Eleanor C Sayre

Physics Education Researcher

Department of Physics, Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana
(765) 363-0314  le@zaposa.com

Prefer this CV in easily-read pdf format? Curriculum Vitae. 

Research Interests

  • Improving and extending the theoretical bases for physics education research.
  • Investigating the interplay between physics and mathematics understanding.
  • Detailing the time-evolution of students' ideas.
  • Curriculum development for advanced physics classes. 
  • Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods physics education research. 

Education

2007 Doctor of Philosophy (Physics), University of Maine, Orono, Maine. Plasticity: Resource Justification and Development Advisor: Dr. Michael C Wittmann Dissertation

2005 Master of Science in Teaching (Physics), University of Maine, Orono, Maine. Resource Selection in Nearly-Novel Situations Advisor: Dr. Michael C Wittmann Thesis

2002 Bachelor of Arts (Physics), Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa.

Research Projects

Evolution of student understanding in traditional physics.

When do students learn physics? How much do they forget, and how rapidly? Does the type of instruction matter? This project extends the response curve methodology that I developed in Measuring student responses to instruction to include more data gathering methods (in-class weekly, in-lab daily, or at-will online), more tasks, and validation for more students. In addition to methodological improvements, the data set expands to include several schools using both traditional and reformed instruction.

  • Validating methodology for algebra-based, calculus-based, and honors physics.
  • Developing semi-automated online testing and report system.
  • Developing and validated additional tasks.

Building coherence between physics and mathematics.

As students develop as scientists, their ideas about mathematics and physics co-evolve. Using the Resource Framework, this project investigates upper level undergraduate students' developing math and physics toolboxes, growing enculturation as scientists, and the (in)coherencies in their reasoning. It extends and generalizes the work in Resource plasticity... and Resource selection... . This project uses a qualitative research paradigm to track individuals throughout their upper level undergraduate courses.

  • Expanding theoretical background to include socio-cultural analyses.
  • Expanding content areas to include classical mechanics, electromagnetism, and quantum mechanics.
  • Focusing on issues of coordinate system choice, methods of integration, and multiple representations of physics problems in upper level students

2007-2009 Measuring student responses to instruction, Postdoctoral research, The Ohio State University.

When do students learn physics? How much do they forget, and how rapidly? I use a novel research design to collect student test data many times throughout a course, allowing for the measurement of the changes of student knowledge with a time resolution on the order of a few days. Some student ideas peak and decay rapidly during a quarter, a pattern consistent with memory research yet unmeasurable by pre-/post-testing. Furthermore, there appears to be a difference in the amount of change between low performing and high performing students. This project uses a quantitative research paradigm and a largely between-subjects design.

  • Designed and implemented a novel research method to avoid test/retest effects.
  • Designed and validated research instruments using my qualitative research expertise.
  • Managed two subject pools: ≈400 introductory physics and ≈250 honors physics.

2007-2009 Learned inattention in introductory physics, Postdoctoral research, The Ohio State University.

What cognitive mechanisms drive students' knowledge of physics? For many physical systems, there are two cues associated with a prediction, but only one of them is physically correct. For example, students often attend to the range and maximum height of an ideal projectile when considering time of flight. Physically, only the height matters. We investigate situations like this to discover and treat misconceptions which may stem from either inappropriate attention to some cues, or poor optimization in the speed/accuracy tradeoff.

  • Expanded and improved experiments on learned inattention.
  • Wrote scripts to improve and computerize data collection and pre-analysis.
  • Managed ~400 introductory physics subject pool.
  • Extended experiments to include middle school students.
  • Supervised two graduate students, one undergraduate researcher, and one employee

2004-2007 Resource plasticity: developing ideas in advanced physics students, PhD research, University of Maine.

As students develop as scientists, their ideas about mathematics and physics co-evolve. Occasionally, their physical intuition conflicts with their mathematics intuition. To describe these conflicts and their resolutions, I extended Resource Theory – a leading theoretical framework in PER and member of the Knowledge in Pieces tradition. – to include accounts of cognitive resources developing with time. In addition, I developed methods for identifying resources and their activation using a grounded theory paradigm.

