The essential work of cultivating inclusive environments in organizations, communities, and society too often falls to those who are themselves members of marginalized and underrepresented groups. This can be especially true in masculinized and male-dominated professions, where the conditions of work and productivity and the valuation of knowledge and skills has historically been defined by those with a combination of dominant social identities, such as being white, being male, being heterosexual, and being cisgender. A good example of such a profession is that of physics and physics education. More recently, there have been calls to move the work of inclusion from the margins of such environments more to the center. Such a movement could prove important in the process of recreating and positioning the work of inclusion as the obligation of everyone, rather than the responsibility of the marginalized and underrepresented. The purpose of this plenary paper is to discuss how bystander intervention and ally development frameworks can be utilized in physics education to promote and sustain greater inclusion for marginalized and underrepresented groups by framing inclusion as the obligation and responsibility of everyone.

J. C. Collins, Frameworks to enhance inclusion in physics education: everyone must participate, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.plenary.Collins.

After decades of interest in promoting diversity and inclusion in the field and higher education more broadly, physics and astronomy departments in American universities remain predominantly white and male. While some STEM fields have made progress in recent years towards correcting the historic overrepresentation of white men, 75% of physics and astronomy PhDs awarded in 2019 went to this demographic that constitutes only 30% of the US population, higher than chemistry, math, computer science, and engineering (NSF, 2019). This work seeks to understand the barriers to creating a more diverse field by examining how its cultural beliefs can work to maintain inequity in graduate programs. In this paper, we present a subset of the results from a larger study which used the lived experiences of 12 female and gender-non conforming students of color to understand how physics and astronomy graduate programs in American predominantly white institutions maintain equity gaps between majoritized and minoritized students. This paper focuses on the theme of equity work in departments, and how it relates to a foundational cultural belief in Western physics and astronomy: that physicists comprise an objective, cultureless, and apolitical community, impervious to social influence (Traweek, 1988). By contextualizing participants’ observations of attitudes, policies, and behaviors with the literature, we attempt to demonstrate a how departments can systematically prevent the advancement of equity goals, and subsequently, create negative outcomes for minoritized students. We emphasize the design of program structures as a critical point of intervention, and conclude the work with recommendations based on participant input.

F. N. Abdurrahman and A. R. Olmstead, Objectivity, culturelessness, and apoliticism: how cultural beliefs prevent the advancement of equity in astronomy graduate programs, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Abdurrahman.

Previous literature about students’ understanding of heat and temperature primarily emphasizes students’ misunderstandings of canonical physics concepts. In our study, we used a resources-oriented approach to analyze 653 student responses to questions about thermal phenomena, looking for ways in which their responses could serve as valuable resources for continued learning. We identified three common conceptual resources: (A) heat transfer is directional; (B) an object’s physical properties matter in thermal processes; and (C) hotter objects have more energy. These resources could be used to strengthen physics teaching by using students’ understandings of heat and temperature to support the development of more advanced physics ideas.

Y. M. Abraham, M. Valentin, B. Hansen, L. C. Bauman, and A. D. Robertson, Exploring student conceptual resources about heat and temperature, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Abraham.

Pre-assessments are a popular tool among researchers and instructors in higher education, but they may pose risks to students, instructors, and researchers that are largely unexplored. To investigate potential risks, we conducted ten semi-structured interviews with college students about their experiences taking pre-assessments. Students unanimously found pre-assessments to be non-threatening and their performance on them to be inconsequential, because they did not interpret them as a predictor of success or indicator of their inherent ability. Instead, students attributed their pre-assessment performance to having previously taken a relevant course with similar assessment items. As a result, half of the students were not motivated at all to put effort into taking the pre-assessment, especially for difficult items. Students believed that pre-assessments are intended to inform the instructor in making tailored course revisions to meet student needs. They valued pre-assessments more if they believed that the instructor uses the pre-assessment results to make course revisions, but half of the students doubted that their instructor would do so. Taken together, our findings suggest that pre-assessments do not pose a direct risk to students, but they may indirectly affect students’ learning experience or relationship with the instructor if the use of pre-assessments undermines the instructor’s credibility. Moreover, students’ lack of motivation to complete pre-assessments can render them an inaccurate measure for instructors and researchers. We therefore encourage instructors and researchers to clearly communicate the specific uses of pre-assessments to students before assigning them.

S. E. Allen, A. M. Phillips, and R. F. Kizilcec, Student perceptions of pre-assessments: "It's basically just guessing anyways", 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Allen.

Recent research on faculty adoption and adaptation of research-based instructional materials suggests that development and dissemination of such materials should center instructors’ productive ideas about teaching and learning and should build on instructors’ current instructional practices. We are focused on the development and dissemination of resources-oriented instructional materials—materials that elicit and build on students’ productive ideas. To inform this work, we interviewed 17 physics faculty members to understand their current ideas and practices, and what might make these materials appealing. In this paper, we illustrate three specific themes that we identified in physics faculty members’ resources-oriented perspectives of students’ ideas and learning. We find that faculty are captivated by the novelty of students’ ideas; notice consistencies between students’ prior knowledge and physics concepts; and identify contexts in which students’ ideas are correct. These themes inform curriculum development and dissemination efforts as well as research-based implementation materials that support instructors in their use of resources-oriented curricular materials.

L. C. Bauman, C. Mathis, S. B. McKagan, A. M. Madsen, K. Marvin, L. M. Goodhew, and A. D. Robertson, Centering physics faculty ideas about resources-oriented instruction, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Bauman.

Experiments are of central importance for the natural sciences in general and in science education in particular, but the learning gains that teachers expect from them often fall short of expectations. This is especially true for student experiments, which are often conducted in dyads or small groups. In such a collaborative form of experimentation, the successful execution of the experiment and thus the achievement of the goals of the learning activity also depends on the cooperation of the students, so that a lack of learning success can also be caused by insufficient collaboration. In this study, mobile eye trackers were used with N=40 students to record gaze behavior during collaborative experimentation in the context of geometrical optics in order to investigate the influence of Joint Visual Attention (JVA) on learning success during experimentation. A significant relationship between JVA and learning gains was found for the setup phase with respect to experiment setup. The results show that especially during the setup of the experiment a successful collaboration of the experiment partners is of high importance for later successful execution of the experiment and thus support measures in this phase, such as the targeted directing of the attention of both experiment partners, could lead to an increase of the learning gain.

S. Becker, S. Mukhametov, P. Pawels, and J. Kuhn, Using mobile eye tracking to capture joint visual attention in collaborative experimentation, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Becker.

Engaging with models has been considered central to the practice of doing science as it facilitates sensemaking of the world around us. Therefore, engaging students in the practice of using models is an important component of their science education. But to do so effectively, we also need to understand how students use models in their work. Consequently, we require a way to analyzing students' use of models. In the current work, we present an analytical framework which characterizes students' use of models by considering common themes from the existing literature on modeling in physics. These themes present themselves as five components: (i) Presence of a real-world phenomenon, (ii) Use of representation(s) depicting the phenomenon, (iii) Invoking of conceptual knowledge organized around representation(s), (iv) Presence of explanation/prediction about the phenomenon and (v) Linking the explanation/prediction to a representation through appropriate reasoning. Analysis of students' written and verbal responses to physics problems through these components indicate that students seldom link the predictions made to the representations through reasoning, and, when they do, representations are often mathematical equations even though diagrams are present in their solution.

P. D. O. Bergeron, A. Sirnoorkar, and J. T. Laverty, Towards an analytic framework for characterizing student use of models, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Bergeron.

This study investigated gender differences in perceived recognition as a physicist and its relation to physics identity. We surveyed 688 physics majors (228 women, 460 men) at a research-intensive university in the UK at both the lower and upper undergraduate levels with items measuring perceived recognition and physics identity. Similar to other studies, we find that women report lower recognition as a physicist from their instructors, families and friends compared to men. In contrast, there were no gender differences in students’ perceptions of friends asking them for their advice/input in physics-related problems. Perceived recognition from instructors was lower than recognition from family and friends for both men and women. We find that both perceived recognition from instructors and physics identity are significantly lesser for upper level students compared with lower level students. Multiple linear regressions for men and women students individually found that both perceived recognition from instructors and from family/friends predicted students’ physics identity. These results may indicate a shift in students’ understanding of what it means to be a physicist as they progress through the degree program. The results point to further research being needed to understand better the mechanism by which students form perceptions of instructors seeing them as physics people.

