Measuring actual learning versus feeling of learning in response to being actively engaged in the classroom.

We compared students' self-reported perception of learning with their actual learning under controlled conditions in large-enrollment introductory college physics courses taught using 1) active instruction (following best practices in the discipline) and 2) passive instruction (lectures by experienced and highly rated instructors). Both groups received identical class content and handouts, students were randomly assigned, and the instructor made no effort to persuade students of the benefit of either method. Students in active classrooms learned more (as would be expected based on prior research), but their perception of learning, while positive, was lower than that of their peers in passive environments.

Improved learning in a large-enrollment physics class.

We compared the amounts of learning achieved using two different instructional approaches under controlled conditions. We measured the learning of a specific set of topics and objectives when taught by 3 hours of traditional lecture given by an experienced highly rated instructor and 3 hours of instruction given by a trained but inexperienced instructor using instruction based on research in cognitive psychology and physics education. The comparison was made between two large sections (N = 267 and N = 271) of an introductory undergraduate physics course.

Correlations among angular wave component amplitudes in elastic multiple-scattering random media.

The propagation of scalar waves through random media that provide multiple elastic scattering is considered by derivation of an expression for the angular correlation of the scattered wave amplitudes. Coherent wave transmission is shown to occur through a mechanism similar to that responsible for coherent backscattering. While the properties of the scattered wave are generally consistent with radiative-transfer theory for sufficiently small incident and scattering angles, coherent transmission provides corrections to radiative-transfer results at larger angles.