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To deepen do-it-yourself (DIY) technology in the physics classroom, we seek to highlight the Open Source Physics (OSP) community of educators that engage, enable and empower teachers as learners so that we create DIY technology…
The paper describes a novel concept for a low cost microfluidic platform utilizing materials and processes used in low cost thermal inkjet printing. The concept re-purposes the jetting elements to create pumps, mixers, and valves all…
Incorporating computer programming exercises in introductory physics is a delicate task that involves a number of choices that may have a strong affect on student learning. We present an approach that speaks to a number of common concerns…
A goal of PER is to understand how students use math in physics contexts. To investigate how students use math, we need to identify transitions between conceptual sense-making about physical systems and using mathematics to describe and to…
We describe the difficulties advanced undergraduate and graduate students have with quantum measurement. To reduce these difficulties, we have developed research-based learning tools such as the Quantum Interactive Learning Tutorial (QuILT)…
We describe a series of experiments done using a commercially available optical pumping apparatus that is currently being used in physics teaching labs at over one hundred universities. Our focus here is to provide an extensive and detailed…
Educational research has shown that narratives are useful tools that can help young students make sense of scientific phenomena. Based on previous research, I argue that narratives can also become tools for high school students to make…
Recent studies have shown that not only primary school students but also their future teachers reach science courses with pre-constructed and consistent models of the world surrounding them. These ideas include many misconceptions which…
In this work, I propose a way to help high school students and the general population understand quantum concepts by adopting a new inherently dual representation. Major difficulties in explaining to people the basic concepts of quantum…
In this paper, we introduce our research challenges for creating new musical instruments using everyday-life media with intimate interfaces, such as the self-body, clothes, water and stuffed toys. Various sensor technologies including image…
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…
Teaching modern physics in high school is of increasingly importance as it can offer students a more realistic and updated vision of the world, and can provide an opportunity to understand the most recent scientific discoveries. In this…
Introductory electricity and magnetism lab manual was designed to use with virtual Physics II class. The lab manual consists of experiments on electrostatics, electric potential and energy, current and resistance, DC circuits,…
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…
In the last years, numerous Physics experiments using smartphone sensors have been reported in the literature. In this presentation we focus on a less-explored feature of the smartphones: the possibility of using (measure and register data)…
Based on the Arduino development platform, Plasduino is an open-source data acquisition framework specifically designed for educational physics experiments. The source code, schematics and documentation are in the public domain under a GPL…
This article describes an exemplary robot exercise which was conducted in a class for mechatronics students. The goal of this exercise was to engage students in scientific thinking and reasoning, activities which do not always play an…
At the University of Colorado Boulder, as part of our broader efforts to transform middle- and upper-division physics courses, we research students' difficulties with particular concepts, methods, and tools in classical mechanics,…
This paper examines the initial beliefs held by elementary educators (n=11) and their students about teaching and learning quantum concepts at the elementary level. All teachers were participants in a grant-funded project focused on…
This lecture is a brief introduction to charged particle accelerators. The aim is to provide the reader with basic concepts and tools needed to describe the motion of charged particles under the action of guiding and focussing fields, with…