Physics Education
Commercial video games are increasingly using sophisticated physics simulations to create a more immersive experience for players. This also makes them a powerful tool for engaging students in learning physics. We provide some examples to…
Students taking introductory physics are rarely exposed to computational modeling. In a one-semester large lecture introductory calculus-based mechanics course at Georgia Tech, students learned to solve physics problems using the VPython…
The form and function of a collaborative assessment known as a "Buddy Quiz" is presented. The assessment is conducted in three successive phases over a contiguous 45- to 60-minute class period. A portion of each Quiz is completed in…
Common research tasks ask students to identify a correct answer and justify their answer choice. We propose expanding the array of research tasks to access different knowledge that students might have. By asking students to discuss answers…
Energy concepts are fundamental across the sciences, yet these concepts can be fragmented along disciplinary boundaries, rather than integrated into a coherent whole. To teach physics effectively to biology students, we need to understand…
This article demonstrates an undergraduate experiment for the determination of specific heat capacities of various solids based on a calorimetric approach, where the solid vaporizes a measurable mass of liquid nitrogen. We demonstrate our…
We describe an experiment involving a mass oscillating in a viscous fluid and analyze viscous damping of harmonic motion. The mechanical oscillator is tracked using a simple webcam and an image processing algorithm records the position of…
Causality in electrodynamics is a subject of some confusion, especially regarding the application of Faraday's law and the Ampere-Maxwell law. This has led to the suggestion that we should not teach students that electric and magnetic…
A key question in physics education is the effectiveness of the teaching methods. A curriculum that has been investigated at the University of Central Florida (UCF) over a period of two years is the use of particular elements of The Physics…
The general problem of effectively using interactive engagement in non-introductory physics courses remains open. We present a three-year study comparing different approaches to lecturing in an intermediate mechanics course at the Colorado…
The University of Maryland (UMD) Biology Education and Physics Education Research Groups are investigating students' views on the role of physics in introductory biology courses. This paper presents data from an introductory course that…
We present data from a between-student study on student response to questions on Newton's Third Law given throughout the academic year. The study, conducted at Rochester Institute of Technology, involved students from the first and third of…
We investigate if the visual representation of vectors can affect which methods students use to add them. We gave students one of four questions with different graphical representations, asking students to add the same two vectors. For…
When we teach physics to prospective scientists and engineers we are teaching more than the "facts" of physics - more, even, than the methods and concepts of physics. We are introducing them to a complex culture - a mode of thinking and the…
Item Response Theory (IRT) is a popular assessment method used in education measurement, which builds on an assumption of a probability framework connecting students' innate ability and their actual performances on test items. The model…
The Quantum Mechanics Conceptual Survey (QMCS) is a 12-question survey of students' conceptual understanding of quantum mechanics. It is intended to be used to measure the relative effectiveness of different instructional methods in modern…
Dirac matrices, also known as gamma matrices, are defined only up to a similarity transformation. Usually, some explicit representation of these matrices is assumed in order to deal with them. In this article, we show how it is possible to…
A contemporary physicist would be hard put to agree entirely with the author of a 1959 textbook on quantum mechanics, who wrote: "A second simple, one-dimensional system, somewhat divorced from reality but illustrative of the principles of…
In this chapter, we present some reflections about the learning process -and its implications in the teaching- of notions related to the phases of the Moon.
Southeastern European countries undergo significant changes in the demand/supply ratio on the labour market and in the structure of professional competences that are necessary for undertaking a professional activity. In addition,…