E. Bottomley, K. I. Mavor, P. J. Miles, A. Kohnle, and V. Wild, Gender effects in perceived recognition as a physicist and physics identity, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Bottomley.

Teachers in the United States rate their lives better than all other occupation groups, trailing only physicians. However, as a nation we face a shortage of qualified math and science teachers. Because students often turn to faculty members for career advice, it is important that faculty hold accurate and positive perceptions of grade 7-12 math and science teaching. To help identify faculty perceptions of the teaching career, an instrument known as the Perceptions of Teaching as a Profession in Higher Education (PTaP.HE) (Pronounced P-Taffy) was developed. In this work a reduced-basis factor analysis was performed on the PTaP.HE and eight underlying factors were identified. These factors provide insight into faculty thinking about grade 7-12 teaching. When survey data are analyzed by these underlying factors, it is found that faculty perceive themselves and their departments as supportive of those who want to pursue grade 7-12 math or science teaching. However, their perceptions of grade 7-12 math and science teaching are sometimes internally inconsistent, with some perceptions being positive and others negative. This work highlights the importance of sharing accurate information about the teaching career with faculty members, so they can in turn share accurate information with their students.

J. B. Breakall, S. L. Logan, and W. K. Adams, Faculty perceptions of grade 7-12 math and science teaching as a career: Evidence from a reduced-basis factor analysis of the PTAP.HE Instrument, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Breakall.

The Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism (CSEM) is a multiple-choice survey that contains a variety of electricity and magnetism concepts at the level of introductory physics used to help inform instructors of student mastery of those concepts. Prior studies suggest that many concepts on the survey are challenging for introductory physics students and the average student scores after traditional instruction are low. The research presented here compares the performance of students in introductory, upper-level, and graduate-level physics courses on five CSEM questions to understand the cross-sectional evolution of student understanding of these concepts from the introductory to upper-level to graduate-level. We discuss five CSEM questions that remain challenging for many upper-level and graduate students.

M. J. Brundage and C. Singh, Evolution in student conceptual understanding of electricity and magnetism, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Brundage.

Education researchers often compare performance across race and gender on research-based assessments of physics knowledge to investigate the impacts of racism and sexism on physics student learning. These investigations' claims rely on research-based assessments providing reliable, unbiased measures of student knowledge across social identity groups. We used classical test theory and differential item functioning (DIF) analysis to examine whether the items on the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) provided unbiased data across social identifiers for race, gender, and their intersections. The data was accessed through the Learning About STEM Student Outcomes platform and included responses from 4,848 students posttests in 152 calculus-based introductory physics courses from 16 institutions. The results indicated that the majority of items (22) on the FCI were biased towards a group. These results point to the need for instrument validation to account for item bias and the identification or development of fair research-based assessments.

J. B. Buncher, J. M. Nissen, B. Van Dusen, R. M. Talbot III, and H. Huvard, Bias on the Force Concept Inventory across the intersection of gender and race, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Buncher.

The process and role of developing new scientific models experimentally is a cornerstone of physics -- and arguably an important learning objective of laboratory courses -- but research in physics education suggests that the content-focused, ``cookbook'' paradigm of lab instruction common in the last 2-3 decades does not effectively meet this objective. These instructional practices often leave students believing that in-class experiments exist to supplement conceptual learning and that the sole purpose of real-world experiments is to test theories. As a result, many students frame lab work as an exercise in knowledge confirmation, and often develop the expectation that all physics that appears in the labs can be found with a Google search. Framing a real-world lab such that its results are Google-proof enough to engage students in the process of scientific discovery requires great creativity. This paper describes an alternative approach, using virtual reality to integrate the process of authentic scientific discovery into the lab curriculum. We developed labs in which students explore and develop mathematical models for unknown force laws between new kinds of particles that we invented. We find that this intervention produced significant shifts in students' epistemologies about experimental physics toward being more expertlike -- specifically regarding the central role experimentation plays for research physicists in making new discoveries and developing theories, and the role of laboratory experiments in teaching a nuanced and unique scientific way of knowing.

J. P. Canright and S. White Brahmia, Developing expertlike epistemologies about physics empirical discovery using virtual reality, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Canright.

We are interested in better understanding ways that students collaborate to solve conceptual physics problems in the context of spherical unit vectors in upper-level E&M, especially problems that have been shown to be difficult for students to solve individually on their own, but which groups of students have been more successful at. Using think-aloud interviews with students in small groups, we ask them to solve together on a large whiteboard conceptual problems from this E&M context. The interviews were video and audio recorded, and qualitatively analyzed using an emergent coding method and the resources framework. Through this analysis, we observed one common mechanism in all three group-interviews whereby students collaborated effectively: first one student activated a conceptual resource and expressed it, then another student took up that idea, and finally the whole group together used that idea to move forward with the problem. This mechanism exemplifies a newer framework: shared resources. We further analyzed students’ collaboration through the lens of shared resources and identified multiple instances. We propose that the shared resources construct could be a potential tool to help understand how students collaborate in solving conceptual physics problems. In this paper, we report our methodology and the results from one group interview to illustrate one shared resource we identified and the role it played in helping students collaboratively solve the conceptual problem in this context. Future work and implications for instruction are suggested.

Y. Cao and B. E. Hinrichs, Analyzing students’ collaboratively solving spherical unit vector problems in upper-level E&M through a lens of shared resources, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Cao.

Physics is a degree that supports many career paths, and students often develop preferences for particular methods, such as theoretical, computational or experimental. However, it is not well understood how those preferences develop and affect students' later career decisions. We used Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) as the basis for interpreting students' decision-making processes. SCCT provides a framework for connecting learning experiences, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations with students' interests, goals, and decisions. Semi-structured interviews with 8 physics students were conducted. This analysis focuses primarily on a single student to provide space to explore all three method specializations (theory, computation, and experiment) in more depth. We find that the availability of resources and learning opportunities had a significant impact on students' career choices. Theoretical and computational experiences were readily available through classwork, undergraduate research, and could be worked on at home and in peer study groups. Students lacked the ability to work on experimental physics outside of infrequent classroom opportunities and could not build peer networks that supported their experimental skill growth, which was linked to lower interest and self-efficacy in regards to experimental physics.

P. Cardona, D. Zohrabi Alaee, and B. M. Zwickl, Access to opportunities affects physics majors' interest and choice of methods specialization, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Cardona.

As the field of Quantum Information Science (QIS) continues to advance, there is an increased need for a quantum-smart workforce to address the needs of the growing quantum industry. As institutions begin to expand their course offerings, there is a unique opportunity for discipline-based education researchers to have an impact on the curricular and pedagogical choices being made in these courses. As a first step, it is necessary for education researchers to have a representative picture of what QIS education currently looks like. We reviewed recent course catalogues from a large sample of institutions in the United States looking for courses focused on QIS content. Our conservative analysis reveals that roughly a quarter of the institutions we reviewed offer QIS courses. While encouraging for such an emerging field, we found disparities in the types of institutions offering these courses as the vast majority were Doctoral-granting institutions. Additionally, we found that some classifications of minority serving institutions were much less likely to offer a QIS course (for example Historically Black Colleges and Universities or Predominantly Black Institutions), while Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander serving institutions were more likely than the national average to offer a QIS course. These disparities may lead to further racial, socioeconomic, and geographic disparity in the future quantum workforce. We also found that there was no single department that offered a majority of the QIS courses, indicating that the best efforts to improve QIS education will need to consider the multi-disciplinary nature of the field of quantum information science.

B. Cervantes, G. Passante, B. R. Wilcox, and S. J. Pollock, An Overview of Quantum Information Science Courses at US Institutions, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Cervantes.

