Work and mechanical energy is a fundamental topic in introductory physics. Studies in existing literature have shown that students have difficulties in understanding work and mechanical energy, particularly the topic of work-energy theorem. To study students' knowledge integration in learning work and mechanical energy, a conceptual framework…

Background: Although there is an increasing recognition of the importance of critical thinking in science education across the world, the relevant research literature is extremely thin. There is an urgent need to generate more empirical evidence. Purpose: We examined two essential issues concerning critical thinking (the relationship between…

A deep understanding of mechanical waves is crucial for students to succeed in studying many advanced physics topics. Studies in existing literature have revealed that students often have widespread difficulties and misconceptions on wave propagation. This research develops and applies a conceptual framework model to examine students'…

Upper-division physics students solve partial differential equations in various contexts in quantum mechanics courses. Separation of variables is a standard technique to solve these equations. We investigated students' solutions to midterm exam questions and utilized think-aloud interviews. We also applied a framework that organizes students'…

Despite the importance of undergraduate research for student learning and development, not enough work has been done to clarify its effects in different disciplinary contexts. Using data from the China College Student Survey, this research adopts Becher and Trowler's theory of discipline classification to understand the relationship between…

The history of science has a unique value to teaching, and textbooks play an important role in permeating the history of science in science courses. This study aims to compare the presentation of history of science in two versions of high school physics textbooks in China. We selected the 2019 edition of the national and local textbooks as…

Achieving knowledge integration for deep learning requires students to develop well-connected knowledge structures through the central idea of a concept. However, a number of studies on student learning in momentum have revealed persistent difficulties in understanding its fundamental concept, particularly in relating net force, time, and change…

Visual representation in school textbooks plays an important role for physics teaching and learning. The integration of graphics with text has drawn attention of physics educators in recent years due to the close relationship between graphics and relevant text. The purpose of this study is to examine visual representation of optical content in…

Argumentation scaffolding can be used to enhance the formulation of logical arguments as well as the performance of such arguments. This study presents a web-based synchronized scientific argumentation environment integrated with prompt scaffolding to support simulation-based physics learning for elementary school students. To investigate the…

Augmented reality (AR) recently shows great potential to facilitate students' learning, especially their learning performance and motivation. However, few studies considered learners' emotional factors such as learning anxiety, which may influence the learning results. This study aims to explore how different experimental conditions (AR &…

As humanity reaches the 5.0 industrial revolution, education plays a critical role in boosting the quality of human resources. This paper reports bibliometric research on emerging TiP during 1993-2022 in the educational field to analyse its development on any level of education during the last three decades. This study employed a Scopus database.…

Students hold a variety of initial (mis)conceptions that are inconsistent with scientific knowledge and hinder their physics learning. The initial (mis)conceptions could coexist with the scientific ones, even after a conceptual change. Inhibitory control may help overcome initial (mis)conceptions. This study investigated if and how inhibitory…

Triggered by the pilot of the "Gao-Kao" reform, the avoidance of physics courses in senior high school has aroused the concern of society in China. The factors that influence the motivation to learn physics are an important research topic, especially for countries that have a disciplinary-based education tradition in secondary school.…

Momentum is a foundational concept in physics. Although it is often taught in introductory mechanics courses, there are a limited number of studies on this topic in the literature. The results from these studies have consistently shown that students have difficulties in understanding momentum, especially the connections between net force, time,…

To explore the self-efficacy and physics identity of students across various physics career trajectories, as well as to delve into the motivations of male and female students in choosing to major in physics and pursue teaching, we conducted a survey within the Department of Physics at East China Normal University. This institution offers…