02/04/2022
By Joanne Gagnon-Ketchen

The Physics colloquium will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 9 from 4 to 5 p.m..

The colloquium will be virtual. Location: Contact Joanne Gagnon-Ketchen for zoom link

Chandralekha Singh, Distinguished Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh will give a talk on "Facilitating thinking and learning in and beyond the physics classrooms."

Abstract: I will discuss, using my research in physics education, how research can be used as a guide to develop curricula and pedagogies to reduce student difficulties and for making physics equitable and inclusive. My research has focused on improving student understanding of introductory and advanced concepts, for example, in learning quantum mechanics. We are developing research-validated learning tools such as tutorials and peer instruction tools that actively engage students in the learning process. I will first discuss how we evaluate the effectiveness of these tools using a variety of methodologies. I will then describe our research studies that provide guidelines for how to enhance physics by making it inclusive. I will discuss how a field-tested short intervention was implemented at the beginning of a physics course and how it improved the performance of underrepresented students in introductory physics classes compared to the comparison group.

Bio: Chandralekha Singh is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Founding Director of the Discipline-based Science Education Research Center (dB-SERC) at the University of Pittsburgh. She is currently serving as the Past President of the American Association of Physics Teachers. She obtained her BS and MS degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and her Ph.D. in theoretical condensed matter physics from the University of California Santa Barbara. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, before joining the University of Pittsburgh. She has been conducting research in physics education for more than two decades. She co-led the US team to the International Conference on Women in Physics in Birmingham UK in 2017. She is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science and American Association of Physics Teachers.