Physics Education
Traditional tests are not effective tools for diagnosing the content and structure of students' knowledge of physics. As a possible alternative, a set of term-association tasks (the "ConMap" tasks) was developed to probe the…
Significant obstacles prevent large, university-level, introductory physics courses from effectively teaching problem-solving skills. We describe our program for integrating three internet-based "teaching-while-quizzing" tools to address…
The reality of neutrino oscillations has not really sunk in yet. The phenomenon presents us with purely quantum mechanical effects over macroscopic time and distance scales (milliseconds and 1000s of km). In order to help with the…
We discuss the equation of motion of the driven pendulum and generalize it to arbitrary driving angle. The pendulum will oscillate about a stable angle other than straight down if the drive amplitude and frequency are large enough for a…
Students in introductory calculus-based physics not only have difficulty understanding the fundamental physical concepts, they often have difficulty relating those concepts to the mathematics they have learned in math courses. This produces…
The formula for the electric field of a point charge moving with constant velocity is derived using the symmetry properties of Maxwell's equations - its Lorentz invariance. In contrast to conventional treatments, the derivation presented…
Free energy and entropy are examined in detail from the standpoint of classical thermodynamics. The approach is logically based on the fact that thermodynamic work is mediated by thermal energy through the tendency for nonthermal energy to…
The discovery of quantum mechanics at the beginning of the last century led to a revolution of the physical world view. Modern experiments, made possible by new techniques on the border of the classical and the quantum regimes offer new…
UNSW Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy is a unique institution in Australia as it attracts its undergraduate students from all Australian states and territories more or less in accord with the distribution of the Australian…
This paper first provides an overview of the pedagogical role of formative assessment in the undergraduate engineering classroom. In the last decade, technology-facilitated implementation of the collection and analysis of student responses…
We report on research carried out to improve teaching and student engagement in the introductory astronomy course at the University of Cape Town. This course is taken by a diverse range of students, including many from educationally…
The concept of "force" is abstract and challenging for many physics students, and many studies have revealed misconceptions that hinder students' understanding and learning in classical physics. One reason for this may be that physics…
The Dirac delta function is a standard mathematical tool that appears repeatedly in the undergraduate physics curriculum in multiple topical areas including electrostatics, and quantum mechanics. While Dirac delta functions are often…
Improving the scientific literacy of non-scientists is an important goal, both because of the ever-increasing impact of science and technology on our lives, and because understanding science enriches our experience of the natural world. One…
Research has demonstrated that many students and some teachers do not consistently apply the conservation of energy principle when analyzing mechanical scenarios. In observing elementary and secondary teachers engaged in learning activities…
In this paper we propose strategies and methodologies of teaching topics in high school physics, through a show of Educational Robotics. The Exhibition was part of a set of actions promoted by a brazilian government program of incentive for…
Mathematics is a critical part of much scientific research. Physics in particular weaves math extensively into its instruction beginning in high school. Despite much research on the learning of both physics and math, the problem of how to…
This work focuses on a theoretical analysis of a well-known inertia demonstration, which uses a weight suspended by a string with an extra string that hangs below the weight. The point in question is which string, the upper or lower, will…
Physics education research (PER) is a rapidly growing area of PhD specialization. In this article we examine the trajectories that led respondents into a PER graduate program as well as their expected future trajectories. Data were…
Since the early 1990s with the arrival of a variety of new technologies, the capacity for authentic astronomical research at the high school level has skyrocketed. This potential, however, has not realized the bright-eyed hopes and dreams…