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Education research is our focus

Welcome to PER-Central, a resource collection for physics education researchers. Here you may find articles, theses and dissertations, research groups, curricular material, and news and events of interest to the PER Community. Learn more about PER-Central.

PER Programs

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Browse the different PER groups and their descriptions on the PER Program Map.

For the Classroom

Physics Education Research User's Guide

Physics Education Research User's Guide
The PER User's Guide helps physics educators apply PER results and the teaching methods based on these results.

Find more PER-based Curricular Materials: Course Packages | Student Activities | Pedagogy Guides

Research Instruments

Symmetry and Gauss's Law Conceptual Evaluation

Symmetry and Gauss's Law Conceptual Evaluation
The Symmetry and Gauss's Law Conceptual Evaluation, developed by Chandralekha Singh, is a research-based multiple-choice test designed to evaluate students' conceptual understanding of symmetry and Gauss's Law. The test is appropriate for research in calculus-based introductory physics courses or upper-level undergraduate E&M courses.

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PER Announcements PER-Central Announcements RSS

PERC 2013 Abstract Submission is open
Invited abstracts are due by May 24. Contributed abstracts are due by May 31.

Archive

PER Events PER-Central Announcements RSS

Foundations and Frontiers of Physics Education Research 2013
The biennial FFPER conference will be held June 17-21, 2013 in Bar Harbor, Maine.

Physics Education Research Conference 2013
The theme of PERC 2013 is From Fearing Physics to Having Fun with Physics: Exploring the Affective Domain of Physics Learning from Multiple Perspectives. The conference will be held July 17-18, 2013 in Portland, OR following the Summer AAPT meeting.

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Latest Additions Latest Additions to PER-Central RSS

May 16 Intermediate Mechanics Tutorials: Simple Harmonic Motion
May 9 Intermediate Mechanics Tutorials: Newton's laws and velocity-dependent forces
May 8 Exploring Student Understanding of Atoms and Radiation with the Atom Builder Simulator
May 8 Students' and Instructor's Impressions of Ill-structured Capstone Projects in an Advanced Electronics Lab

Latest Discussion Posts

May 16 at 9:48 AM EST
Steve Maier posted Science Faculty with Education Specialties (SFES) report to the US - Solo Physics Education Researc... thread.

May 10 at 12:58 PM EST
Steve Maier posted PERLOC seeking PERC 2014 organizer(s) to the US - Solo Physics Education Researc... thread.

April 15 at 6:04 PM EST
Steve Maier posted Solo PER Peer Reviews to the US - Solo Physics Education Researc... thread.

March 12 at 4:11 PM EST
Brian Utter posted Re: Question about postdoc offerings to the US - Solo Physics Education Researc... thread.