Physics Education
We report on preliminary results of a statistical study of student performance in more than a decade of calculus-based introductory physics courses. Treating average homework and test grades as proxies for student effort and comprehension…
Across the field of education research there has been an increased focus on the development, critique, and evaluation of statistical methods and data usage due to recently created, very large data sets and machine learning techniques. In…
In this work, we present three experiences developed with 3D printing technology for teaching in Optics. These activities were planned, designed, and implemented to go deeper into knowledge about light polarization, reflection and…
With a vast domain of applications and now having quantum computing hardware available for commercial use, an education challenge arises in getting people of various background to become quantum literate. Quantum Odyssey is a new piece of…
In response to an invitation to integrate science and art pedagogy, science and dance students, enrolled in specific discipline courses, collaboratively produced choreography based on scientific principles. This paper reports students…
In the spring of 2018 the Northern California/Nevada section of the American Association of Physics Teachers was alerted to a local high school's plans to eliminate physics for the following school year. As part of the campaign to support…
One desired outcome of introductory physics instruction is that students will develop facility with reasoning quantitatively about physical phenomena. Little research has been done regarding how students develop the algebraic concepts and…
In this study, we investigated the employment status of recent University of Ottawa physics MSc and PhD graduates, finding that 94% of graduates are either employed or pursuing further physics education one year post-graduation. Our…
Although online education has become a viable and major component of higher education in many fields, its employment in engineering disciplines has been limited. COVID-19 pandemic compelled the global and abrupt conversion of conventional…
The shortage of highly qualified high school physics teachers is a national problem. The Mitchell Institute Physics Enhancement Program (MIPEP) is a two-week professional development program for in-service high school physics teachers with…
Contribution: In this study, an alternative educational approach for introducing quantum computing to a wider audience is highlighted. The proposed methodology considers quantum computing as a generalized probability theory rather than a…
This is the third series of the lab manuals for virtual teaching of introductory physics classes. This covers fluids, waves, thermodynamics, optics, interference, photoelectric effect, atomic spectra, and radiation concepts. A few of these…
Mathematical reasoning with algebraic and graphical representations is essential for success in physics courses. Many problems require students to fluently move between algebraic and graphical representations. We developed a freely…
Letter to the Editor that explains a popular demonstration with voltmeters and electromotive force using symmetry.
Bernoulli's equation, which relates the pressure of an ideal fluid in motion with its velocity and height under certain conditions, is a central topic in General Physics courses for Science and Engineering students. This equation,…
Scientific laboratories are among the most challenging course components to integrate into online instruction. Available technology restricts the design and nature of experiments and it can be hard to replicate the collaborative lab…
In the introductory courses on electromagnetism, the Biot-Savart law is generally explained by a simple example to find the magnetic field created at any point in space by a small wire element that carries a current. The simplest system…
The main objective of this article is to describe the physics of Speed Skydiving, world's fastest non-motorized sport practiced under FAI -- F\'ed\'eration A\'eronautique Internationale (World Air Sports Federation), a recognized body by…
Computational thinking has been a recent focus of education research within the sciences. However, there is a dearth of scholarly literature on how best to teach and to assess this topic, especially in disciplinary science courses. Physics…
Letter to the Editor about how the diet soda and Mentos reaction can be produced by the direct immersion of a plastic soda bottle in liquid nitrogen.