Postsecondary STEM instruction often does not meet the diverse needs, abilities, and interests of postsecondary STEM learners. The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework provides ideas for designing instructional environments to support learner variation. However, existing tools do not meet the professional development needs of many postsecondary STEM instructors, or the research needs of some discipline-based education researchers. Enacting and assessing UDL in postsecondary STEM requires expertise form three stakeholder groups: postsecondary STEM instructors, experts in disability and UDL, and discipline-based education researchers. Building on prior work with UDL in postsecondary STEM, our multi-disciplinary team developed the Universal Design for Learning Instructional Practice Observation Protocol (UDL-IPOP). The UDL-IPOP has one-to-one alignment with the finest-grain descriptors (i.e., checkpoints) in the UDL framework as well as exemplar practices to explicate UDL-aligned instructional practices for postsecondary STEM. After drafting an initial version of the UDL-IPOP, we discussed it with representatives from the three relevant stakeholder groups. Here, we describe practices that aligned with the UDL framework. Then, we discuss initial impressions about which practices postsecondary STEM instructors likely already implement and ideas from disability experts about how STEM instructors could deepen their UDL practice. Overall, we find that postsecondary STEM instructors and disability experts focused on different types of learner variation. We suggest that collaborating with disability experts could provide a necessary “lens change” to better support variation in postsecondary STEM learners’ needs, abilities, and interests.

J. J. Chini, E. K. H. Saitta, A. Kara, and E. M. Scanlon, Explicating Universal Design for Learning-aligned instructional practices for postsecondary STEM, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Chini.

In a prior study, we investigated graduate student reasoning on a set of entropy-related conceptual tasks in a think-aloud format. The tasks involved entropy from microscopic and macroscopic perspectives, ideal gases, and a novel context involving a system with a dynamic string. In the current study, we conducted interviews with undergraduates using the same questionnaire. Most students were interviewed during the second half of their upper-division Thermal Physics course at the University of Colorado Boulder while two were upper-division undergraduates from other institutions with strong physics programs. We analyze the responses of the undergraduates to a section of the interview involving a novel system of a dynamic string waving in a bath of water and discuss the similarities and differences between the undergraduate and graduate students' responses. The responses from the two populations share many similarities with a few noteworthy exceptions. The undergraduates generally did not produce multiple macrostate classifications in the novel system, and some expressed a concern with what they perceived to be an infinite number of microstates---and thus infinite entropy---which was not a concern among the graduate students.

N. Crossette, M. Vignal, and B. R. Wilcox, Comparing undergraduate and graduate student reasoning on a conceptual entropy questionnaire, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Crossette.

The entanglement between physical and mathematical reasoning can be exploited for problem solving, making physical/mathematical coherence seeking a desirable learning goal. Our research aim is to contribute an empirical example of physical/mathematical coherence seeking during physics problem solving. Drawing from a video corpus of 18 interviews with students solving qualitative E&M problems, we present a case study of how and why a student reasons coherently with physical entities/processes and mathematical equations across three lines of reasoning. We focus especially on the role of the student’s attempt to seek coherence, which explains their serious consideration of a contradiction that arises between a physical and a mathematical line of reasoning. Even after reaching the correct conclusion, the student recruits a third line of reasoning involving ideas from outside the explicit problem statement to resolve the contradiction. We end by discussing hypotheses about how instruction in physical/mathematical coherence seeking could support students in problem solving.

G. S. Ehrlich, K. Gifford, E. Kuo, and E. Bumbacher, Seeking physical/mathematical coherence by recruiting and reconciling reasoning: A case study in E&M, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Ehrlich.

The sudden transition to remote instruction left many introductory physics students with limited opportunities for meaningful interpersonal interactions with their classmates and instructors. Students reported discouragement over their ability to learn new concepts, and lack of motivation to engage in the courses. In response, we formed “Learning Pods” - online learning communities of small student groups connected through Slack and mentored in collaboration skills. Summer of 2020, Learning Pods became an organizing structure of the remotely delivered introductory calculus-based mechanics course. In subsequent terms, features of the Learning Pod Intervention varied as we scaled up from courses with ~100 students to those with 300-500 students. Based on analysis of student survey questions, we present preliminary indicators of increased student self-efficacy and improved engagement with instructors and peers. Improved self-efficacy and engagement have been correlated with improved success and persistence, especially for students from groups underrepresented in physics. We observe that explicitly incorporating collaboration as instructional material and setting up structures to facilitate communication increased student self-efficacy and interactivity. In addition, TA facilitation of synchronous activities to foster effective collaboration lowered barriers for students reaching out to them. Overall, instructor and TA efforts to increase effective collaboration and communication had a positive impact on student self-efficacy and engagement, and the more structured and explicit interventions had more impact.

Y. W. Elhady, C. Zimmerman, and S. White Brahmia, Effects of facilitating collaboration in large-enrollment introductory physics courses, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Elhady.

We surveyed educators and college students on their perceptions of a set of physics simulations with and without non-speech auditory display. In this work, we analyzed responses to a single open-ended text prompt from the surveys and found themes related to multimodality and inclusion. In their consideration of the auditory display, some educators and students noted the complementary interplay of the auditory and visual displays, while others noted that the auditory display can serve to augment the primary modality of the visual display. Educators also identified specific groups of learners that could potentially benefit or be negatively impacted by the auditory display, including older learners, younger learners, those with certain "learning styles", and learners with sensory disabilities. This work is part of a larger effort to expand the auditory display of physics simulations to advance inclusive learning tools, and to investigate educator and student use and perceptions of multimodal physics simulations.

B. L. Fiedler, E. B. Moore, T. Sawyer, and B. N. Walker, Multimodality and inclusion: Educator perceptions of physics simulation auditory display, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Fiedler.

Nowadays computation is considered to be one of the pillars of modern science. This is reflected in the fact that much scientific research and industry work relies heavily on technology and computation. As university educators we need to equip graduates with the tools to help them succeed in their discipline. The study reported here is part of a larger project which aims to identify computational practices used by faculty from across the College of Science in an R1 Irish university in their disciplines and research, in order to inform the design of a computational science course intended for first-year undergraduate students. This paper reports on findings from one-to-one interviews with fourteen faculty from across six schools in the college. Their understanding of the nature of computational thinking and their views on the role that computation does/can play in the undergraduate science curriculum, and specifically in teaching and learning within their disciplinary program are presented. Concerns and challenges related to the embedding of computation in undergraduate science programs voiced by participants are presented here. Finally, implications of the findings for the design of the first year computational science course are discussed

C. Fracchiolla and M. Meehan, Computational practices in introductory science courses, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Fracchiolla.

This study examines survey data from 2,129 undergraduate women at the 2015 and 2019 American Physical Society Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP) in order to classify what led them to study physics. We use expectancy-value and self-efficacy theory to create a coding framework based on different types of value and efficacy expectations in order to group responses. We find that the most common attractions are social persuasion, which is due to pressure or persuasion from people around the students, and intrinsic value, which is related to the inherent value of engaging in physics.

M. Franklin, E. Brewe, A. R. Ponnock, and R. M. Goertzen, Examining reasons undergraduate women join physics, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Franklin.

We report our preliminary efforts to evaluate a departmental project: the inclusion of computational methods across our undergraduate curriculum. Our overarching goal is for students to consider computational approaches as a “normal” way to solve physics problems, on par with analytical approaches. In this paper, we focus on our efforts to evaluate the development of our students’ attitudes and self-efficacy with respect to key computational methods. We describe our efforts to develop and deploy a survey instrument students complete each semester. This allows us to study, e.g., the points in the curriculum at which students gain confidence with particular methods, or adopt more expert-like attitudes regarding computation in general. We investigated the reliability of our instrument using a split-half process and found the Spearman-Brown coefficients for unequal length were r = 0.818, r = 0.895, and r = 0.917 for the three constructs in our survey. We also provide preliminary data from the early use of the survey and outline next steps for the project.

A. Gavrin, G. Vemuri, and D. Maric, Preliminary efforts to evaluate an initiative introducing computation across the undergraduate physics curriculum, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Gavrin.

