Improving Instruction in Science & Engineering through Research on Student Learning
Prof. Dr. Christian H. Kautz (Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg)

For some years now, discipline-based educational research (DBER) has developed as an independent research specialization within many traditional academic disciplines, focusing on the teaching and learning of the particular discipline at the university level. In the broader field of science and engineering, physics education research (PER) was among the first specializations to be recognized by the respective academic communities through faculty appointments and the creation of peer-reviewed research journals. As a result, there exist now a broad research base that documents prevalent and persistent student difficulties with specific topics in the introductory and upper-level university physics curriculum as well as instructional materials that help students overcome these hurdles. In this presentation, I will (a) show examples from my own work concerning the development, implementation and evaluation of such materials and (b) illustrate how the ideas underlying this work can be used by any physics instructor to enhance the effectiveness of their teaching through methods like Peer Instruction and Just-in-Time Teaching in addition to implementing the above mentioned instructional materials.