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While vision-language models (VLMs) have demonstrated promising capabilities in reasoning and planning for embodied agents, their ability to comprehend physical phenomena, particularly within structured 3D environments, remains severely…
Equations are about more than computing physical quantities or constructing formal models; they are also about understanding. The conceptual systems physicists use to think about nature are made from many different resources, formal and…
We present SeePhys, a large-scale multimodal benchmark for LLM reasoning grounded in physics questions ranging from middle school to PhD qualifying exams. The benchmark covers 7 fundamental domains spanning the physics discipline,…
The objective of physics laboratory training is to develop, in students, a variety of important cognitive and psycho-motor abilities related to experimental physics. These include conceptual understanding, procedural understanding,…
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…
The use of quantum computing for machine learning is among the most promising applications of quantum technologies. Quantum models inspired by classical algorithms are developed to explore some possible advantages over classical approaches.…
Quantum mechanics emerged as the result of a successful resolution of stringent empirical and profound conceptual conflicts within the development of atomic physics at the beginning of the last century. At first glance, it seems to be…
In this study, we examine introductory physics students' ability to perform analogical reasoning between two isomorphic problems which employ the same underlying physics principles but have different surface features. Three hundred and…
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…
We are at the dawn of the second quantum revolution, where our ability to create and control individual quantum systems is poised to drive transformative advancements in basic science, computation, and everyday life. However, quantum theory…
Doubts are raised concerning the usual interpretation of the alleged failure, by quantum mechanics, of the distributive law of classical logic. The difficulty raised by incompatible sets of observables is overcome within an epistemic…
We describe the difficulties advanced undergraduate and graduate students have with concepts related to addition of angular momentum in quantum mechanics. We also describe the development and implementation of a research-based learning…
We present a contextualist statistical realistic model for quantum-like representations in physics, cognitive science and psychology. We apply this model to describe cognitive experiments to check quantum-like structures of mental…
The Institute of Physics New Quantum Curriculum consists of freely available online learning and teaching materials (quantumphysics.iop.org) for a first course in university quantum mechanics starting from two-level systems. This approach…
Recent progress in Vision Language Models (VLMs) has raised the question of whether they can reliably perform nonverbal reasoning. To this end, we introduce VRIQ (Visual Reasoning IQ), a novel benchmark designed to assess and analyze the…
Current conceptions of expert problem solving depict physical/conceptual reasoning and formal mathematical reasoning as separate steps: a good problem solver first translates a physical Current conceptions of quantitative problem-solving…
Previous research has shown that students often struggle to develop an understanding of linear and quadratic relationships. Covariational reasoning has been identified as a way to support this development. This study aims to investigate how…
We explore the difficulties that advanced undergraduate and graduate students have with non-relativistic quantum mechanics of a single particle in one spatial dimension. To investigate these difficulties we developed a conceptual survey and…
The Force Concept Inventory (FCI) has been widely used to assess student understanding of introductory mechanics concepts by a variety of educators and physics education researchers. One reason for this extensive use is that many of the…
Learning quantum mechanics is challenging, even for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students. Interactive tutorials which build on students' prior knowledge can be useful tools to enhance student learning. We have been investigating…