Project Director, Constructing Physics Understanding in a Computer-Supported Learning Environment (CPU Project)

Project Director, Systems and Interactions: Constructing Ideas in Physical Science (CIPS Project)

Project Director, Professional Development Materials for Constructing Physics Understanding Among Prospective and Practicing Elementary Teachers (CPU-Elementary Project)

Project Director, CIPS Professional Development Project

Fred Goldberg was the recipient of the 2003 Robert A. Millikan Award from the American Association of Physics Teachers. This award is given to a teacher who has made notable and creative contributions to the teaching of physics.

Physics Education Interests

For the past twenty years I have been involved in research and development in physics education. Initially my group and I did detailed studies of student understanding in various topical areas of physics, and later we studied students' epistemological beliefs (beliefs about physics knowledge and about learning). We then focused on developing instructional strategies that addressed the student difficulties observed by our group and others in the field. Many of these strategies involved the use of computer technology, including the use of videodisks, animations, graphics programs and simulations. Over the past six years my group has focused on studying how students learn in a technology-rich collaborative learning environment, and we have been particularly interested in developing ways that computer simulations can be used to complement and extend hands-on experiences of students and scaffold their development of target physics models. From 1995–2000 I directed a large team of physics educators (University and high school) and software design experts in developing a pedagogy, curriculum materials and computer software to support a classroom environment where students have primary responsibility for developing robust and valid ideas in physics (the CPU Project). More recently I have helped direct projects involving the development of a year-long physical science course for middle school students (CIPS Project) and a physics course for prospective and practicing elementary teachers (CPU-Elementary project). Each of these projects incorporates the use of computer technology in a constructivist-oriented learning environment. They also provide the context for rich research studies of how students learn and how teachers teach. The recent CIPS Professional Development project involves the development of both workshop and web-based materials to help teachers implement the middle-school CIPS curriculum with high fidelity.

Publications

Goldberg, F., Bendall S., Heller, P., & Poole, R.(2003). Constructing Ideas in Physical Science: Field test version. Armonk, NY: It's About Time.

Huffman, D., Goldberg, F., & Michelin, M. (2003). Using computers to create constructivist learning environments: Impact on pedagogy and achievement. Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching 22(2),153–170.

Goldberg, F. (2001). Some Roles of Computer Technology in Helping Students Learn Physics: Computer Simulations. Paper presented at International Conference on Computer and Information Technology in Physics Education, Manila, Philippines.

Goldberg, F. (2001). The CPU Light and Colour Computer Simulators. Synopsis of paper presented at 2001 meeting of the European Science Education Research Association, Thessoloniki, Greece.

Goldberg, F., & Otero, V. (2001). The Roles of Laboratory and Computer Simulator Experiments in Helping Students Develop a Conceptual Model of Static Electricity. Synopsis of paper presented at 2001 meeting of the European Science Education Research Association, Thessoloniki, Greece.

McCullough, R., McCullough, J., Goldberg, F., & McKean, M. (2001). CPU Workbook. The Learning Team, Armonk, NY

Goldberg, F. (2000). How computer technology can be incorporated into a physics course for prospective elementary teachers. In Gayle A. Buck, Jack G. Hehn and Diandra L. Leslie-Pelecky, editors: The Role of Physics Departments in Preparing K–12 Teachers. American Institute of Physics. College Park, MD.

Otero, V., Johnson, A., & Goldberg, F. (1999). How Does the Computer Facilitate the Development of Physics Knowledge by Prospective Elementary Teachers?Journal of Education 181 (2), 57-90.

Goldberg, F. (1997). How can computer technology be used to promote learning and communication among physics teachers? In Rigden, J. (Ed.) Proceedings of the International Conference on Undergraduate Physics Education. Volume I. American Institute of Physics.

Goldberg, F. (1997). Constructing Physics Understanding in a Computer-Supported Learning Environment. In Redish, E.F. and Rigden, J. (Eds.) The Changing Role of Physics Departments in Modern Universities: Proceedings of the International Conference on Undergraduate Physics Education. Part II: Sample Classes. American Institute of Physics.

Goldberg, F. (1997). The CPU Project: Students in control of inventing physics ideas.Forum on Education, American Physical Society.

Galili, I., & Goldberg, F. (1996). Using a linear approximation for single-surface refraction to explain images seen through a prism. American Journal of Physics 64(3), 256-264.

Goldberg, F., & Bendall, S. (1996). Computer-video-based tasks used to assess understanding and facilitate learning in geometrical optics. In Treagust, D., Fraser, B. & Duit, R. (Eds.) Improving Teaching and Learning in Science and Mathematics. Teachers College Press.

Goldberg, F., & Bendall, S. (1995). Making the Invisible Visible: A Teaching/Learning Environment that Builds on a New View of the Physics Learner. American Journal of Physics 63(11), 978-991.

Doctoral Students and Dissertations

Andy Johnson, Students' Development of Models of Magnetic Materials, Patterns of Group Activity, and Social Norms in a Physics Classroom (1999). Abstract and dissertation available at http://www.camse.org/andy/diss/index.html. Andy is currently at Black Hills State University.

Valerie Otero, The Process of Learning about Static Electricity and the Role of the Computer Simulator (2001). Abstract and dissertation available at http://education.colorado.edu/faculty/oterov/Otero_Dissertation.htm. Valerie is currently at the University of Colorado.

Cody Sandifer, Factors Influencing Middle School Students' Sense-Making Discussions in their Small-Group Investigations of Force and Motion (2001). Abstract and dissertation available at http://www.towson.edu/~csandife/codythesis/thesis.htm. Cody is currently at Towson University.