  • Synthesized and extended leading theories in physics and math education research
  • Developed protocols and conducted individual and small group interviews
  • Focused on issues of coordinate system choice in intermediate mechanics students.
  • Co-wrote and evaluated curricula to support changes in students' resource use. (See Curriculum Development & Evaluation section for more details.)

2002-2005 Resource selection in nearly-novel situations, MST research, University of Maine.

How do advanced students synthesize physics ideas in unfamiliar situations? A "nearlynovel" situation is one for which students have studied all the relevant physics principles but have not previously synthesized the ideas in a specific setting. Studying student reasoning of nearly-novel situations gives us insight into issues of transfer of knowledge, coherence of understanding, and student epistemologies and metacognitive skills.

  • Examined problem-solving decisions of upper-level physics majors and first year physics graduate students in unfamiliar physics topics
  • Designed and applied iterative survey and interview protocols
  • Extended the Resources Model of student cognition and its application

Teaching Experience

2004-2007 Physics Tutor, Husson College, Bangor, Maine.
Tutored for a two-semester algebra-based introductory physics for physical and occupational therapy majors; tutor sessions are similar to traditional recitation sections.

2002-2006 Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Maine, Orono, Maine.
Taught workshops, recitations, and labs in introductory algebra-based physics and intuitive quantum physics. Developed, evaluated, and edited research-based curricula for same.


2004-2006 Physics Instructor, The Princeton Review, Maine.
Taught a review course for the MCAT which covers introductory physics in 18 hours at three locations in Maine.

Curriculum Development

2006 SummerUniversity of Maine ABET Accreditation.

  • Standardized and simplified a rubric for evaluating engineering physics courses for departmental accreditation by ABET
  • Presented rubric to faculty and revised it, synthesizing diverse recommendations.

2006 SpringIntermediate Mechanics Tutorials.

Hourlong tutorials on common topics in classical mechanics and related mathematics at the 

intermediate level.

  • Developed tutorial on vector fields and separability of forces.
  • Co-edited other tutorials, drawing from Tutorials in Introductory Physics, Intermediate Mechanics Tutorials, and materials developed in-house.

2004-2005Laboratory Manual for Introductory Physics,Algebra-based.

A two-semester course for life science ma jors; labs use a modified version of the Arizona Modeling Method

  • Revised labs to include full-class discussions of experimental data (AY2004-2005)
  • Revised laboratory manual to better support student autonomy and effected changes (2005 Summer).

2003 FallIntuitive Quantum Physics.

A one-semester quantum physics course for non-science majors

  • Co-wrote and -designed seven tutorial-labs on wave, energy, and quantum behaviors
  • Assisted editing seven additional tutorial-labs
  • Consulted for ongoing edits 2004-2006

Memberships & Service

2008 Judge, OSU Math & Physical Sciences Undergraduate Research Expo. 

Judged undergraduate research in physics; designed score normalizing sheet for all judges. 


2008-present Member, Cognitive Science Society. 


2007-present Member, Women in Mathematics and Science. 

An organization at The Ohio State University; active in the Community Outreach Committee 


2007-present Member, Women in Physics. 

An organization in the Physics Department of The Ohio State University 


2007 Judge, Ohio State Science Fair. 

Judged middle and high school students’ physics pro jects from across Ohio 


2006-present Member, American Physical Society. 

Member of the Forum on Education 


2006-present Member, Mathematics Association of America. 

Member of the Special Interest Group on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education 


2006-present Editor, PER Jobs Blog. 

A comprehensive collection of job ads and rumors of interest to the greater Physics Education Research community 


2004-2007 List manager, Graduate Students in Physics Education Research mailing list. 


2001-present Member, American Association of Physics Teachers. 

