PER Literature

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Reviews in PER

Volume 2 of Reviews in PER is dedicated to helping researchers get started in Physics Education Research.

In this review article, a member of the PER community presents an overview of an area of PER:

Identifying and Addressing Difficulties: Reflections on the empirical and theoretical basis of an influential approach to improving physics education
by P. R. L. Heron.

Find more articles introducing PER research methods in Volume 2 of Reviews in PER.

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PER Programs

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

For the Classroom

An Inquiry- and Laboratory-based Curriculum for the Introductory Algebra-based Physics Course
These inquiry- and laboratory-based modules by Beth Thacker are designed for an algebra-based introductory physics course. The modules are largely based on Workshop Physics techniques and include health science applications when appropriate.

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

Research Instruments

Representational Variant of the Force Concept Inventory (R-FCI)
The R-FCI, developed by Nieminen, Savinainen, and Viiri, is designed to investigate students' ability to interpret multiple representations consistently in the context of four force concepts: Newton's first, second, and third laws, and gravitation. It is based on nine FCI items that have been redesigned using various representations (such as motion map, vectorial, and graphical).

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