Teaching about energy in interdisciplinary settings that emphasize coherence among physics, chemistry, and biology leads to a more central role for chemical bond energy. We argue that an interdisciplinary approach to chemical energy leads to modeling chemical bonds in terms of negative energy. While recent work on ontological metaphors for energy has emphasized the affordances of the substance ontology, this ontology is problematic in the context of negative energy. Instead, we apply a dynamic ontologies perspective to argue that blending the substance and location ontologies for energy can be effective in reasoning about negative energy in the context of reasoning about chemical bonds. We present data from an introductory physics for the life sciences course in which both experts and students successfully use this blended ontology. Blending these ontologies is most successful when the substance and location ontologies are combined such that each is strategically utilized in reasoning about particular aspects of energetic processes.

Peer Instruction (PI) is an evidence based pedagogy commonly used in undergraduate physics instruction. When asked questions designed to test conceptual understanding, it has been observed that the proportion of students choosing the correct answer increases following peer discussion; however, relatively little is known about what takes place during these discussions or how they are beneficial to the processes of learning physics [M. C. James and S. Willoughby, Am. J. Phys. 79, 123 (2011)]. In this paper a framework for analyzing PI discussions developed through the lens of the “resources model” [D. Hammer, Am. J. Phys. 64, 1316 (1996); D. Hammer et al., Information Age Publishing (2005)] is proposed. A central hypothesis for this framework is that the dialogue with peers plays a crucial role in activating appropriate cognitive resources, enabling the students to see the problem differently, and therefore to answer the questions correctly. This framework is used to gain greater insights into the PI discussions of first year undergraduate physics students at the University of Edinburgh, UK, which were recorded using Livescribe Smartpens. Analysis of the dialogues revealed three different types of resource activation corresponding to increasing cognitive grain size. These were activation of knowledge elements, activation of linkages between knowledge elements, and activation of control structures (epistemic games and epistemological frames). Three case studies are examined to illustrate the role that peer dialogue plays in the activation of these cognitive resources in a PI session. The implications for pedagogical practice are discussed.

Physics education research (PER) is a rapidly growing area of PhD specialization. In this article we examine the trajectories that led respondents into a PER graduate program as well as their expected future trajectories. Data were collected in the form of an online survey sent to graduate students in PER. Our findings show a lack of visibility of PER as a field of study, a dominance of work at the undergraduate level, and a mismatch of future desires and expectations. We suggest that greater exposure is needed so PER is known as a field of inquiry for graduates, that more emphasis should be placed on research beyond the undergraduate level, and that there needs to be stronger communication to graduate students about potential careers.

We present results from a study that categorizes and assesses the quality of questions and explanations authored by students in question repositories produced as part of the summative assessment in introductory physics courses over two academic sessions. Mapping question quality onto the levels in the cognitive domain of Bloom’s taxonomy, we find that students produce questions of high quality. More than three-quarters of questions fall into categories beyond simple recall, in contrast to similar studies of student-authored content in different subject domains. Similarly, the quality of student-authored explanations for questions was also high, with approximately 60% of all explanations classified as being of high or outstanding quality. Overall, 75% of questions met combined quality criteria, which we hypothesize is due in part to the in-class scaffolding activities that we provided for students ahead of requiring them to author questions. This work presents the first systematic investigation into the quality of student produced assessment material in an introductory physics context, and thus complements and extends related studies in other disciplines.

This study seeks to test the causal influences of reasoning skills and epistemologies on student conceptual learning in physics. A causal model, integrating multiple variables that were investigated separately in the prior literature, is proposed and tested through path analysis. These variables include student preinstructional reasoning skills measured by the Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning, pre- and postepistemological views measured by the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey, and pre- and postperformance on Newtonian concepts measured by the Force Concept Inventory. Students from a traditionally taught calculus-based introductory mechanics course at a research university participated in the study. Results largely support the postulated causal model and reveal strong influences of reasoning skills and preinstructional epistemology on student conceptual learning gains. Interestingly enough, postinstructional epistemology does not appear to have a significant influence on student learning gains. Moreover, pre- and postinstructional epistemology, although barely different from each other on average, have little causal connection between them.