Member of the PER Topical Group 


Presentations & Publications

Papers

Workshops & Sessions

  • "Working Group on Resource Theory," E.C. Sayre and E.F. Redish (organizers), Foundations and Frontiers of Physics Education Research 2009
  • "Modeling Conceptual Dynamics," M. Levin, O. Parnafes, E.C. Sayre, A. Gupta, and V.R. Lee (organizers). Full-day workshop at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2009 Meeting
  • "Cross-pollination in Science Education Research," E.C. Sayre and R. Lindell (presiders), Physics Education Research Conference2006, Syracuse NY, 2006 August.
  • "Graduate Student Crackerbarrel: How to know who's doing what?" E.C. Sayre (presider) 129th American Association of Physics Teachers National Meeting, Sacramento CA, 2004 August

Invited Talks

  • "What happens to student performance between the pre and post test?" A.F. Heckler and E.C. Sayre, American Association of Physics Teachers National Meetingin Ann Arbor, 2009 July
  • "Advanced Students' developing understanding" E.C. Sayre, seminar at Wabash College, 2009 April
  • "Two process-oriented views of learning physics" E.C. Sayre, seminar at Columbus State University, 2009 April
  • "Detecting changes in student understanding (and what to do about them)" E.C. Sayre, seminar at Utah State University, 2009 March
  • "When do students learn?" E.C. Sayre, seminar at the University of Michigan – Flint, 2009 March
  • "Two approaches to understanding student understanding," E.C. Sayre, seminar at Grand Valley State University, 2009 January
  • "Understanding student understanding in physics," E.C. Sayre, Physics Department Colloquium at Grinnell College, 2009 January
  • "Evolution of Student Understanding," E.C. Sayre, seminar at the Concord Consortium, 2008 November
  • "Learning, decay, and interference: Moving beyond the pre/post test," E.C. Sayre and A.F. Heckler, seminar to the Physics Education Research and Development Group, North Carolina State University, 2008 September
  • "Detecting changes to student responses over time," E.C. Sayre and A.F. Heckler, seminar to the Physics Education Research Group, University of Maryland, 2008 June
  • "Building a response curve to physics instruction," E.C. Sayre and A.F. Heckler, seminar to the Cognitive Science Lab, The Ohio State University, 2008 May
  • "Describing resource development and justification: An example from damped harmonic motion," E.C. Sayre, seminar to the Physics Education Research Group, The Ohio State University, 2007 February.
  • "Resource development and justification: Examples from damped harmonic motion," E.C. Sayre, seminar to the Physics Education Research Group, University of Maryland, 2006 October. 4/6
  • "Resources in Physics Education Research," E.C. Sayre, seminar to Tedlab in the Brain and Cognitive Science Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006 September.

Contributed Talks

  • "Mapping changes in student understanding during instruction," E.C. Sayre and A.F.Heckler, American Association of Physics Teachers National Meeting, Ann Arbor MI, July 2009
  • "Evolving Student Knowledge in a Physics Classroom," E.C. Sayre and A.F. Heckler, National Association of Research in Science Teaching (NARST) 2009 Meeting
  • "What goes up sometimes comes down: students' changing understanding," E.C. Sayre and A.F. Heckler. 2009 AAPT and AAAS Joint Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, 2009 February
  • "Student Understanding of Slope on Physics Graphs," A.F. Heckler, E.C. Sayre, and T. M. Scaife. 2009 AAPT and AAAS Joint Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, 2009 February
  • "A Hierarchy in Student Understanding of Force, Velocity and Acceleration? ," R. J. Rosenblatt, E.C. Sayre, and A.F. Heckler. 2009 AAPT and AAAS Joint Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, 2009 February
  • "When does learning happen? Building a response curve," E.C. Sayre and A.F. Heckler. 2008 American Association of Physics Teachers National Meeting, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 2008 July
  • "Intermediate mechanics students' coordinate system choices for simple pendula," E.C. Sayre and M.C. Wittmann. New England Sectional Joint Meeting of the AAPT and the APS, Orono ME, 2007 April
  • "Intermediate mechanics students' coordinate system choice," E.C. Sayre, M.C. Wittmann, and J.E. Donovan II, Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education 2007, San Diego CA, 2007 February.
  • "Situating a Common Chain of Reasoning in Damped Harmonic Motion," E.C. Sayre and M.C. Wittmann, 133rd American Association of Physics Teachers National Meeting, Syracuse NY, 2006 August, The Announcer 36(2) 149.
  • "Students' Integration Methods for First-Order Differential Equations," K.E. Black, E.C. Sayre, and M.C. Wittmann, 133rd American Association of Physics Teachers National Meeting, Syracuse NY, 2006 August, The Announcer 36(2) 149.
  • "Local Consistency Without a Global Picture: Plasticity and Differentials," E.C. Sayre and M.C. Wittmann, 131st American Association of Physics Teachers National Meeting, Salt Lake City UT, 2005 August. The Announcer 35(2) 134.
  • "Advanced Mechanics Students' Conflicts Between Physics and Mathematics Intuitions," E.C. Sayre, M.C. Wittmann, 129th American Association of Physics Teachers National Meeting, Sacramento CA, 2004 August. The Announcer 34(2) 184.
  • "Student Selection of Reasoning Resources in Nearly-Novel Situations," E.C. Sayre, M.C. Wittmann, 128th American Association of Physics Teachers National Meeting, Miami Beach FL, 2004 January. The Announcer 33(4) 133.
  • "Q-Sphere: An Iterative Method for Calculating the Lowest Energy Configuration for an Arbitrary Number of Charges on a Sphere," E.C. Raulerson, K. Brownstein, Regional meeting of the APS and AAPT, Bates College, 2003 October.

