APS Undergraduate Education Award Plaque Now Mounted in Loomis Lab

Last April, the American Physical Society announced the Department of Physics at Illinois was among four programs in the nation selected to receive the 2012 Award for Improving Undergraduate Physics Education. The award plaque is now mounted in a display case on the east wall of the main lobby of Loomis Laboratory, along with a photo of the 2012 graduating class.

The award, administered by the APS Committee on Education, recognizes physics programs that demonstrate a commitment to inclusive, high-quality physics education for undergraduate students. Recipient departments are acknowledged for a three year period.

The exceptional quality of Physics Illinois’s current undergraduate curriculum and teaching methodologies is the result of almost 15 years of concerted effort by the department's faculty to reform the introductory level courses based on proven research findings. Almost a decade ago, a physics education research group was formed at Illinois, and this team’s leadership was instrumental in the successful research, development, and implementation of the new teaching model.

The overhaul of the Physics Illinois undergraduate program includes a massive curriculum revision of the algebra-based Physics 101-102 series and the calculus-based Physics 211-214 series. The courses now leverage multi-media technologies to provide a better learning environment inside and outside the classroom. Online pre-lecture preparations have proven a very successful aid to conceptual understanding. In class, peer instruction and active learning segments are enhanced by the use of a wireless student response system, the i>clicker, developed at Physics Illinois.

The introduction of Physics 100, a new preparatory course represents another major effort to improve the success of undergraduates in physics. This course is designed to provide the foundation needed to do well in the introductory courses. It is aimed at retaining students with inadequate high school preparation and encouraging minority student participation in STEM fields.

A new comprehensive TA training program was implemented in conjunction with the course revisions, to introduce the new pedagogy to graduate student TAs, who play a vital role in course lectures, facilitating active learning segments.

Professor Jose Mestre, who specializes in education research, contributed to the design of studies that tested new teaching models before they were developed and implemented under the leadership of Professors Gary Gladding, Mats Selen, and Timothy Stelzer.

“It’s been a long effort,” said Mestre. “Each year something new gets tweaked and gets better.”

Mestre said all changes to the courses have been based on sound research proven not only to improve students’ overall understanding of curriculum, but also proven to contribute to a greater sense of satisfaction from students and teachers alike.

“Students are learning more with less time spent in class, and they are much happier with the courses now than they were a few years ago, which is an added bonus,” said Mestre.

Department Head and Professor Dale Van Harlingen said, "Teaching is very important to us, and we’ve devoted a good deal of time and resources over the course of many years to improving our undergraduate physics courses. We have in a sense revolutionized the way that physics is taught at this level. This award from the American Physical Society is an honor well-deserved by our physics education research group and by all faculty members who contributed to improving our undergraduate program. Our innovations in teaching certainly place us among the very best undergraduate programs in physics worldwide."

The award citation reads:

All members of the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois, from the greenest assistant professor or teaching assistant to the most distinguished senior researcher, demonstrate their commitment to undergraduate education every day. In the last 15 years, they have collectively and completely recreated the way undergraduate physics courses are taught—to almost 9000 students per year—by rethinking curricular content, redesigning labs, remodeling classrooms, incorporating innovative educational technologies, and drawing on the results of their nationally recognizes physics education research group. The renaissance in undergraduate teaching begun in 1995 at Illinois has involved more than 90 percent of the faculty and has transformed both the introductory classes taken by science and engineering students and the advanced classes and laboratories taken by physics majors. An innovative, integrated model for physics teaching has been created—one that develops higher-order thinking competencies, promotes collaborative problem-solving, and improves communication and leadership skills. The Illinois approach benefits not only the undergraduate students who take their classes, but it also gives their graduate teaching assistants excellent training in best practices.