We report conceptual inventory results of a large-scale assessment project at a large university. We studied the introduction of materials and instructional methods informed by physics education research (PER) (physics education research-informed materials) into a department where most instruction has previously been traditional and a significant number of faculty are hesitant, ambivalent, or even resistant to the introduction of such reforms. Data were collected in all of the sections of both the large algebra- and calculus-based introductory courses for a number of years employing commonly used conceptual inventories. Results from a small PER-informed, inquiry-based, laboratory-based class are also reported. Results suggest that when PER-informed materials are introduced in the labs and recitations, independent of the lecture style, there is an increase in students’ conceptual inventory gains. There is also an increase in the results on conceptual inventories if PER-informed instruction is used in the lecture. The highest conceptual inventory gains were achieved by the combination of PER-informed lectures and laboratories in large class settings and by the hands-on, laboratory-based, inquiry-based course taught in a small class setting.

When considering the variety of questions that can be used to measure students’ learning, instructors may choose to use multiple-choice questions, which are easier to score than responses to open-ended questions. However, by design, analyses of multiple-choice responses cannot describe all of students’ understanding. One method that can be used to learn more about students’ learning is the analysis of the open-ended responses students’ provide when explaining their multiple-choice response. In this study, we examined the extent to which introductory astronomy students’ performance on multiple-choice questions was comparable to their ability to provide evidence when asked to respond to an open-ended question. We quantified students’ open-ended responses by developing rubrics that allowed us to score the amount of relevant evidence students’ provided. A minimum rubric score was determined for each question based on two astronomy educators perception of the minimum amount of evidence needed to substantiate a scientifically accurate multiple-choice response. The percentage of students meeting both criteria of (1) attaining the minimum rubric score and (2) selecting the correct multiple-choice response was examined at three different phases of instruction: directly before lab instruction, directly after lab instruction, and at the end of the semester. Results suggested that a greater proportion of students were able to choose the correct multiple-choice response than were able to provide responses that attained the minimum rubric score at both the post-lab and post-instruction phases.

Previously, we analyzed the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation in terms of a resources-based model that allows for clustering of questions so as to provide useful information on how students correctly or incorrectly reason about physics. In this paper, we apply model analysis to show that the associated model plots provide more information regarding the results of investigations using these question clusters than normalized gain graphs. We provide examples from two different institutions to show how the use of model analysis with our redefined clusters can provide previously hidden insight into the effectiveness of instruction.

Interactive-engagement (IE) techniques consistently enhance conceptual learning gains relative to traditional-lecture courses, but attitudinal gains typically emerge only in small, inquiry-based curricula. The current study evaluated whether a “scalable IE” curriculum—a curriculum used in a large course ($\sim 130$ students per section) and likely adoptable by a wide range of physics departments—could produce significant attitudinal benefits relative to a traditional-lecture curriculum. This study included data across three years, 10 instructors, over 30 sections, and over 1100 students, and our analytic strategy allowed us to isolate the effects that were due to the curriculum itself rather than other potential factors such as instructor differences or preexisting differences among students. Results revealed that our Active-Physics curriculum, which is based on Moore’s Six Ideas That Shaped Physics, produced significant attitudinal and conceptual-learning benefits relative to our traditional-lecture physics curriculum. Further, the Active-Physics curriculum, for the most part, benefitted males and females equally, and relative to the Fall semester alone, the benefits of Active Physics became more robust when viewed across the entire two-semester sequence of introductory physics. Our data highlight that some (though not all) of the attitudinal benefits of small, inquiry-based courses may be achievable in larger course with scalable IE curricula that can potentially reach a large proportion of introductory physics students.

