Related papers: Learning physics in context: a study of student le…
Magnetism primarily describes the physics and materials science of systems presenting a magnetization -- a macroscopic order parameter characterizing electron angular momentum. The order parameter is associated with the electronic exchange…
Making meaning with math in physics requires blending physical conceptual knowledge with mathematical symbology. Students in introductory physics classes often struggle with this, but it is an essential component of learning how to think…
Through a case study, we demonstrate that teachers can tacitly notice student epistemic framing, and that this noticing can prompt instructor action which tips student framing. Our study is based on video data taken during tutorial sections…
To date, there is a lack of research on learning environments for pre-service physics teachers that allow them to learn and practise diagnosing students' conceptions that are (currently) not covered in physics education textbooks (e.g.…
Mathematics can serve many functions in physics. It can provide a computational system, reflect a physical idea, conveniently encode a rule, and so forth. A physics student thus has many different options for using mathematics in his…
English Language Learners (ELLs) are frequently left on the periphery of classroom interactions. Due to misalignment of language skills, teachers and peers communicate with these students less often, decreasing the number of opportunities…
This work examines how experiences in one disciplinary domain (biology) can impact the relationship a student builds with another domain (physics). We present a model for disciplinary relationships using the constructs of identity, affect,…
In this study, we adapt prior identity framework to investigate the effect of learning environment (including perceived recognition, peer interaction and sense of belonging) on students' physics self-efficacy, interest and identity by…
This pedagogical note revisits the concept of electromagnetic helicity in classical systems. In particular, magnetic helicity and its role in mean field dynamo theories is briefly discussed highlighting the major mathematical inconsistency…
The fallacies associated with the gauge concept in electromagnetism are illustrated. A clearer and more valid formulation of the basics of classical electromagnetism is provided by recognizing existing physical constraints as well as the…
Being aware of the motivation problems observed in many scientific oriented careers, we present two experiences to expose to college students to environments, methodologies and discovery techniques addressing contemporary problems. This…
Writing is an integral part of the process of science. In the undergraduate physics curriculum, the most common place that students engage with scientific writing is in lab classes, typically through lab notebooks, reports, and proposals.…
Scientific research involves mathematical modelling in the context of an interactive balance between theory, experiment and computation. However, computational methods and tools are still far from being appropriately integrated in the high…
We discuss and analyze the fact that physics is generally losing its ability to captivate students who may possess the potential to enhance the quality of our future in this age of technology. We have tried to investigate the reasons behind…
A common learning goal for modern physics instructors is for students to recognize a difference between the experimental uncertainty of classical physics and the fundamental uncertainty of quantum mechanics. Our prior work has shown that…
In-context learning is a powerful capability of certain machine learning models that arguably underpins the success of today's frontier AI models. However, in-context learning is critically limited to settings where the in-context…
Introductory undergraduate courses in classical physics stress a perspective that can be characterized as realist; from this perspective, all physical properties of a classical system can be simultaneously specified and thus determined at…
This paper reports on a study of student understanding of induced EMF. Students enrolled in a physics lab course completed a pretest and posttest that included questions about induced EMF. Following the posttest, some of those students…
Energy is a complex idea that cuts across scientific disciplines. For life science students, an approach to energy that incorporates chemical bonds and chemical reactions is better equipped to meet the needs of life sciences students than a…
Whoever has to learn or to teach thermodynamics is confronted with conceptual difficulties which are specific to this field of physics ([1],[2]). It seems that they can be eliminated by inserting relativity in the thermodynamic theory. The…