Elicitation questions as part of the Alliance for Physics Excellence

Conventional high school physics instruction often relies on the teacher lecturing. The Alliance for Physics Excellence (APEX) seeks to replace this reliance with evidence based learning (hands on experiments) and other techniques that ask the student to discover the answer for themselves. One such technique taught at APEX workshops uses introductory elicitation questions to have the students bring out their current understanding of the material (or, for that matter, their lack of understanding). A conflict that often arises in the ensuing discussion serves to heighten the student’s interest in the upcoming subject matter.