Aaron Warren
Graduate Student
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
136 Frelinghuysen Road
Piscataway, NJ 08854-8019 USA

Title:  Evaluation as a Means for Learning Physics

Abstract:
One goal when teaching introductory physics is to help students become 
self-regulating learners.  Towards this end, I have developed a set of 
activities to help students learn how, when, and why to use specific 
evaluation strategies such as special-case analysis.  These strategies 
allow students to check, judge, and modify their own work.  During the 
2004/5 academic year, we conducted a comparison group study involving two 
large-enrollment algebra-based introductory physics courses.  The goal of 
the study is to investigate whether the use of my activities can help 
students:  (a) understand how and why to use evaluation strategies; (b) 
incorporate the use of evaluation strategies into their personal learning 
behavior; (c) better understand the physics subject matter.  Results from 
the study will be presented and discussed.