Inclusivity is a premise for successful scientific discourse in the endeavor of gaining a broader understanding. In this work therefore, we elicit different “schools of thought” in the context of flight physics for reducing unconsciously exclusionary practices. For decades aerodynamic lift explanations have been a highly controversial topic in PER – and they still are. However, the discussion has always been mainly driven by disjunct models and hermeneutical arguments. This paper tries to carve out empirically different “schools of thoughts” by asking 400+ university students at different institutions about their agreement to various explanations for aerodynamic lift. The study was accompanied by the expert-validated Flight Physics Concept Inventory (FliP-CoIn) and therefore can differentiate what high performers, low performers and flight instructors think. The results surprised even the authors: Among many other findings, this study revealed that – within ONE mind – naive concepts can coexist with expert concepts and that this phenomenon is especially prevalent among high scoring individuals of the FliP-CoIn instrument.

F. Genz and K. A. Falconer, Naïve concepts of aerodynamic lift – data lessons from different (learning) cultures, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Genz.

Selection and application of an appropriate equation is a key step in instructional problem-solving strategies. But what if one cannot exactly recall the relevant equation? We are currently investigating how coherence between physical and mathematical reasoning opens multiple solution pathways for qualitative physics problems. In one-on-one interviews, community college students, 4-year college undergraduates, and graduate students solved qualitative introductory-level E&M questions. Analysis of 18 interviews showed that while many students had initial difficulty in recalling a relevant equation, they demonstrated strategies for making progress. We present two cases from the data corpus. One interviewee was unsure whether the time constant for an RC circuit is RC or 1/(RC) and sought coherence with qualitative reasoning to determine the correct expression. Another student switched to reasoning qualitatively from a physical model after noting that they could not recall a relevant equation. These examples show how mathematical and physical reasoning is opportunistically incorporated in students’ problem solving.

K. Gifford, G. S. Ehrlich, E. Bumbacher, and E. Kuo, Seeking coherence and switching reasoning after forgetting an equation, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Gifford.

In this project, we sought to uncover the cognitive processes and skills that are involved in completing a theoretical physics project. Theoretical physics is often portrayed as a field requiring individual genius and can seem inaccessible to undergraduate students, as well as the public. We drew upon the foundations of Cognitive Task Analysis and completed semi-structured interviews with eleven theoretical physics faculty members from several different research institutions who specialized in subfields including quantum optics, biophysics, computational astrophysics, and string theory. We analyzed the processes and skills of these physicists, focusing on an analysis of idea origin, which is typically the first cognitive process within a project, and how it was connected to collaboration and motivation. We used concept maps to organize these codes and portray the factors that influence the creation of project ideas. We found that motivation and collaboration are fundamental determinants of project ideas and their origins, which contradicts the “lone genius” stereotype. These findings on cognitive processes and skills can help us understand how to better prepare students to do theoretical physics research. Finally, the information gathered during this project may be useful for improving the public understanding of theoretical physics, dispelling the belief that the field requires “genius,” and making it accessible to more students.

M. Griston, J. Botello, M. Verostek, and B. M. Zwickl, When the light bulb turns on: motivation and collaboration spark the creation of ideas for theoretical physicists, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Griston.

Much existing physics education research (PER) on student ideas about momentum focuses on the difficulties that students face when learning this topic. These difficulties are framed as obstacles for students to overcome in order to develop correct understandings of physics. Our research takes a resources-oriented approach to analyzing student responses to momentum questions, viewing student ideas as valuable and potentially productive for learning, over and above their correctness. Here, we highlight four conceptual resources that provide insight into students’ ideas about momentum, which are the conservation resource, direction resource, collisions resource and properties resource. These resources are context-dependent and could be elicited and built on by instructors to support students in developing more complex and sophisticated understandings of physics.

B. Hansen, L. C. Bauman, Y. M. Abraham, M. Valentin, and A. D. Robertson, Identifying student resources for understanding linear momentum, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Hansen.

DBER attracts many faculty from other STEM disciplines, and these faculty have little or no specific training in DBER. DBER requires a mastery of quantitative, qualitative, and/or mixed methodologies, and also a nuanced understanding of breadth of topic, research questions, and theoretical frameworks. This interdisciplinarity is particularly challenging for emerging DBER researchers who often switch into DBER with only discipline specific content and research training. As part of a large study about how STEM faculty become involved with DBER, we interviewed a number of emerging DBER faculty about their pathways into DBER. We conducted a thematic analysis of these interviews grounded in the theoretical frameworks of the reasoned action approach and conjecture mapping. Based on our analysis we identified 3 roles that support new faculty entering DBER. These roles are the peer, the subject matter expert, and the project manager.

C. A. F. Hass, E. Hancock, S. Wilson, S. El-Adawy, and E. C. Sayre, Community Roles for Supporting Emerging Education Researchers, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Hass.

The research in electricity and magnetism has commonly focused on problem-solving abilities and the application of physical principles. Several studies have found that some concepts represent a challenge for undergraduate students, such as Gauss's and Ampere's laws. The inability to identify and analyze the symmetry of field and field source distributions and focus on the surface features of these electricity and magnetism systems are two of the main difficulties associated with these laws. We present this study with a different perspective of observing 322 introductory electricity and magnetism students' understanding of these laws with unconventional shapes for the field sources' enclosing objects. We use a phenomenographic approach to detect difficulties and compare the two contexts. Our main findings suggest that some students make an incomplete or incorrect analysis of the situation when referring to its surface features. The confusions between flux and field in the electric context or between circulation and field in the magnetic context persist. Finally, we present recommendations for teachers to approach these difficulties.

E. Hernandez, E. Campos, P. Barniol, and G. Zavala, Comparing students' understanding of Gauss's and Ampere's laws with field sources in square-like symmetries, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Hernandez.

Research-validated clicker questions as instructional tools for formative assessment are relatively easy to implement and can provide effective scaffolding when developed and implemented in a sequence. We present findings from the implementation of a research-validated Clicker Question Sequence (CQS) on student understanding of the time-development of two-state quantum systems. This study was conducted in an advanced undergraduate quantum mechanics course. The effectiveness of the CQS was determined by evaluating students’ performance after traditional lecture-based instruction and comparing it to their performance after engaging with the CQS.

P. T. Hu, Y. Li, and C. Singh, Using a clicker question sequence to teach time-development in quantum mechanics, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Hu.

With the ongoing antiracism movement in the United States, there is a call for physics teachers to incorporate equity-based and antiracist activities and curricula into their classrooms. In an online summer professional development course for high school physics teachers, we listened to participants define and compare antiracism and equity. We identified three framings (dual, part-whole, and developmental) that characterize these high school physics teachers’ conceptions of the relationship between equity and antiracism. The framings offer insights into physics teachers’ notions of anti-racist practice in relation to equity and their concerns regarding enacting equity and antiracism in teaching practice.

T. Huynh, L. C. Bauman, A. D. Robertson, and R. E. Scherr, Physics teachers’ framings of the relationship between equity and antiracism, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Huynh.

Understanding the nature of causality is a key component of conceptual understanding in science. The hypothesis of this study is that certain types of causal inference are more challenging than others. If correct, particularly challenging causal inferences may provide a unified explanation for different conceptual difficulties across physics content areas. This paper investigates two aspects of a simple, qualitative force-and-motion problem that may impact the difficulty of the causal inferences required. The first aspect is the type of causal inference required: cause-to-effect (CE), effect-to-cause (EC), or cause-to-cause (CC). The second aspect is information about an alternative cause, which can be explicitly constant, explicitly unknown, or ambiguous. To test the impact of these two problem aspects on participants inference accuracy we conducted an on-line experiment in which participants were randomly assigned to one of thirty-six conditions that systematically varied these two aspects across conditions. The results show that (i) for explicitly constant alternative causes, CC inferences are more difficult than CE or EC inferences, (ii) inferences given explicitly unknown alternative cause information are more difficult than inferences given explicitly constant alternative causes, and (iii) ambiguous alternative cause information is treated as implying the alternative causes are explicitly constant, which is in line with conversational assumptions rather than a formal, logical perspective. These results hint at the potential fruitfulness of understanding the causal inferences underlying conceptual difficulties in physics.

