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We report how physics teachers can use recent science education research developments to refine their own teaching and improve their students' conceptual achievement gains. The development of the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) has produced a valuable tool for reflecting upon and improving physics teaching. Instructor RTOP scores have been found to strongly correlate with student conceptual gains in introductory science and physics courses. We discuss the underpinnings of reformed teaching and RTOP, how to use it to constructively evaluate and critique physics teaching and to guide personal teaching improvement.
MacIsaac et al. (2002) studied this question.