PHYS 4484

Teaching and Learning Physics

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

This 1.5-hour weekly seminar provides undergraduate and graduate students with an introduction to core concepts in teaching and learning physics. Participants read and discuss articles and videos, reflect on their own teaching and learning experiences, and engage in collaborative activities that help them become more effective teachers, learners, and communicators. This seminar is especially valuable for those considering teaching physics at some point in their careers, or who want to improve their own physics learning skills. Topics may include: question types and questioning strategies; classroom discourse; neurological basis of learning; expertise acquisition and expert performance; deliberate practice; misconceptions, mental models and conceptual change; mindsets and psychological interventions; classroom diversity and microaggressions; multiple intelligences and multiple representations; metacognition; active learning; the nature of science; the qualities of effective teachers; and evaluating teaching and learning.

Last 4 Terms Offered 2025FA, 2025SP, 2024FA, 2024SP

When Offered Fall, Spring.

Comments Does not count towards degree for students in College of Arts and Sciences (see PHYS 4485).

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