Learning in the Post-Pandemic Era
UR - https://peer.asee.org/42446
DO - 10.18260/1-2--42446
ER -