Dr. Steven F. Wolf

Assistant Professor

Office Location: SciTech 508
Telephone: (252) 737-5229
Email: wolfs15@ecu.edu

PhD in Physics, Michigan State University, 2012

Interests

• Social dynamics in learning settings
• Relating student cognition with social structures
• Assessing student development of laboratory practices
• Studying and supporting students’ diverse pathways through STEM

Research Projects

Dr. Wolf’s research interests broadly involve the development of scientific expertise. He likes to answer questions like, “How can we get students to do science?” and “How do student relationships form and change over the course of the semester?” He uses novel statistical methods and visualizations to describe collaboration in the classroom. He has also been studying the ways that students answer scientific questions in laboratory settings, and developed curriculum and assessments specific to physics labs. Dr. Wolf is also the Director of ECU’s Learning Assistant (LA) program. In this capacity, he studies the impact that the LA program has on persistence in STEM and success at the university.  The LA program is part of an internationally recognized model supporting students at colleges and universities. Faculty work with experienced undergraduate students to support interventions that have been shown to be highly effective at increasing student performance across the spectrum. LAs take a course about how people learn, and gain understanding about why these interventions are effective and what elements make them effective.

Courses Taught

• PHYS 2350 University Physics I
• PHYS 2360 University Physics II
• PHYS 3350 Methods of Teaching College-Level Physics
• PHYS 4326 Electricity and Magnetism I