Related papers: Comparing student performance on a multi-attempt a…
In this paper, we propose a general method for testing composite hypotheses. Our idea is to use confidence limits to define stopping and decision rules. The requirements of operating characteristic function can be satisfied by adjusting the…
Acquiring the mathematical, conceptual, and problem-solving skills required in university-level physics courses is hard work, and the average student often lacks the knowledge and study skills they need to succeed in the introductory…
In this paper we consider the use of certain classical analogues to quantum tunneling behavior to improve the performance of simulated annealing on a discrete spin system of the general Ising form. Specifically, we consider the use of…
Prior research suggests that many students believe that the magnitude of the static frictional force is always equal to its maximum value. Here, we examine introductory students' ability to learn from analogical reasoning (with different…
The problem of detecting changes in covariance for a single pair of features has been studied in some detail, but may be limited in importance or general applicability. In contrast, testing equality of covariance matrices of a {\it set} of…
Constructed-response (CR) questions are a mainstay of introductory physics textbooks and exams. However, because of time, cost, and scoring reliability constraints associated with this format, CR questions are being increasingly replaced by…
Research-validated multiple-choice questions comprise an easy-to-implement instructional tool that serves to scaffold student learning and formatively assess students knowledge. We present findings from the implementation, in consecutive…
This article describes the reform of a physics undergraduate lab course by introducing new technologies such as Arduino microcontroller and smartphone, to help students experience a more authentic lab experience. This paper outlines the…
A partially unusual behaviour was found among 14 sophomore students of civil engineering who took a pre test for a free fall laboratory session, in the context of a general mechanics course. An analysis contemplating mathematics models and…
Goal-level Independent and-parallelism (IAP) is exploited by scheduling for simultaneous execution two or more goals which will not interfere with each other at run time. This can be done safely even if such goals can produce multiple…
Most students struggle when faced with complex and ill-structured tasks because the strategies taught in schools and universities simply require finding and applying the correct formulae or strategy to answer well-structured, algorithmic…
This paper proposes a class of origin-smooth approximators of indicators underlying the sum-of-negative-part statistic for testing multiple inequalities. The need for simulation or bootstrap to obtain test critical values is thereby…
There is consistent and growing evidence that physics instruction disproportionately harms female students' self-efficacy, their beliefs about their ability to learn and do physics. This harm is problematic because self-efficacy supports…
We studied the impact of metacognitive reflections on recently completed work as a way to improve the retention of newly-learned problem-solving techniques. Students video-recorded themselves talking through problems immediately after…
We present a method to study engagement level uniformity in a class of students. We validate our method by comparing two semesters taught using different methods in a physics and mathematics course. The first semester used conventional…
While it is well known which curricular practices can improve student performance on measures of conceptual understanding, the sustaining of these practices and the role of faculty members in implementing these practices are less well…
Helping students learn from their own mistakes can help them develop habits of mind while learning physics content. Based upon cognitive apprenticeship model, we asked students to self-diagnose their mistakes and learn from reflecting on…
Since October 2010, the Chemistry-Biology Combined Major Program (CBCMP), an international course taught in English at Osaka University, has been teaching small classes (no more than 20 in size). We present data from the Force Concept…
A core challenge for both physics and artificial intellicence (AI) is symbolic regression: finding a symbolic expression that matches data from an unknown function. Although this problem is likely to be NP-hard in principle, functions of…
We address the challenge of certifying quantum behavior with single macroscopic massive particles, subject to decoherence and finite data. We propose a hypothesis testing framework that distinguishes between classical and quantum mechanics…