Posters

  • "Resources: a Theoretical Framework for Physics Education," E.F. Redish and E.C. Sayre, GIREP-EPEC 2009 International Conference, Leicester UK, August 2009
  • "Tracking epistemological changes throughout a three-course sequence," E.C. Sayre, Physics Education Research Conference, Ann Arbor MI, July 2009
  • "Evolution in Student Models of Force, Velocity, and Acceleration Relationships?," R. Rosenblatt, E.C. Sayre, and A.F. Heckler. American Association of Physics Teachers National Meeting, Ann Arbor MI, 2009 July
  • "Changes in Student Understanding of Vector Products," E.C. Sayre, A.F. Heckler, and T.M. Scaife. American Association of Physics Teachers National Meeting, Ann Arbor MI, 2009 July 5/6
  • "Using Heuristics to Connect Resources," E.C. Sayre, part of Modeling Micro-Processes of Learning and Conceptual Change, a symposium for the American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2009 Meeting
  • "Evolution of Student Knowledge in a Traditional Introductory Classroom," E.C. Sayre and A.F. Heckler. 2008 Physics Education Research Conference, Edmonton, Alberta, CA, 2008 July)
  • "Toward a comprehensive picture of student understanding of force, velocity, and acceleration," R. Rosenblatt, E.C. Sayre, and A.F. Heckler. 2008 American Association of Physics Teachers National Meeting, Edmonton, Alberta, CA, 2008 July
  • "Intermediate mechanics students' coordinate system choices for simple pendula," E.C. Sayre and M.C. Wittmann. 135th American Association of Physics Teachers National Meeting, Greensboro NC, 2007 July
  • "Situating a Common Chain of Reasoning in Damped Harmonic Motion," E.C. Sayre and M.C. Wittmann, Physics Education Research Conference, Syracuse NY, 2006 August.
  • "Situating a common chain of reasoning in intermediate mechanics," E.C. Sayre and M.C. Wittmann, Center for Science and Mathematics Education Research Conference, 2006 June
  • "Nearly Novel Situations," E.C. Sayre and M.C. Wittmann, Physics Education Research Conference, Salt Lake City UT, 2005 August.
  • "The Structure of Intermediate Mechanics Students' Physics and Mathematics Intuitions," E.C. Sayre, M.C. Wittmann, Physics Education Research Conference, Sacramento CA, 2004 August.
  • "Resource Selection in Nearly-Novel Situations," E.C. Raulerson, M.C. Wittmann, J.R. Thompson, Physics Education Research Conference, Madison WI, 2003 August.

Additional materials available upon request.