Related papers: Using Oral Exams in Physics and Astronomy Courses
The number of research papers written has been growing at least linearly -- if not exponentially -- in recent years. In proportion, the amount of time a reader allocates per paper has been decreasing. While an accessible paper will be…
Studying for physics exams can be difficult and stressful, especially during a student's introductory year in physics. For students who do not plan to major in physics, the desire to do well is based less on understanding concepts and more…
A close look at students' written work on examinations offers a wealth of information about their performance, their knowledge of the subject, their strengths, weaknesses and misconceptions, and their overall level of mathematical skills…
The use of validated conceptual assessments alongside more standard course exams has become standard practice for the introductory courses in many physics departments. These assessments provide a more standard measure of certain learning…
The use of new technologies in higher education has surprisingly emphasized students' tendency to adopt a passive behavior in class. Participation and interaction of students are essential to improve academic results. This paper describes…
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…
Letters of recommendation are a common tool used in graduate admissions. Most admissions systems require three letters for each applicant, burdening both letter writers and admissions committees with a heavy work load that may not be time…
In AI-rich higher education, polished written mathematics has become easier to produce than trustworthy evidence of understanding. This article develops a human-scale methodology for service mathematics, with informatics as its main running…
Formal methods yet advantageous, face challenges towards wide acceptance and adoption in software development practices. The major reason being presumed complexity. The issue can be addressed by academia with a thoughtful plan of teaching…
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,…
Physics faculty care about their students learning physics content. In addition, they usually hope that their students will learn some deeper lessons about thinking critically and scientifically. They hope that as a result of taking a…
Foundations of formal languages, as subfield of theoretical computer science, are part of typical upper secondary education curricula. There is very little research on the potential difficulties that students at this level have with this…
The paper describes an automated evaluation system for the learning of general Physics. The system whose name is Test on Line (ToL) is based on a questions bank from which an appropriate software generates individual multi-issue…
Experiments performed in the Physics Laboratory play a significant role in understanding the concepts taught in the theory. A good accompanying laboratory manual serves as a concise guideline which students can use to complete the…
National studies conducted over many years show that, while most Americans are interested in science and support federal funding of scientific research, the scientific literacy of the public is very low. Why this situation exists and who is…
The number and use of research-based assessments (RBAs) has grown significantly over the last several decades. Data from RBAs can be compared against national datasets to provide instructors with empirical evidence on the efficacy of their…
Many U.S. colleges now use test-optional admissions. A frequent claim is that by not seeing standardized test scores, a college can admit a student body it prefers, say with more diversity. But how can observing less information improve…
University courses in conceptual physics and astronomy typically serve as the terminal science experience for non-science majors. Significant work has gone into developing research-verified pedagogical methods for the algebra- and…
Undergraduate physics and astronomy students are expected to engage with scientific literature as they begin their research careers, but reading comprehension skills are rarely explicitly taught in major courses. We seek to determine the…
Tiered assessment is a differentiated assessment strategy where students can choose to attempt advanced assessment tasks. We discuss the use of tiered assessment in second and third year electromagnetics courses.