Physics unveils new learning studio to bring collaborative experimentation opportunities for students
Physics students are able to collaborate and conduct lab-type activities in the renovated learning space, such as measuring different physical phenomena.
Over the summer, the University of Arizona Physics Department completed renovations on a new learning studio as part of an initiative to transform the content and instruction of their introductory algebra based physics courses. With heavy support from the Provost Investment Fund, Physics renovated an opening in the Physics and Atmospheric Sciences Building to create the transformative new studio space, allowing for more hands-on learning and collaborative experimentation opportunities for students.
Dr. Charles Wolgemuth, Professor of Physics and Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Arizona, is part of the faculty team who proposed the studio project. He said the efforts to renovate the lab space and the class design have been in the works for quite some time.
“As a department, we’ve been trying to figure out ways that we can better service those students,” Wolgemuth said. “And over the last 10 years, there's been some evidence that really supports active engagement in the classroom is, of course, important.”
The department’s plan is designed around changing practices in academics, and new understandings of student learning, and the course format combines lecture, practical and laboratory components to engage students in the material.
“The students get about an hour of lecture and then immediately following that, they then go to the studio, which involves group problem solving activities, and lab type activities, where they're measuring different physical phenomena,” Wolgemuth said.
Dr. Brian LeRoy, Professor of Physics at the University of Arizona, and Associate Department Head, said the vision was to develop studio activities that better align with the class’s lecture material and enhance student learning. In addition to the upgraded studio space, LeRoy and the team used the funding to purchase new instructional equipment to help students learn about the forces and principles of physics through hands-on experimentation.
This semester, LeRoy, Wolgemuth, and their team began a trial version of the new course with a smaller group of 45 students, instead of the nearly 300 enrolled in the course on average. Wolgemuth said the hope is to quickly expand the new teaching format to the rest of the students who take the introductory course each year.
Less than halfway into the semester, Wolgemuth said the response from the students has been very encouraging.
“The things I've heard have been very positive,” he said. “The students appreciate that they're able to immediately put into action what they heard about in the lecture, and they enjoy that it is more active than our typical labs had been.”
The algebra based physics course is taught over two semesters, and while the new teaching method currently only applies to the first semester’s course material, LeRoy and Wolgemuth said their next step is to adapt the second part of the course into a similar format over the next year to support future students.
“They definitely are very engaged in doing the activities,” LeRoy said. “There's been several of them who've already asked me if we are going to teach the second semester this way.”
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