Physics Education
This paper provides a research-based framework for promoting institutional change in higher education. To date, most educational change efforts have focused on relatively narrow subsets of the university system (e.g., faculty teaching…
Introductory astronomy is one of the most widely-taken university science courses and a common means of satisfying general education requirements. This course is frequently taught in large sections by a variety of instructors, some with…
We show how the Schroedinger Uncertainty Relation for a pair of observables can be deduced using the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality plus successive applications of the commutation relation involving the two observables. Our derivation differs…
This paper examined how the Open Source Physics at Singapore learning community of teachers, loosing connected as creators, adapters and users, is projected to be able to self sustain, through the 3Ps scaling-up framework, of Product,…
The ability to make decisions based on data, with its inherent uncertainties and variability, is a complex and vital skill in the modern world. The need for such quantitative critical thinking occurs in many different contexts, and while it…
One goal of physics instruction is to have students learn to make physical meaning of specific mathematical ideas, concepts, and procedures in different physical settings. As part of research investigating student learning in statistical…
We suggest one redefinition of common clusters of questions used to analyze student responses on the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation (FMCE). Our goal is to move beyond the expert/novice analysis of student learning based on…
We present a comprehensive introduction to the kinematics of special relativity based on Minkowski diagrams and provide a graphical alternative to each and every topic covered in a standard introductory sequence. Compared to existing…
In this work animations of the random walk movement using a freeware Algodoo were done in order to support teaching the concepts of Brownian Motion. The random walk movement were simulate considering elastic collision between the particles…
In active engagement physics classrooms, students get opportunities to make sense of physics together through discussion. They do not always take up these opportunities, in part because of the risk of sharing their ideas and having them…
Students in inquiry science classrooms face an essential tension between sharing new ideas and critically evaluating those ideas. Both sides of this tension pose affective risks that can discourage further discussion, such as the…
Many topics in introductory astronomy at the college or high-school level rely implicitly on using astronomical photographs and visual data in class. However, students bring many preconceptions to their understanding of these materials that…
Entropy is a difficult concept to teach using real-world examples. Unlike temperature, pressure, volume, or work, it's not a quantity which most students encounter in their day-to-day lives. Even the way entropy is often qualitatively…
This paper explores an intervention that emphasizes expert practice using spaced recall. Interviews were performed with two students who were shown physics solutions, and were asked to repeatedly recall the solutions over a period of weeks.…
During recent collaboration with colleagues to revise our institution's general-education curriculum, I encountered many perceptions of what we mean by the Natural Sciences. I was surprised to find that perceptions of scientific pedagogy…
We discuss the organization of the course of Laboratorio Pedagogico Didattico TIC of the Tirocinio Formativo Attivo at the University of Palermo. The course takes into account the development of information and communication technologies…
Undergraduate biochemistry laboratory courses often do not provide students with an authentic research experience, particularly when the express purpose of the laboratory is purely instructional. However, an instructional laboratory course…
Researchers have long tried to relate personality types to teaching and learning styles. It is believed that the psychological theory behind the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) can help university teachers to accept variety in teaching…
Plans are underway to redefine the International System of Units (SI) around 2018. The New SI specifies the values of certain physical constants to define units. This article explains the New SI in a way that could be used to present it to…
There are few opportunities in introductory physics for a genuine discussion of the philosophy of science, especially in cases where the physical principles are straightforward and the mathematics is simple. Terrestrial classical mechanics…