S. Jaramillo, E. Kuo, B. M. Rottman, and T. J. Nokes-Malach, Investigating causal inference difficulties with a simple, qualitative force-and-motion problem, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Jaramillo.

This study is situated within possible selves theory to explore how senior undergraduate students in STEM develop and envision their future possible selves after graduation. We interviewed students at an urban institution in the US and encouraged them to think about who they will be in the future associated with their future career choices. This study presents two case studies: Ricky and Francisco. These two students discuss a variety of academic contexts through which they negotiate and explore career-related possible selves: conferences, experiences from classes and research, maintained aspirations for science, and dissatisfaction with education from high school. However, we found that in some cases, academic contexts alone are not enough to help students develop future possible selves. Rather, they intersect with social contexts (social identity, out-of-school experiences) through which possible selves emerge. Our findings suggest that students might need more than just classroom-based lessons to explore their possible selves. Implications from this research can benefit the ongoing curriculum development aiming at increasing students' interests in STEM-related careers and building a meaningful professional life after graduation.

H. Khong, B. C. Lohman, N. Foth, and E. C. Sayre, Senior undergraduate students developing and envisioning possible selves after graduation, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Khong.

As instructors and curriculum developers examine the role of physics lab in introductory courses, researchers are beginning to attend to students’ affective experiences such as attitudes about experimentation and sense of agency. We expand on this work by exploring the relationships between emotional states and students’ self-efficacy, sense of agency, and interest in the context of physics lab activities. We administered pre- and post-surveys to students in two calculus-based introductory physics courses to gauge students’ perceptions of the lab activities with regard to their emotional states, self-efficacy, sense of agency, and interest. Students attend studio sessions twice per week and the lab activities are interspersed throughout the semester. The labs are primarily designed to reinforce physics concepts that were introduced to students the previous day in an interactive lecture session. Our results indicated that students’ self-efficacy and sense of agency are tightly related to one another in the context of these physics labs. However, we found few clear and consistent trends between students’ emotional states and their self-efficacy, sense of agency, and interest.

M. Kinnischtzke and E. M. Smith, Investigating relationships between emotional states and self-efficacy, agency, and interest in introductory labs, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Kinnischtzke.

Attending to students' motivation to adopt computation as a physics practice is essential in effectively integrating computation into physics education. Within the Communities of Practice (COP) framework, addressing this motivational need involves inducting students into the community's sense of joint enterprise, which includes physicists' motivating reasons for adopting computational practices. We used the COP framework to interview students and instructors in the semester after they completed a set of computationally integrated upper division physics courses. This timing allowed us to assess students' perceptions of computation after they were no longer required to engage in computation in their coursework. This article discusses the reasons for using computation in physics identified by these students and instructors. We find that the students saw computation as a normative physics practice, and that they identified reasons for using computation that are consistent with those held by their instructors and the broader physics community. However, we also observe differences in the ways that these instructors and students articulated these reasons: The instructors drew on their research experience with computation, while the students drew on experience from coursework; each student tended to focus their overall discussion on a smaller subset of reasons than the instructors did; and students tended to discuss reasons in isolation, while instructors tended to interweave multiple reasons. We interpret these differences based on the students' positions and trajectories within the physics community.

W. B. Lane and C. Headley, Comparison of student and instructor reasons for using computation, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Lane.

National calls to transform laboratory courses by making them more discovery based can be met by engaging students in multi-week final projects. One plausible outcome of this approach is that students may feel ownership of their projects. We define ownership as a dynamic relationship between students and their projects characterized by three student-project interactions that evolve over three project phases. Student-project interactions include students' contributions to, emotional responses to, and new understanding of the project. Phases include choosing the topic and team, carrying out the research, and creating and presenting end-of-project deliverables. Drawing on interviews with students collected as part of a multi-year, multi-institutional study, this paper will elaborate on the evolution of students' own new knowledge about the project across different project phases. Throughout our work, we compare the type of ownership that manifests when students work on projects in a lab course to the type of ownership gardeners feel when tending to plots in a community garden. We end with recommendations for instructors wishing to foster project ownership in their lab courses.

I. C. Lassen, A. Arielle-Evans, L. Ríos, H. J. Lewandowski, and D. R. Dounas-Frazer, Student ownership and understanding of multi-week final projects, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Lassen.

Quantum uncertainty is a fundamental concept in quantum mechanics, but challenging for students to master. In this article, we describe student difficulties with visual and conceptual understanding of quantum uncertainty in the context of discrete probability distributions such as those for a spin 1/2 particle. We collected written responses from students at two institutions to a homework activity focusing on uncertainty of spin measurement outcomes, as well as written responses to a test question from one of the institutions. We also conducted interviews with six students to gain further insight into difficulties found. Common incorrect ideas found included a depiction of uncertainty as the error around each of the individual measurement outcomes, not depicting the uncertainty region from the expectation value outwards, and the idea that quantum uncertainty of an observable can never be zero. These ideas may indicate a confusion between quantum uncertainty and errors due to instrumental imperfections of the measurement apparatus, a lack of conceptual understanding of quantum uncertainty as the standard deviation of the probability distribution with respect to its mean, and an incorrect interpretation of the uncertainty relation between two incompatible observables to deduce that quantum uncertainty can never be zero. The results of this study show the importance of supporting students in visual and conceptual understanding of quantum uncertainty.

Y. Li, A. Kohnle, and G. Passante, Student difficulties with quantum uncertainty in the context of discrete probability distributions, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Li.

Students often struggle to decompose a vector, especially when calculating the force components of an object on an inclined plane. In this study, we designed an online vector survey in the context of physics and implemented it in a primarily undergraduate university. The study focuses on the students' learning difficulties and teaching strategies associated with vector decomposition on inclined planes. The analysis of the students' responses indicates that translating a vector to the position with geometric convenience can help them identify angles and calculate vector components on inclined planes more accurately; when students are provided with the definition of the angle in the vector component formula, their performance improves.

D. Liu and H. Mohattala, A study of undergraduates' understanding of vector - decomposition of forces on inclined planes, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Liu.

There is an ongoing shortage of STEM teachers in the United States, and the teaching profession consistently struggles to recruit a diverse body of teachers whose demographics match those of their students. The shortage of STEM teachers and the lack of diversity in the profession have negative implications for student success in STEM fields, particularly among underrepresented groups. We have developed a survey and collected data on student perceptions of the teaching profession at 46 Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) across the country, including several Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). We have analyzed these data with respect to institution type to determine whether perceptions of the profession may be a factor in recruiting and retaining a diverse body of teachers. We found that perceptions generally do not differ greatly between MSIs and non-MSIs and that students at MSIs tend to have slightly more positive views than those at non-MSIs. We also found that some variation exists for individual institution types, particularly Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs).

S. L. Logan, J. B. Breakall, and W. K. Adams, A comparison of student perceptions of the teaching profession at minority-serving and non-minority-serving institutions, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Logan.

With the integration of computation into physics courses becoming more prevalent to adequately prepare our graduates for the workforce, there is a need for instructional and assessment materials for computational practices. In introductory physics courses, computation is typically used to model motion and so while loops are one of the first components of programs that students encounter. Our study examines and compares students' conception of the while loop following the completion of three computational problems and their engagement with the while loop in a new computational problem. We present three student cases who have similar conceptions of the while loop with aspects including its update function and the connection of lines of code in the while loop, specifically in how force, position, and momentum depend on each other. Despite their similar conception of the while loop, there is a variation in the outcomes of their engagement with the while loop in a new computational problem.

G. Mackessy, P. W. Irving, M. D. Caballero, and L. Doughty, Comparing student conceptions and construction of while loops in modeling motion, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Mackessy.

