We conducted a semester-long ethnographic study of group work in a physics class that implemented the investigative science learning environment approach. Students' conversations were videotaped while they were engaged in group learning activities. Our primary research goal was to better understand what factors made some groups more effective than…

The difficulties students have in blending mathematics and physics are here analyzed, by focusing on the issue of a convergent series. We present an experimental and a theoretical analysis of some phenomena which can be investigated employing series, as the bouncing marble and Zeno's paradox of Achilles and the turtle. Measurements were carried…

Here we describe the incorporation of a web-based application focusing on circuits for the physics high school classroom as part of an outreach program. The program involves college mentors creating and implementing science lessons in collaboration with the classroom teacher. Focusing on the challenge of understanding circuit design, a technology…

This collection of essays by college and high school faculty represents a variety of practical approaches that can be used in composition classes. The essays and their authors are as follows (1) "Undercover Preparation" (Judy Anderson); (2) "Paragraph Development from Visualization: 'a paragraph ain't nothing but a sandwich!'"…

A physics laboratory instructor used action research to effectively implement a 5E instructional approach, which incorporated scientific practices. The instructor explored how to integrate the instructional approach into practice, challenges present in the implementation, and students' learning experiences. The data were collected during three…

Introductory physics is taught to several hundred thousand university students every year. It is seen as especially difficult by many and the failure rate is often high. A relevant question is whether one can increase the success rate among the weaker students? Retrieval practice is an established learning strategy with large benefits. However, as…

The purpose of this study is to explore factors that affect exclusively physical, virtual and both a Virtual-Physical (VP) and Physical-Virtual (PV) sequence of manipulatives within Studio Physics environment. In this environment students actively work together to learn through real world experimentation and simulation based activities. Activities…

This study is composed of several projects in the field of physics education research. First, investigations into flipped physics classrooms at the senior and graduate level show that students uniformly agree that the active learning techniques (peer instruction, group problem solving, etc.) were beneficial to their learning regardless of their…

The purpose of the research was to investigate the effects of think pair share (TPS) instructional strategy on students' conceptual learning and epistemological beliefs on physics and physics learning. The research was conducted with two groups. One of the groups was the experimental group (EG) and the other group was the control group (CG). 35…

The actuality of the investigated problem is caused by the need for students' training at pedagogical high schools to meet the challenges of research activities and the insufficient development of the theoretical, content-technological, scientific and methodological aspects of the formation of their experimental research competencies at the…

Learning physics often requires overcoming common misconceptions based on naïve interpretations of observations in the everyday world. One proposed way to help learners build appropriate physics intuitions is to expose them to computer simulations in which motion is based on Newtonian principles. In addition, playing video games that require…

Interdisciplinary education offers a collaborative approach to multifaceted topics, such as environmental sustainability. In this article, we present the conceptual framework and lessons learned from a team-taught course, entitled Sustainability, Energy, and the Green Economy (SEGE). Faculty from the departments of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology…

We discuss an investigation of the difficulties that students in a calculus-based university introductory physics course have with electric field and the superposition principle for the case of a continuous charge distribution and how that research was used as a guide in the development, validation, and evaluation of a tutorial on these topics to…

In this study, we analyze the experience of students in the Physics Learning Assistant (LA) program at Texas State University in terms of the existing theoretical frameworks of "community of practice" and "physics identity," and explore the implications suggested by these theories for LA program adoption and adaptation.…

In Australia, as in a number of other countries, studies have consistently shown a low enrolment trend towards Physics by students in post-secondary years, due partly to the subject being perceived as conceptually difficult and abstract to grasp. In order to promote Physics literacy, continued opportunities such as online courses for students to…