In traditional teaching, the fundamental concepts of electromagnetic induction are usually quickly analyzed, spending most of the time solving problems in a more or less rote manner. However, physics education research has shown that the fundamental concepts of the electromagnetic induction theory are barely understood by students. This article proposes an interactive teaching sequence introducing the topic of electromagnetic induction. The sequence has been designed based on contributions from physics education research. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between experimental findings (macroscopic level) and theoretical interpretation (microscopic level). An example of the activities that have been designed will also be presented, describing the implementation context and the corresponding findings. Since implementing the sequence, a considerable number of students have a more satisfactory grasp of the electromagnetic induction explicative model. However, difficulties are manifested in aspects that require a multilevel explanation, referring to deep structures where the system description is better defined.

In this article we discuss the findings of our research on students’ understanding of vector concepts in problems without physical context. First, we develop a complete taxonomy of the most frequent errors made by university students when learning vector concepts. This study is based on the results of several test administrations of open-ended problems in which a total of 2067 students participated. Using this taxonomy, we then designed a 20-item multiple-choice test [Test of understanding of vectors (TUV)] and administered it in English to 423 students who were completing the required sequence of introductory physics courses at a large private Mexican university. We evaluated the test’s content validity, reliability, and discriminatory power. The results indicate that the TUV is a reliable assessment tool. We also conducted a detailed analysis of the students’ understanding of the vector concepts evaluated in the test. The TUV is included in the Supplemental Material as a resource for other researchers studying vector learning, as well as instructors teaching the material.

In response to national calls to better align physics laboratory courses with the way physicists engage in research, we have developed an epistemology and expectations survey to assess how students perceive the nature of physics experiments in the contexts of laboratory courses and the professional research laboratory. The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey for Experimental Physics (E-CLASS) evaluates students’ epistemology at the beginning and end of a semester. Students respond to paired questions about how they personally perceive doing experiments in laboratory courses and how they perceive an experimental physicist might respond regarding their research. Also, at the end of the semester, the E-CLASS assesses a third dimension of laboratory instruction, students’ reflections on their course’s expectations for earning a good grade. By basing survey statements on widely embraced learning goals and common critiques of teaching labs, the E-CLASS serves as an assessment tool for lab courses across the undergraduate curriculum and as a tool for physics education research. We present the development, evidence of validation, and initial formative assessment results from a sample that includes 45 classes at 20 institutions. We also discuss feedback from instructors and reflect on the challenges of large-scale online administration and distribution of results.

Physics education research has shown that students tend to struggle when trying to use mathematics in a meaningful way in physics (e.g., mathematizing a physical situation or making sense of equations). Concerning the possible reasons for these difficulties, little attention has been paid to the way mathematics is treated in physics instruction. Starting from an overall distinction between a technical approach, which involves an instrumental (tool-like) use of mathematics, and a structural one, focused on reasoning about the physical world mathematically, the goal of this study is to characterize the development of the latter in didactic contexts. For this purpose, a case study was conducted on the electromagnetism course given by a distinguished physics professor. The analysis of selected teaching episodes with the software Videograph led to the identification of a set of categories that describe different strategies used by the professor to emphasize the structural role of mathematics in his lectures. As a consequence of this research, an analytic tool to enable future comparative studies between didactic approaches regarding the way mathematics is treated in physics teaching is provided.

Item response theory (IRT) becomes an increasingly important tool when analyzing “big data” gathered from online educational venues. However, the mechanism was originally developed in traditional exam settings, and several of its assumptions are infringed upon when deployed in the online realm. For a large-enrollment physics course for scientists and engineers, the study compares outcomes from IRT analyses of exam and homework data, and then proceeds to investigate the effects of each confounding factor introduced in the online realm. It is found that IRT yields the correct trends for learner ability and meaningful item parameters, yet overall agreement with exam data is moderate. It is also found that learner ability and item discrimination is robust over a wide range with respect to model assumptions and introduced noise. Item difficulty is also robust, but over a narrower range.