The importance of motivational characteristics in physics education has been increasingly recognized in recent years, with prior studies establishing a framework for how students’ identity as a physics person is composed of their perceived recognition by physics instructors and peers, along with their physics self-efficacy and interest. We seek to extend this research beyond introductory physics students by using five years of cross-sectional data collected from motivational surveys administered to physics majors throughout their undergraduate education and to the first-year physics Ph.D. students at a large research university in the US. We find that physics majors in the first year tend to respond to the motivational survey prompts more positively than their non-physics major peers, though with a smaller mean difference in self-efficacy than in the other motivational beliefs. Further, on average, the responses of physics majors over time from their first year of the undergraduate curriculum through the first year of graduate school remain largely consistent, indicating that students are constantly adjusting their interpretation of the survey items to match the current level of expertise in physics courses they are taking. Finally, consistent with prior studies with introductory physics students, we find that perceived recognition is the best predictor of physics identity for physics majors throughout their entire education in physics, pointing to the importance of physics instructors making a concerted effort to constantly recognize their students throughout as people who can excel in physics.

A. Maries, K. M. Whitcomb, and C. Singh, A cross-sectional analysis of physics self-efficacy, perceived recognition, interest and identity of physics majors, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Maries.

We discuss an investigation of upper-level undergraduate and graduate students’ difficulties with fundamental concepts involving a system of identical particles. The investigation was carried out in advanced quantum mechanics courses by administering written questions and conducting individual interviews with students. We find that students share many common difficulties related to these quantum mechanical concepts, e.g., with regard to the many-particle Hamiltonian and stationary state wavefunctions for a system of non-interacting identical particles.

E. Marshman, C. Keebaugh, and C. Singh, Student difficulties with the basics for a system of non-interacting identical particles, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Marshman.

Physics is perceived to have a “culture” of exclusion, which includes not embracing individuals from certain demographics who are underrepresented in the field. Many who are from underrepresented groups have stated they feel impacted by cultural pressures to assimilate to what is traditionally considered a “physics person.” In order to better understand these cultural pressures, this study examines statements from two physics teachers who participated in a summer professional development (PD) workshop. During the summer PD, the two teachers participated in sessions where they made statements that described how physics culture impacted their identity and understanding of equity, which ultimately shaped their approach towards teaching. Analysis of teachers’ statements showed that physics culture impacted the teachers' views on instruction in the areas of inclusivity and shaping students' physics identity. This study has implications for research on the role of physics culture and how it impacts underrepresented students’ and teachers' identity and approach to equity.

C. Mathis and A. D. Robertson, The Role of Physics Culture in Shaping In-Service Physics Teacher Identities and Framings of Equity: Two Case Studies, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Mathis.

Generating graphical representations is an essential skill for productive student engagement in physics laboratory settings, and is a key component in developing representational competency (RC). As physics lab courses have been reformed to prioritize student engagement in authentic scientific skills and practices, students experience additional freedom to decide what data to include in graphs and what types of graph(s) would allow for appropriate sensemaking towards answering experimental questions. With this, however, there is a dearth of PER literature highlighting the strategies students use while working to generate graphs using their own experimental data. This paper presents a case study analysis of a student group’s lab investigation to call attention to how students enact various productive strategies when working towards generating graphical representations in an introductory physics laboratory course. Results of this case study analysis identify three productive strategies students enact when working to generate graphs in lab settings, each of which is related to aspects of representational competency (RC): 1) identifying (potential) covarying quantities; 2) choosing representative data subsets suitable for representation; and 3) iteratively reducing data and generating graphs to assess graph’s viability in answering research questions. Our analysis also shows how students frequently refer back to their experimental goals and hypotheses when deciding what strategies to enact to generate graphs.

J. M. May, L. A. Barth-Cohen, and A. L. Adams, Students’ productive strategies when generating graphical representations: An undergraduate laboratory case study, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.May.

An emerging body of research suggests that, even after research-based instruction, poor student performance on certain physics tasks may stem primarily from domain-general reasoning phenomena rather than from a lack of conceptual understanding. The reasoning patterns (and inconsistencies) reported in these studies may be explained by dual-process theories of reasoning (DPToR). In order to help students strengthen their reasoning skills and support increased cognitive reflection, there is a need to design and test instructional intervention strategies that leverage DPToR and that may ultimately guide the development of research-based curricular materials that attend to the nature of human reasoning more explicitly. This investigation focused on an intervention designed to support analytical processing in which students were asked to set aside their own reasoning and engage in alternative lines of reasoning. In the intervention, students first responded to a qualitative physics task, then constructed reasoning chains in support of answers to that task given by two fictitious students, and finally revisited the original physics task. Analysis revealed that this intervention was successful at improving student performance. Furthermore, it appears to have supported students regardless of their cognitive reflection skills, and its effectiveness may potentially be correlated with the quality of reasoning chains generated in support of the correct fictitious student's response.

M. Mays, M. R. Stetzer, and B. A. Lindsey, Supporting student construction of alternative lines of reasoning, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Mays.

Professional development is an effective way to diffuse evidence-based instructional practices and support their implementation. At the same time, assessing the impacts of professional development opportunities in physics education is still an emerging field. In this paper, we examine the efficacy of an assessment instrument based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, a theoretical framework originating from psychology. The theory has been used in other fields to understand and predict behaviors, but it has not been utilized in STEM Education research. The theory posits that participants’ attitudes, norms, and perceived behavioral control beliefs toward a particular behavior (e.g., implementation of active learning) predict intentions which, in turn, determine and explain that behavior. Previous work presented empirical data that shows a link exists between intentions (as measured by the instrument) and adoption of active learning strategies (as measured by the COPUS observation protocol). In this paper, we focus on examining evidence for the validity and reliability of measurements produced by the instrument, which is necessary to provide further validity to the empirical results of the prior study. We also discuss the retrospective pre-test methodology for data collection which helps minimize the effects of biases associated with self-reported data collected via traditional pre-post survey administrations. We use Arjoon, Xu, and Lewis’s framework for validity and provide evidence for the reliability, internal structure, and temporal stability of our measures. We will also compare results from our instrument to those obtained using the Approaches to Teaching Inventory.

A. McInerny, M. Kryjevskaia, and A. Leontyev, Examining the efficacy of a professional development assessment tool, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.McInerny.

Significant focus in the PER community has been paid to student reasoning in undergraduate quantum mechanics. However, these same topics have remained largely unexplored in the context of emerging interdisciplinary quantum information science (QIS) courses. We conducted 15 exploratory think-aloud interviews with students in an upper-division quantum computing course at a large R1 university cross-listed in the physics and computer science departments. Focusing on responses to one particular problem, we identify two notably consistent problem-solving strategies across students in the context of a particular interview prompt, which we term Naive Measurement Probabilities (NMP) and Virtual Quantum Computer (VQC), respectively. Operating from a resources framework, we interpret these strategies as choices of coherent (and potentially mutually-generative) sets of resources to employ and available actions to perform.

J. C. Meyer, G. Passante, S. J. Pollock, M. Vignal, and B. R. Wilcox, Investigating students’ strategies for interpreting quantum states in an upper-division quantum computing course, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Meyer.

In this work we report on a pilot study where we used machine learning to predict whether students will correctly solve the classic “ballistic pendulum” problem based on an essay written by students elucidating their approach to solving the problem. Specifically, students were asked to describe the “principles, assumptions, and approximations” they used to solve the problem. Student essays were codified using the practices of natural language processing. Essays from two non-consecutive semesters were used for training/validation (N = 1441) and testing (N=1480). The final model used to make predictions was an ensemble classification scheme using random forest, eXtreme Gradient Boosting classifier (XGBoost), and logistic regression as estimators. Our accuracy in predicting students’ correctness was around 80% with slightly higher accuracy in identifying students who incorrectly solved the problem and slightly lower in predicting student who correctly solved the problem.

J. Munsell, N. S. Rebello, and C. M. Rebello, Using natural language processing to predict student problem solving performance, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Munsell.

