Robert Beichner
Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor Emeritus
Riddick Hall 246
Bio
Professor Beichner received his PhD in 1989 from the State University of New York at Buffalo and joined the NC State Physics Department in 1992 as an Assistant Professor. He advanced through the professorial ranks and was named an Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor in 2003. He is a member of our Physics Education Research and Development Group.
He invented the now-popular Video-Based Lab pedagogy, where students examine video clips of motion and watch synchronized kinematics graphs. As part of that effort he created the Test of Understanding Graphs in Kinematics, used by numerous teachers and researchers and a serving as a model for similar conceptual assessment instruments. Dr. Beichner and his students have written and evaluated a series of these tests that are in use around the globe.
Area(s) of Expertise
For much of his career he has focused his attention on redesigning introductory physics education. His work laid the foundation for research done on active learning spaces. He initiated the SCALE-UP (Student Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-down Pedagogies) project in the mid 1990s. This approach has led to changes in classrooms around the world, at institutions ranging from middle schools and high schools to MIT. SCALE-UP has been adopted at more than 500 universities and had spread to content areas ranging from archeology to zoology.
Publications
- A Comparison of Visual Representations of E&M Plane Waves , 2018 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings (2019)
- Stick With It! Helping Students Understand Free-Body Diagrams - A Magnet Activity as a Tool for Understanding , PHYSICS TEACHER (2019)
- Try, Try Again: The Power of Timing and Perseverance in Higher Education Reform , Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning (2019)
- Learning Space Rating System , (2017)
- Modifying the test of understanding graphs in kinematics , PHYSICAL REVIEW PHYSICS EDUCATION RESEARCH (2017)
- Attitudes of life science majors towards computational modeling in introductory physics , 2016 PHYSICS EDUCATION RESEARCH CONFERENCE (2016)
- Enabling and challenging factors in institutional reform: The case of SCALE-UP , Physical Review Physics Education Research (2016)
- Get a room: the role of classroom space in sustained implementation of studio style instruction , International Journal of STEM Education (2016)
- Editorial: Reflections on the Origins ofPhysical Review Special Topics – Physics Education Research , Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research (2015)
- SCALE-UP Implementation and Intra-Institutional Dissemination: A Case Study of Two Institutions , 2014 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings (2015)
Groups
Honors and Awards
- Beichner has received numerous teaching awards and is a member of NC State's Academy of Outstanding Teachers. He received the Ohaus Award for Innovation from the National Science Teachers Association. He was named the 2009 North Carolina Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and received the 2010 UNC System’s Board of Governors Award. Beichner was named the 2010 National Undergraduate Science Teacher of the Year by the Society of College Science Teachers and the National Science Teachers Association. In 2011 he was awarded the McGraw Prize, the premier honor in the field of education. He was also honored by Congress as noted in the US Congressional Record of September 29, 2011. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Association of Physics Teachers. In 2015 he was only the second individual to receive the American Physical Society’s Award for Excellence in Physics Education, which is normally only given to groups or large projects.