Related papers: Fractions in elementary education
This paper outlines a deceptively complex problem in classical mechanics which the paper names the "Falling Astronaut Problem," and it explores a method for teachers to implement this problem in an undergraduate classroom. The paper…
Good problems grab us. They invite us to find patterns, make conjectures, and prove-or perhaps disprove-a conjecture. When I first taught, I saw my work as tantalizing students with structures just beyond their reach, so that I could elicit…
The theory of fractional calculus in the complex plane was not built with a specific application in mind. The main obstacle to application was the difficulty with obtaining analytic continuations of fractional derivatives and integrals. It…
Computation is a central aspect of 21st century physics practice; it is used to model complicated systems, to simulate impossible experiments, and to analyze mountains of data. Physics departments and their faculty are increasingly…
Over the past thirty years or so the authors have been teaching various programming for mathematics courses at our respective Universities, as well as incorporating computer algebra and numerical computation into traditional mathematics…
Diverse schools can help address implicit biases and increase empathy, mutual respect, and reflective thought by fostering connections between students from different racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and other backgrounds. Unfortunately,…
For several decades, scholars have studied cooperation and its outcomes in the educational context. Yet, we lack a complete understanding of how different instructional strategies impact the relationship between cooperation and learning.…
This experience report explores the effects of ungraded assignments on the learning experience of students in an introductory computing course. Our study examines the impact of ungraded assignments on student engagement, understanding, and…
During the past several years the authors have developed a new approach to the teaching of Physical Science, a general education course typically found in the curricula of nearly every college and university. This approach, called `Physics…
This paper examines the integration of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) into education, emphasizing the inclusion of the Arts to foster creativity alongside traditional STEM skills. STEAM encourages…
Writing and argumentation are critical to both professional physics and physics education. However, the skill of making an extended argument in writing is often overlooked in physics classrooms, apart from certain practices like lab…
Students' difficulties in quantum mechanics may be the result of unproductive framing rather than a fundamental inability to solve the problems or misconceptions about physics content. Using the theoretical lens of epistemological framing,…
It is becoming common to hear teaching advice about spending more time on the "physics of the problem" so that students will get more physical insight and develop a stronger intuition that can be very helpful when thinking about physics…
This study presents a review of the current state of research on teaching quantum mechanics in secondary and lower undergraduate education. A conceptual approach to quantum mechanics is being implemented in more and more introductory…
There is a significant underrepresentation of women in many Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) majors and careers. Prior research has shown that self-efficacy can be a critical factor in student learning, and that…
While state-of-the-art large language models (LLMs) demonstrate advanced reasoning capabilities-achieving remarkable performance on challenging competitive math and coding benchmarks-they also frequently fail on tasks that are easy for…
Computation is becoming an increasingly important part of physics education. However, there are currently few theories of learning that can be used to help explain and predict the unique challenges and affordances associated with…
Parsons problems are a type of programming activity that present learners with blocks of existing code and requiring them to arrange those blocks to form a program rather than write the code from scratch. Micro Parsons problems extend this…
Fracterms are introduced as a proxy for fractions. A precise definition of fracterms is formulated and on that basis reasonably precise definitions of various classes of fracterms are given. In the context of the meadow of rational numbers…
Many students in upper-division physics courses struggle with the mathematically sophisticated tools and techniques that are required for advanced physics content. We have developed an analytical framework to assist instructors and…