Physics Education Research Conference 2025

August 6, 2025 - August 7, 2025 in Washington, DC

A PER lens on the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology

The United Nations declared the year 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology to celebrate 100 years of quantum mechanics and increase public awareness of the importance of quantum science and applications. As quantum science and technology continues to rapidly develop, quantum ideas have moved from abstract mathematics to practical applications in communication, sensing, and computing. Thought experiments are continually being replaced with real, working, experiments, and in some cases commercialized technologies.

At our PERC 2025, we will focus on the various ways that PER can contribute to this larger global discussion. Every strand of PER has something to contribute. While early PER on quantum focused especially on conceptual understanding (which is still ongoing and important!), visualizations, and mathematical problem-solving, there is now research in labs, informal science education, affect, and interest formation. Our community's theoretical and empirical contributions to supporting a diverse and inclusive physics community need to be directed at quantum education as well.

The growth of quantum technology has also widened the audience for quantum physics. An increasing number of students in computing, engineering, and other sciences are interested in how quantum mechanics is affecting their field. There are many open PER questions about how to support learners from diverse disciplinary backgrounds as well. We hope PERC 2025 helps our PER community explore and identify the open questions and opportunities for new research in quantum science and technology education.

Organizing Committee

Beth Thacker, Texas Tech University (Co-chair)
Ben Zwickl, Rochester Institute of Technology and University of Oslo (Co-chair)
Amin Bayat Barooni, Georgia State University
Andi Piña, Rochester Institute of Technology
Farai Mazhandu, Colorado School of Mines, University of Witwatersrand
Will Riihiluoma, North Dakota State University

Important Dates

Tuesday, February 4, 2025: Parallel session proposal submission will open
Friday, April 4, 2025*: Parallel session proposals due
Saturday, April 5, 2025: Contributed poster abstract submission will open
Monday, June 2, 2025*: Community Connection proposals due
Monday, June 2, 2025*: Paper-eligible poster abstracts and Proceedings manuscripts due
Thursday, June 26, 2025*: Reviews for the PERC Proceedings due
Monday, July 14, 2025*: Non-paper eligible poster abstract submissions due
August 6-7, 2025: Dates of the PERC

* All deadlines occur at 11:59 PDT.