GETTING IT “WRITEâ€: APPLICATIONS OF TECHNICAL WRITING IN THE PHYSICS CLASSROOM

Abstract

The educational benefits of adapting a writingapproach in the classroom and laboratory have been widelydocumented. Writing can serve as a tool to improve thequality of teaching as well as to promote deeper and moremeaningful student learning. Writing can also serve as aneffective way to accommodate individual learning styles. Inthis article two strategies will be shared to demonstrate howwriting can be used to enhance student understanding inintroductory physics classrooms and laboratories. Thesestrategies have been designed to address the role of writingin terms of the assessment of student learning and have beenemployed within introductory physics courses for nonmajorsat American University for several years. Onestrategy, called a free-writing activity, involves the use ofwriting as a means of helping students to uncover and thenconfront their preconceptions (often misconceptions)regarding topics being covered in a first level introductorylevel physics course. A second strategy involves a writingtechnique developed to bring science and engineering topicsto the forefront by having students write and present ascientific paper to an audience of their peers. It is hopedthat the reader will find adaptable pieces of these strategiesthat will be useful in their own courses.

 

 

Index Terms - Assessment, interactive engagement,learning styles, student learning, student misconceptions,writing strategies.