Vashti Sawtelle


Vashti Sawtelle

 

Contact Info:

Room 1326, Physics Building

University of Maryland

College Park, MD 20742

Email: vashti.sawtelle@gmail.com

Website: http://tinyurl.com/Vashti-Sawtelle

 

About Me:

I am a post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of PhysicsUnversity of Maryland, College Park working with the Physics Education Research Group. Currently I work on the Creating a Common Thermodynamics project which is a sub-component of the larger project designed to create an interdisciplinary introductory physics course for life science majors. I received my PhD in Physics Education from Florida International University in 2011 where I worked with Eric Brewe in the Physics Education Research Group. My research there focused on the development of physics self-efficacy for students, particularly in the Modeling Instruction environment with an eye to how women in physics are impacted.

 

Within the Common Thermodynamics project I'm interested in understanding what definitions we as educators bring to an interdisciplinary course, and how students understand these meanings. Within the context of student understanding, my research interests reside in understanding the way models and modeling cross disciplines for students and how they understand these to constitute "doing science." From the social context, my interests include understanding how students develop self-efficacy to do science, how that contributes to the development of science identities, and how those identities are related to issues of equity in the science community.

 

Teaching: 

Inquiry into Physics: Physics 115 Course Homepage (Spring 2013)

 

 

Peer Reviewed Publications:

 

 

  1. Dreyfus, B.W., Gouvea, J.S., Geller, B.D., Sawtelle, V., Turpen, C., Redish, E.F., (in press). Chemical Energy in an Introductory Physics Course for the Life Sciences, American Journal of Physics, accepted for publication. 

  2. Geller, B.D., Dreyfus, B.W., Gouvea, J.S., Sawtelle, V., Turpen, C., Redish, E.F., (in press). Entropy and Spontaneity in an Introductory Physics Course for the Life Science Students,” American Journal of Physics, accepted for publication. 

  3. Redish, E.F, Bauer, C., Carleton, K.L, Cooke, T.J., Cooper, M., Crouch, C.H., Dreyfus, B.W., Geller, B., Giannini, J., Gouvea, J.S., Klymkowsky, M.W., Losert, W., Moore, K., Presson, J., Sawtelle, V., Turpen, C., Thompson, K., (in press). NEXUS/Physics: An interdisciplinary repurposing of physics for biologists,” American Journal of Physics, accepted for publication. 
  4. Dreyfus, B. W., Sawtelle, V., Turpen, C., Redish, E.F., "A Vision of Interdisciplinary Education: Students' Reasoning about 'High-Energy Bonds' and ATP," in preparation. 

  5. Dreyfus, B.W., Geller, B.D, Gouvea, J., Sawtelle, V., Turpen, C., Redish, E.F., “Ontological metaphors for negative energy in an interdisciplinary context,” under review. 
  6. Dreyfus, B.W., Geller, B.D., Sawtelle, V., Meltzer, D.E., “Resource letter: Teaching thermodynamics and statistical mechanics in physics, chemistry, and biology,” submitted for publication. 
  7.  Gouvea, J. S., Sawtelle, V., Geller, B. D., & Turpen, C. (2013). A Framework for Analyzing Interdisciplinary Tasks: Implications for Student Learning and Curricular Design. CBE-Life Sciences Education, 12(2), 187–205. doi:10.1187/cbe.12-08-0135
  8.  Sawtelle, V., SIkorski, T.-R., Turpen, C., & Redish, E. F. (2013). Examining the positioning of ideas in the disciplines. In P. V. Engelhardt, A. D. Churukian, & N. S. Rebello (Eds.), (Vol. 1513, pp. 366–369). Presented at the 2012 Physics Education Research Conference, AIP. doi:10.1063/1.4789728
  9. Stewart, S., Angarita, M.P., Durden, J., Sawtelle, V., "'Learning Arc': The Process of Resolving Concerns through Student-Student Discourse," In P. V. Engelhardt, A. D. Churukian, & N. S. Rebello (Eds.), (Vol. 1513, pp. 398–401). Presented at the 2012 Physics Education Research Conference, AIP. doi:10.1063/1.4789736
  10. Dreyfus, B.W., Geller, B.D., Sawtelle, V., Svoboda, J., Turpen, C., Redish, E.F., Students' Interdisciplinary Reasoning about 'High Energy Bonds' and ATP , In P. V. Engelhardt, A. D. Churukian, & N. S. Rebello (Eds.), (Vol. 1513, pp. 122–125). Presented at the 2012 Physics Education Research Conference, AIP. doi:10.1063/1.4789667
  11. Geller, B.D, Dreyfus, B.W., Sawtelle, V., Svoboda, J., Turpen, C., and Redish, E.F., Students' Reasoning about Interdisciplinarity, P

    In P. V. Engelhardt, A. D. Churukian, & N. S. Rebello (Eds.), (Vol. 1513, pp. 146–149). Presented at the 2012 Physics Education Research Conference, AIP. doi:10.1063/1.4789673
  12. Sawtelle, V., Brewe, E., Goertzen, R.M., Kramer, L.H., “Identifying Opportunities to Influence Self-Efficacy in Real Time,” Phys. Rev. Special Topics – PER, 8, 020111 (2012).

  13. Rodriguez, I., Brewe, E., Sawtelle, V., Kramer, L.H., “The Impact of Equity Models and Statistical Measures on Interpretations of Educational Reform,” Phys. Rev. Special Topics – PER, 8, 020103 (2012).

  14. Sawtelle, V., Brewe, E., Kramer, L.H., “Exploring the Relationship Between Self-Efficacy and Retention in Introductory Physics,” J. Res. Sci. Teach., available in Early View.

  15. Brewe, E., Kramer, L.H., Sawtelle, V., “Investigating student communities with network analysis of interactions in a physics learning center,” Phys. Rev. Special Topics – PER, 8, 010101 (2012).     

  16. Sawtelle, V., Brewe, E., Kramer, L.H., “Creating Opportunities to Influence Self-Efficacy through Modeling Instruction,” Proceedings of the 2010 Physics Education Research Conference, AIP Press. Melville NY, 1413, 339-342, (2011).  

  17. Brewe, E., Sawtelle, V., Kramer, L.H., O'Brien, G.E., Rodriguez, I., Pamela, P., "Toward Equity Through Participation in Modeling Instruction in Introductory University Physics," Phys. Rev. Special Topics - PER, 6, 010106 (2010). 

  18. Sawtelle, V., Brewe, E., Kramer, L.H., "Positive Impacts of Modeling Instruction on Self-Efficay," Proceedings of the 2010 Physics Education Research Conference, AIP Press. Melville NY,1289, 289-292, (2010).  

  19. Sawtelle, V., Brewe, E., Kramer, L., “A validation study of the Colorado Learning About Science Survey at a Hispanic-Serving Institution,” Phys. Rev. Special Topics-PER, 5, 023101 (2009).

  20. Sawtelle, V., Brewe, E., Kramer L.H., "An Exploratory Qualitative Study of the Proximal Goal Setting of Two Introductory Modeling Instruction Physics Students,” Proceedings of the 2009 Physics Education Research Conference, AIP Press. Melville NY,1179, 261-264, (2009). 

 

 

Curriculum Vitae