Natasha Holmes is a physics education researcher and the Ann S. Bowers Associate Professor of Physics at Cornell University. She researches teaching and learning in physics and STEM fields including how students acquire knowledge, the effects of course environment on learning, and the development of scientific ways of thinking. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Guelph in 2009 then went to UBC to get her Master's and Ph.D. by 2014 before becoming a post-doctoral researcher at Stanford University and then on to a professorship at Cornell University in 2017.[1]
Natasha Holmes | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | UBC (Ph.D. 2014, M.S. 2011) University of Guelph (B.S. 2009) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics Educational research |
| Institutions | Cornell University |
| Doctoral advisor | Douglas Bonn |
| Other academic advisors | Carl Wieman |
Research
editAs a graduate student she began researching structured inquiry and critical thinking in physics labs at UBC and was the executive coordinator of Let's Talk Science from 2012 to 2014. While working with Carl Wieman at Stanford University, Holmes developed and tested new methods to teach critical thinking by instructing students more explicitly to analyze and share data and ideas with other groups.[2][3][4] As part of her research at Cornell University she began the Cornell Physics Education Research Lab (CPERL) and her group has since researched topics covering physics lab courses, virtual reality as a teaching tool,[5] and the development of a concept inventory designed to probe critical thinking in physics labs.[6]
In 2022, Holmes published work on equity in physics lab groups and found that the observed gender inequity of lab roles could not be explained by student preference.[7] Among other findings, this study found that students had no preference for group gender composition, very few students indicated a preference for a single group leader, and women generally preferred sharing rather than dividing or rotating roles.[8]
References
edit- ^ "CV". Natasha G. Holmes. 2013-12-19. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
- ^ Choi, Charles (August 17, 2015). "How Lab Courses Can Teach More Than Science Stanford team's approach can teach students improved critical thinking skills". Inside Science.
- ^ Johnson, Scott K. (2015-08-18). "A successful strategy to get college students thinking critically". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
- ^ "Teaching Long-Term Critical Thinking | Inside Higher Ed". www.insidehighered.com. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
- ^ "Oculus Education Partners with Research Institutions to Explore VR's Impact on Learning Outcomes | Department of Physics Cornell Arts & Sciences". physics.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
- ^ "Physics Lab Inventory of Critical thinking | CPERL". cperl.lassp.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
- ^ Holmes, N. G.; Heath, Grace; Hubenig, Katelynn; Jeon, Sophia; Kalender, Z. Yasemin; Stump, Emily; Sayre, Eleanor C. (2022-01-20). "Evaluating the role of student preference in physics lab group equity". Physical Review Physics Education Research. 18 (1): 010106. doi:10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.18.010106. S2CID 246092089.
- ^ University, Cornell. "Gender bias in lab groups not rooted in personal preference". phys.org. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
External links
edit- Homepage at Cornell University
- Natasha Holmes publications indexed by Google Scholar
- CPERL Research Group