Katie Ansell

For More Information

• PER group webpage

Biography

Professor Ansell received her BS in physics and music from the University of Michigan in 2008, and completed her PhD at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2020. While working on her PhD, she developed a new curriculum for Physics 211 labs that fosters the development of creativity and independent thinking, supported by practical and procedural experimental skills. This new curriculum has grown to include the algebra- and calculus-based Mechanics and Electricity & Magnetism courses, as well as leading to the growth of a Learning Assistant program in the Physics department and improved efforts for Teaching Assistant professional development. She now oversees the pedagogy of the introductory physics laboratories, supporting the teaching teams of Lab Coordinators and Teaching Assistants in their professional growth and implementation of this adaptive-expertise-focused curriculum.

Her current work splits into two areas:

1. Improving instruction of algebra-based introductory physics. Professor Ansell has made curriculum changes that align with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles and research in learning to improve student experiences in Physics 101. She also has studied the student population of the course, which is largely but not exclusively Pre-Health, to incorporate students' experiences, strengths, and needs as influences in course design. These changes improve the ways Physics instructors understand and respect emerging scientists and science practitioners as they step out of their domain and into ours.

1. Research on teamwork in introductory laboratories. In this work, Professor Ansell and her team take a complex systems approach to teamwork, exploring social and cognitive aspects of how groups of students coordinate to work together. This qualitative and mixed-methods work blends perceptions of "individual" and "group" level functioning, expanding instructors' and researchers' views of how to support, understand, and assess healthy teamwork.

Research Interests

• Understanding and Supporting Pre-Health Students in Introductory Physics
• Group work and group dynamics in classrooms
• Student experiences in Introductory Physics Laboratories

Articles in Conference Proceedings

• H. Talafian and K. Ansell. Characterizing the complexities of experimental decision making in an introductory lab practical. Physics Education Research Conference (PERC), Sacramento, CA: July 2023
• K. Ansell and M. Selen. Student attitudes in a new hybrid design-based introductory physics laboratory. Physics Education Research Conference (PERC), Sacramento, CA: July 20-21, 2016, pp. 36-39 (2016).