The American Physical Society calls on its members to improve the diversity of physics by supporting an inclusive culture that encourages women and Black, Indigenous, and people of color to become physicists. Introductory physics courses provide opportunities for recruiting and retaining diverse students or enacting policies and cultural practices that disproportionately harm students from minoritized groups. Introductory calculus-based electricity and magnetism courses have received far less attention from researchers than introductory mechanics courses. To better understand the role introductory electricity and magnetism courses play in the lack of diversity in physics, we investigated the intersecting relationships between racism and sexism in inequities in student conceptual knowledge using a quantitative critical framework. The analyses used Bayesian hierarchical linear models to examine students' conceptual knowledge as measured by the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism. The data came from the LASSO database and included 3,686 students from 83 calculus-based courses at 16 institutions. The model indicated society owed educational debts in conceptual knowledge due to racism, sexism, or both to Black, Hispanic, Asian, and White Hispanic students and White women. Of these groups, society owed the largest educational debts to Black students. The courses, of which almost all used collaborative instruction (81 of 83) supported by learning assistants (66 of 83), added to the educational debts owed to Black students, maintained the debts owed to Hispanic and White Hispanic students and White women, and mitigated the debts owed to Asian students.

J. M. Nissen and B. Van Dusen, Societal Educational Debts Due to Racism and Sexism in Calculus-based Electricity and Magnetism Courses, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Nissen.

Physics mentors play an important role in supporting students in postsecondary education and in their transition to graduate school and careers. The knowledge and beliefs physics mentors have about disability can affect how they mentor students with disabilities. We administered the Disability and Physics Careers Survey (DPCS) to 237 practicing physicists recruited through physics-specific listservs to measure their knowledge about disability and beliefs about the viability of physics careers for people with different disability diagnoses. This study compares practicing physicists’ varied knowledge about different categories of impairments and diagnoses, and their beliefs about the viability of future careers for students with specific impairments. We present our findings examining the knowledge of practicing physicists about disability, their beliefs about the viability of certain physics careers for people with disabilities, and how those beliefs may vary depending on their personal disability experience

D. Oleynik, E. M. Scanlon, and J. J. Chini, Examining physicists’ perspectives of career viability and knowledge of impairment, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Oleynik.

Upper division thermodynamics courses require students to develop proficiency with several combinatorial topics. While little research has been done to establish student comfort and proficiency with these topics within physics, anecdotally, instructors of these courses report that students experience unaddressed challenges when working with combinatorics. Through examining student solutions to questions on homework assignments and examinations, we identified some common student difficulties with combinatorics in the context of an upper-division thermodynamics and statistical mechanics course at a large research university. Some of these common challenges include identifying how to work with distinguishability and order, checking formulas against a specific case, and combining the multiplicities of multiple systems.

K. A. Oliver and B. R. Wilcox, Understanding combinatorics challenges in an upper-division thermodynamics course, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Oliver.

A small number of prior studies have investigated whether instructor gender has a measurable impact on student course grades, though to our best knowledge no study has specifically examined physics courses. We explored the effect of instructor gender on student performance in calculus-based introductory physics courses at a large land-grant university. The data set included the scores on midterm, final exams, and final letter grades for more than 8200 students taught by 11 male and 4 female instructors between 2007-2018. We found no persistent correlation between student gendered performance and their instructor gender. While statistically significant differences in student performance were found for particular exams or in final letter grades, the effect sizes were weak or small. When comparing male and female instructors, we found that the instructor gender had a larger effect on female students than on their male classmates.

A. Ozmetin, M. Dew, T. L. Erukhimova, and J. D. Perry, Does Instructor Gender Matter for Student Performance in Introductory Physics?, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Ozmetin.

Response-shift bias explains how changes in students’ criteria for self-evaluation can suppress the effect of educational interventions in pre-to-post shifts of self-reported metrics, such as the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS). Therefore, the static or declining pre-to-post shifts typically seen in the CLASS might not reflect development in students’ reasoning about themselves based on their acquired knowledge of physics. We observe response-shift bias in a downshift between pre-instruction responses obtained at the beginning of the semester and retrospective pre-instruction responses obtained at the end of the semester. We investigated possible causes of response-shift bias in the CLASS by adding a free response question after select CLASS items during a two-pass survey administration, asking students to explain their reasoning behind their expected and perceived shifts. We present the themes that occurred most clearly in students’ free responses to one survey item, which highlight the established forms of response-shift bias: recalibration of the students’ standards of measurement, reprioritization of the students’ values, and reconceptualization of physics content.

W. Paulger, B. McEnroe, I. Shaw, I. Crawford-Goss, and W. B. Lane, Themes in student self-assessments of attitudinal development in the CLASS, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Paulger.

Recent studies have begun to explore the connection between physics identity development and career skill development with the facilitation of informal physics programs by college and university students. Informal physics programs, or outreach programs, provide pathways for less structured, voluntary engagement with the field, beyond the formal spaces of a classroom or laboratory, where students can explore their passions within the field. This work narrows the focus of a prior study to explore the differences in experiences between graduate and undergraduate students who facilitated at least one of five outreach programs at a large, public, land grant university. Results from this work may help inform departmental efforts regarding retention, inclusion, and structures to promote skill development beyond the classroom.

J. D. Perry, J. P. Donaldson, and T. L. Erukhimova, Comparing the impact of informal physics program on undergraduate versus graduate student facilitators, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Perry.

The growing push to address the lack of diversity in physics has come with an array of curriculum reforms and interventions. There has been work in Physics Education Research (PER) that has supported these reforms, including studying the experiences and identity development of students from minoritized backgrounds. However, there has been a lack of critical reflection on the core methodologies and constructs used in PER. Here, we present a critical analysis of qualitative and quantitative work used to define and measure “expert-like” thinking, beliefs, and practices in physics. We show that this work has largely omitted any consideration of race or cultural backgrounds of participants, instead defining “experts” as either physics faculty or Ph.D. holders. Research in critical theory demonstrates that failing to intentionally address potential biases tends towards reinforcing those biases. Thus, work in PER on expert-like thinking may unintentionally replicate, rather than challenge, existing biased structures in physics. We conclude with recommendations for constructing more inclusive views of what it means for students to develop “expert-like” thinking.

A. M. Phillips and C. O'Donnell, A critical examination of "expert-like" in physics education research, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Phillips.

COVID-19 has disrupted nearly all aspects of global society, with severe impacts on many people around the world. In 2020, supported by the APS Innovation Fund, we began a study to document and understand how COVID-19 has affected graduate admissions in physics, with a focus on the ways in which students and departments have been impacted. In this Work in Progress paper, we report on the first year of this study, which collected data from the 2019-2020 admissions cycle. We collected survey data from Directors of Graduate Study (DGS) and from students who applied to physics graduate school in this cycle (including students who did and did not begin graduate school in 2020), as well as conducted follow-up interviews with students and faculty to better understand the breadth of experiences of individuals affected. Four themes emerged from this first year of data: shifts in international/domestic representation, program resilience as a key distinguishing feature during COVID, the breadth of student experiences in 2020, and concerns about the expectations for the future.

C. D. Porter, G. T. Pickett, and G. Potvin, Tracking Graduate Admissions During COVID-19: Year One, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Porter.

This paper is a case study analysis of one student-faculty partnership working to enact departmental change. Students as Partners (SaP) is an approach in which students and faculty work in partnership on the co-design of a curricular or institutional change effort. Our team implements SaP through Departmental Action Teams (DATs), which are facilitated teams of faculty, students, and staff within a single STEM department working on an issue related to undergraduate education. In our research, we aim to understand the ways in which SaP becomes enacted in DATs. Through analyzing interviews with student and faculty members of a single DAT, we construct a case study of the complexities and challenges of student-faculty partnership. We find that members of a partnership can hold different views of that partnership. Underlying these differences are differing views about their joint work as well as differences in the visibility of power dynamics. In self-critically analyzing the ways in which we mitigated and reproduced power dynamics, we reflect on our project's areas for growth.

G. M. Quan, J. C. Corbo, S. Wise, and C. Ngai, Unpacking challenges in student-faculty partnerships on Departmental Action Teams, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Quan.

