Useful study when discussing the merits of moving to a more active teaching approach

Interactive-engagement versus traditional methods: A six-thousand-student
survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses

A survey of pre/post-test data using the Halloun – Hestenes Mechanics Diagnostic test or more recent
Force Concept Inventory is reported for 62 introductory physics courses enrolling a total number of
students N 􏰔 6542. A consistent analysis over diverse student populations in high schools, colleges,
and universities is obtained if a rough measure of the average effectiveness of a course in promoting
conceptual understanding is taken to be the average normalized gain g . The latter is defined as the
ratio of the actual average gain ( %post% pre ) to the maximum possible average gain ( 100
􏰓 % 􏰍 pre􏰄 ) . Fourteen ‘‘traditional’’ ( T ) courses ( N 􏰔 2084) wich made little or no use of
interactive-engagement 􏰏IE􏰀 methods achieved an average gain g T - ave0.230.04std dev In
sharp contrast, 48 courses ( N 􏰔 4458) which made substantial use of IE methods achieved an
average gain 􏰍 g 􏰄 IE-ave􏰔 0.48􏰕 0.14 􏰏std dev􏰀, almost two standard deviations of 􏰍 g 􏰄 IE-ave above that
of the traditional courses. Results for 30 ( N 􏰔 3259) of the above 62 courses on the problem-solving
Mechanics Baseline test of Hestenes – Wells imply that IE strategies enhance problem-solving
ability. The conceptual and problem-solving test results strongly suggest that the classroom use of
IE methods can increase mechanics-course effectiveness well beyond that obtained in traditional
practice

Interactive-engagement versus traditional methods: A six-thousand-student
survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses
Richard R. Hakea)