FFPER2009

Plenary Speakers

• Leslie Atkins (California State University, Chico)
• Andrew Boudreaux (Western Washington University)
• Noah Finkelstein (University of Colorado)
• Fred Goldberg (San Diego State University)
• Danielle Harlow (University of California Santa Barbara)
• Andrew Heckler (Ohio State University)
• Priscilla Laws (Dickinson College)
• Olivia Levrini (University of Bologna)
• Bruce Sherin (Northwestern University)
• John Thompson (University of Maine)
• Stamatis Vokos (Seattle Pacific University)

Conference Photos

Brant Hinrichs, Trevor Smith, Alan van Heuvelen, David Meltzer, Joss Ives, Keron Subero, Jeff Hawkins, Mac Stetzer, Warren Christensen, Ed Prather, Riston Leinonen, Mel Sabella, Peter Shaffer, Enrique Coleoni,

Jennifer Blue, Mike Loverude, Jennifer Watkins, Cedric Linder, Renee Michelle Goertzen, David Meltzer, Adam Kaczynksi, Tomm Scaife, Eric Brewe, Isaac Leinweber, Kara Grey, Padraic Springuel, Amy Robertson, Brian Stephanik, Laird Kramer, Ian Beatty, Joe Redish, Don Mountcastle, Michael Wittmann

Homeyra Sadaghiani, Lillian McDermott, Eugenia Etkina, Lauren Barth-Cohen, Valerie Otero, Karen Cummings, Chaya Nanavati, Ellie Sayre, Saalih Allie, Liz Gire, Beth Lindsey, Sam McKagan, Vashti Sawtelle, Laura Buteler, Paula Heron, Rachel Scherr

Dedra Demaree, Chandra Turpen, Noah Podolefsky, John Thompson, Priscilla Laws, Stamatis Vokos, Olivia Levrini, Andrew Heckler, Noah Finkelstein, Danielle Harlow, Leslie Atkins, Bruce Sherin, Fred Goldberg, Andrew Boudreaux

To get the full-size image, click here.

Additional photos:

• Ian Beatty's Flickr stream
• Others to be uploaded in the future from the PERLnet server.

Targeted Sessions

Targeted Sessions offer highly interactive discussion of a specific research topic of the organizer's choosing.

Sessions are listed in order of the organizer's last name, and other presenters are included, when known.

Questions and methods: Toward the frontiers in PER

Location TBD

Eric Brewe (organizer), Laird Kramer, Valerie Otero, Padraic Springuel

This session will be about methods that go beyond the standard methods in PER (pre/post testing, etc) and how these methods allow us to answer different types of questions. The presenters will give a short presentations on establishing the research context and what questions drive their research, what methods they feel are appropriate for addressing these questions and why, and the benefits and challenges of the methods they are using. During the remaining time, the audience will participate by describing research, identifying challenges they face, etc...it should be a fairly open discussion.

Building a research project from an anecdote.

Location TBD

Renee Michelle Goertzen, David Meltzer, Ed Prather, Mel Sabella (organizer), Chandra Turpen

Short talks (5 min) by presenters followed by working groups. After a series of short presentations about examples of how anecdotes have led to full scale projects, participants at the session will be invited to share their own anecdotes in working groups and will begin to formulate a formal research project based on particular classroom episodes.

Qualitative Analysis of Video-Recorded Interaction

Location TBD

Rachel E. Scherr (organizer)

Ten-minute presentation followed by semi-structured activity in small groups, with closing discussion. Participants will work closely with short episodes of videotaped classroom activity in order to engage with the theoretical and practical issues that are raised by fine-grained qualitative analysis. Participants are asked to bring their laptops and headphones if it's convenient.

Being explicit about the choice and influence of theoretical constructs in research

Location TBD

Laura Buteler, Enrique A. Coleoni, Cedric Linder, Noah Podolefsky, Rosemary Russ (organizer)

Presenters give 15 minute talks about their research, the focus of which will be on the researcher's choice (either implicit or explicit) of theoretical construct and how that choice influences their data collection or analysis. The talks will be followed by a roundtable discussion in which the presenters will discuss one another's work and comment on differences in interpretation that arise from different theoretical assumptions.

Working Groups

A "working group" is a discussion group whose task is to develop a well-articulated position on the topic at hand.

A PER textbook

(Karen Cummings, Eugenia Etkina)

Location TBD

As our field has grown, we have come to a place where we can at least outline topics and content for a textbook that might be used in a graduate level PER course. Participants should address these and other questions: How do we create a viable and meaningful textbook that is of broad use? What should such a text contain? What audience will use it? (APS Forum on Education newsletter article

Frontiers of the Resources Framework

(E.F. "Joe" Redish, Eleanor C. Sayre)

Turrets Ed Studies Office

The PER subcommunity dealing with the resources framework has been highly active for several years. Participants in this working group will define the common foundations of many different researchers in the subcommunity and establish active research questions for future exploration. Participants will collect information on what is known and what answerable questions exist, and how to best answer them. Experimental, theoretical, and methodological concerns will be discussed, and collaborations for future work encouraged.

Collaborations

(Mac Stetzer and Mike Loverude)

Location TBD

In an interdisciplinary field for which many researchers are singletons at their institutions, collaborations are a necessity. Participants will define what kinds of collaborations are possible and what systemic issues stand in the way of more productive and effective collaborations within the community. (APS Forum on Education newsletter article)

PER Lexicon

(Paula Heron, Warren Christensen)

Location TBD

A common language allows us to understand each other’s work more clearly. Participants would address the feasibility of adopting some common definitions for terms widely used in the PER community. To establish proof of concept, they could tackle "abstract," "concrete," "conceptual," and "context." Other words, such as "difficulty" or "resource" might be addressed, as well.