Developing expertise in physics problem solving requires the ability to use mathematics effectively in physical scenarios. Novices and experts often perceive the use of mathematics in physics differently. Students’ perceptions and how they frame the use of mathematics in physics play an important role in their physics problem solving. In this study, we examined students’ epistemological framing about using mathematics in physics in two types of problems: a conventional problem and a hypothetical debate problem. We found that when solving a conventional physics problem, students tended to frame problem solving in physics as rote equation chasing, i.e., plugging quantities into a memorized physics equation. In hypothetical debate problems, students were more likely to be involved in quantitative or qualitative sense making. We conclude that hypothetical debate problems might be used as an instructional tool for engaging students in sense making while using mathematics in physics. Thus, it might be potentially useful for developing more expertlike problem solving expertise.

Technology-rich student-centered classrooms such as SCALE-UP and TEAL are designed to actively engage students. We examine what happens when the design of the classroom (conventional or teacher-centered versus student-centered classroom spaces) is consistent or inconsistent with the teacher’s epistemic beliefs about learning and teaching (traditional or teacher-centered versus student-centered pedagogies). We compare two types of pedagogical approaches and two types of classroom settings through a quasiexperimental $2\times 2$ factorial design. We collected data from 214 students registered in eight sections of an introductory calculus-based mechanics course given at a Canadian publicly funded two-year college. All students were given the Force Concept Inventory at the beginning and at the end of the 15-week-long course. We then focused on six teachers assigned to teach in the student-centered classroom spaces. We used qualitative observations and the Approaches to Teaching Inventory (ATI), a self-reported questionnaire, to determine the teachers’ epistemic beliefs (teacher-centered or student-centered) and how these beliefs affected their use of the space and their students’ conceptual learning. We report four main findings. First, the student-centered classroom spaces are most effective when used with student-centered pedagogies. Second, student-centered classrooms are ineffective when used with teacher-centered pedagogies and may have negative effects for students with low prior knowledge. Third, we find a strong correlation between six instructors’ self-reported epistemic beliefs of student centeredness and their classes’ average normalized gain ($r=0.91$; $p=0.012$). Last, we find that some instructors are more willing to adopt student-centered teaching practices after using student-centered classroom spaces. These data suggest that student-centered classrooms are effective only when instructors’ epistemic framework of teaching and learning is consistent with a student-centered pedagogy. However, the use of the student-centered classrooms may change instructors’ epistemic frameworks over time. Further research should focus on how to better support teachers with shifting epistemic frameworks as well as helping students with lower prior knowledge in student-centered classroom spaces.

Tabular presentations of student data often hide information about the switches in responses by individual students over the course of a semester. We extend unpublished work by Kanim on “escalator diagrams,” which show changes in student responses from correct to incorrect (and vice versa) while representing pre- and postinstruction results on questions. We introduce the representation of “consistency plots,” containing three pieces of information: each student’s method of solution and correctness of solution and the shift from before to after instruction. We present data from students in an intermediate mechanics class answering (nearly) identical midterm and final examination questions. These data serve as a proof of concept of the method; we suggest other possible uses of consistency plots in physics education research, as well.

Many science education researchers have argued that learners’ commitment to a substance (matter-based) ontology impedes the learning of scientific concepts that scientists typically conceptualize as processes or interactions, such as force, electric current, and heat. By this account, students’ tendency to classify these entities as substances or properties of substances leads to robust misconceptions, and instruction should steer novices away from substance-based reasoning. We argue that substance-based reasoning can contribute to the learning and understanding of these very same physics concepts. Our case study focuses on a group of elementary school science teachers in our professional development program. Starting from substance-based metaphors for gravity, the teachers build a sophisticated explanation for why objects of different masses fall with the same acceleration. We argue that, for conceptual, epistemological, and affective reasons, instructional interventions should focus on tapping these productive substance-based resources when they arise rather than attempting to suppress them.