Vincent Coletta
Professor of Physics
Media
Biography
Phone: 310.338.7352
Email: Vincent.Coletta@lmu.edu
Office: Seaver 106
Dr. Vincent Coletta received his B.S. in Physics in 1964 from Christian Brothers’ University in Memphis. In 1969 he received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of Notre Dame, and has been a faculty member in the LMU Physics Department ever since.
Dr. Coletta’s graduate research involved calculating long-range correlations between spins in many-body magnetic systems – a problem in statistical mechanics. His graduate research advisor was Professor Gerald Jones, who is a direct academic descendent of Boltzmann and Uhlenbeck, who discovered electron spin. From Professor Jones, Dr. Coletta learned both the beauty of rigorous mathematical logic applied to physical problems and the importance of clarity of expression in physics lectures.
Like all members of the LMU Physics Faculty, Dr. Coletta’s main concern is teaching physics. Finding better ways to understand and explain principles of physics is important to him. This led to the publication in 1995 of his College Physics textbook, which has been used throughout the world, and was translated into Chinese. Since 1995 Dr. Coletta has been active in Physics Education Research – the scientific investigation of the learning and teaching of physics. He has introduced a variety of techniques, all having the common purpose of actively engaging students in the classroom. The objective is to encourage students to think during class, rather than passively taking notes. These methods have proven quite effective, as measured by student performance on standardized exams.
Education
University of Notre Dame
Ph.D.
Theoretical Physics
1969
Christian Brothers' University
B.Sc.
Physics
1964
Areas of Expertise
Industry Expertise
Articles
FCI Normalized Gain, Scientific Reasoning Ability, Thinking in Physics, and Gender Effects
AIP Conference Proceedings-American Institute of Physics2012-01-01
We observe no significant effect of gender on grades in our IE introductory mechanics courses at Loyola Marymount University, but we do observe a significant gender gap on FCI normalized gains, with males achieving higher gains than females.
Comment on 'The effects of students' reasoning abilities on conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills in introductory mechanics'
European Journal of Physics2008-01-01
In a recent article, Ates and Cataloglu (2007 Eur. J. Phys. 28 1161?71), in analysing results for a course in introductory mechanics for prospective science teachers, found no statistically significant correlation between students' pre-instruction scores on the Lawson classroom test of scientific reasoning ability (CTSR) and post-instruction scores on the force concept inventory (FCI).
Why You Should Measure Your Students’ Reasoning Ability
The Physics Teacher2007-01-01
Many teachers administer a force concept test such as the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) to their students in an effort to evaluate and improve their instructional practices.
Interpreting force concept inventory scores: Normalized gain and SAT scores
Physical Review ST Physics Education Research2007-05-23
Preinstruction SAT scores and normalized gains (G) on the force concept inventory (FCI) were examined for individual students in interactive engagement (IE) courses in introductory mechanics at one high school (N=335) and one university (N=292), and strong, positive correlations were found for both populations (r=0.57 and r=0.46, respectively).
Interpreting FCI scores: Normalized gain, preinstruction scores, and scientific reasoning ability
American Journal of Physics2005-01-01
We examined normalized gains and preinstruction scores on the force concept inventory (FCI) for students in interactive engagement courses in introductory mechanics at four universities and found a significant, positive correlation for three of them.