Informal physics programs can play a vital role in supporting student learning and sense of community beyond the formal settings of a classroom or laboratory. This work builds on a recent study of the impact of facilitating informal physics programs on students’ physics identity, sense of belonging, and career skills development by narrowing the focus to specifically examine effects on female students who are underrepresented in physics. We found a statistically significant shift in coincidence of choice of major when compared prior to and after facilitating informal physics programs. All female students who were interviewed discussed a positive effect of participating in informal programs on their interest and motivation with regards to the field of physics and the development of characteristics indicative of a growth mindset.

J. Randolph, E. Hay, C. Rethman, T. L. Erukhimova, J. P. Donaldson, and J. D. Perry, Impact of informal physics programs on female university students, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Randolph.

This study informs the Physics Education Research (PER) community about patterns in reported funding and authorship data between 2010 and 2019. The study involves a text-based analysis of all contributed PERC and Physical Review PER papers during this time to identify funding sources, author collaborations, and changes over time. PERC and PRPER are both central to publication in the PER community, but are different in terms of project stage and publication prestige. Physical Review articles are in general mature projects, and this is the more prestigious publication venue. PERC proceedings represent the community across a broader set of authors and project stages. Results are also contrasted with the Frontiers in Education proceedings to provide context to these findings. The goal of this work is to provide insight into the community's history and to provide a benchmark for funding and collaboration in PER prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

R. Rosenblatt, Contrasting funding and author data for PERC proceedings and PRPER, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Rosenblatt.

The Force Concept Inventory (FCI), one of the most widely used tools in the physics community, is commonly used as a pre and posttest assessment to gauge the effectiveness of various teaching strategies. Over the years there have been various studies on the FCI itself, and different formats have been created. In this preliminary study we are looking at the incorporation of videos that illustrate the problem statements as a way to see if these additions have positive effects on students’ responses to FCI questions. We took a subset of four questions from the FCI and varied the format of the questions and videos in quizzes administered to multiple introductory algebra-based physics courses. Though there were no quantitatively significant differences in students’ performance on questions between those who answered the as-written FCI questions versus the questions with the videos, we found significant differences on some questions with repeated responses to the same questions with and without video. Furthermore, students overall felt the videos helped them visualize the question scenarios.

D. Rosengrant, G. Matthews, A. Feldman, Y. Chen, and J. Alsultan, Preliminary results on a video-based force concept inventory, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Rosengrant.

This research focuses on the experiences of three undergraduate white women who are physics and astronomy majors. Specifically we conducted semi-structured, empathetic interviews which reveal how uncomfortable physics environments inside and outside of the classroom exclude undergraduate women. The women give accounts of the behaviors of their male peers and instructors that influenced the physics culture. We use standpoint theory to focus on the experiences of undergraduate women to provide a holistic perspective of physics as well as identify key issues that these women faced in their undergraduate physics program and potential strategies to implement in the future to support undergraduate women in physics and astronomy. Some of their suggestions include providing mentoring for women, holding members of the department accountable, providing feedback for instructors, and training sessions.

L. M. Santana and C. Singh, Negative impacts of an unwelcoming physics environment on undergraduate women, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Santana.

Disability is an often-overlooked aspect of diversity. Recent research has indicated that there are barriers to access and participation for disabled students inherent in the design of physics courses. To help counteract these barriers, universities are required to provide reasonable accommodations for disabled students. However, not all students use the accommodations they have access to because of social factors (e.g., disability stigma), and others do not have access to the professional diagnosis often required to access accommodations. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of students who identify with a disability/impairment who were taking an emergency remote teaching (ERT) physics course in Fall 2020 to inform policies about providing access to students in future remote and face-to-face courses. In this paper, we present the prevalence and types of impairments disabled students in physics courses reported, their reported accommodation usage, and ethical considerations of this work. Overall, we find that disabled students represent a sizeable group in physics courses, and there are positive and negative reasons students did not use or request accommodations.

E. M. Scanlon, M. Vignal, B. R. Wilcox, and J. J. Chini, Students' use of disability accommodations in emergency remote teaching, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Scanlon.

Prior research shows that gender differences in self-efficacy and test anxiety can predict students’ course performance. Although there has been research that uses test anxiety and self-efficacy to predict student grades, no study to our knowledge has investigated this in the context of low- and high-stakes physics assessments. In this work, we used survey data and grade information to compare the predictive power of self-reported self-efficacy and test anxiety on low-stakes (e.g., homework and quizzes) and high-stakes (e.g., traditional exams) assessment scores in a traditionally taught large introductory physics course. We found that there are gender differences in both self-efficacy and test anxiety, as well as in high-stakes assessment outcomes. There were no gender differences in low-stakes assessment scores. Further, we found that models that control for self-efficacy and/or test anxiety eliminate the predictive power of gender for high-stakes assessment scores. Finally, we found that self-efficacy partially mediates the effect of test anxiety on high-stakes assessment outcomes. These trends suggest that teaching methods that alleviate test anxiety have the potential to create a more equitable learning environment.

C. Singh and A. Malespina, Test anxiety, self-efficacy, and gender: A quest for equitable assessment practices in physics, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Singh.

Assessments provide opportunities for students to make sense of curriculum by connecting their existing ideas to generate new knowledge. As educators, we would like to be able to engage students in this process of sensemaking to help their learning. Through a case study, we present an approach to identifying assessment task features that facilitate sensemaking. The context involves an introductory student's attempt to a physics problem. We analyze the student's transcript through the lens of sensemaking epistemic game and note the student's actions (`moves') while solving the problem. By analyzing these moves, we argue that the assessment features that played a role in the student's sensemaking can be identified. We find that the presence of a real-world context, engaging with multiple representations, and requiring a physical interpretation of a numerical answer to be instrumental in student's sensemaking. Identifying task features in this way can be instrumental in designing future assessment tasks that increase the chances students engage in sensemaking while working on them.

A. Sirnoorkar and J. T. Laverty, A methodology for identifying task features that facilitate sensemaking, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Sirnoorkar.

Instructors and researchers have been exploring the effects of students' groups in physics class on their experiences and course performance in a variety of ways. Here, we analyzed students' course performance based on the gender composition of the studio group they worked in throughout a full semester. Data were collected from one semester of two calculus-based introductory courses at an engineering university. Students regularly attended studio sections where they worked in groups of three in problem solving and hands-on activities. We explored students' exam and non-exam course performances based on the gender composition of their studio group and found little to no differences between students' course performances based on the gender composition of their groups. Including measures of test confidence and sense of belonging mitigated average differences in exam performance between men and women. We find no evidence to support particular gender compositions of studio groups for improving students' course performance.

E. M. Smith and K. E. Callan, Investigating students' course performance by groups' gender compositions, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Smith.

Informal learning environments often have a clear ambition to spark interest [1]. People also need multipleexposures to content [2, 3] to learn. The Dome+ model, with its principles of interest, identity, and agency, wasdeveloped to guide the construction of the Big Astronomy Project consisting of a planetarium show plus addi-tional resources, to support audiences in extending engagement beyond the physical space of the planetarium.A main design principle was sparking interest through the immersive environment of the show. The Big Astron-omy Project released a show as a virtual YouTube 360⊠stream due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we testthe utility of the four-phase interest model [4] to characterize interest surrounding the virtual show for use in ourlarger dataset. The four-phase model suggests people progress from earlier phases of situational interest inducedby the environment to later phases of individual interest marked by self-driven engagement. We use this modelto characterize the role the show plays in audience interest and look for the role of interest in a virtual environ-ment. We used focus groups with audience members on our premiere day of the planetarium show consistingof eight individuals, and included follow-up interviews with five of those individuals to understand how theycontinued their engagement with the Big Astronomy Project. Everyone indicated that they chose to watch theshow because of an established interest in astronomy. Since self-induced engagement is an aspect of individualinterest, we placed all participants in phases 3 to 4. Our data lacked people who fell into the situational interestphases. We suggest that virtual shows will attract individuals who have an individual interest. We plan to usethis research as a tool for the analysis of the larger dataset that includes a more diverse set of individuals.

J. L. Trucks, G. I. Lopez, K. A. Hinko, and S. Schmoll, Developing a tool to measure interest in audiences of a virtual planetarium show, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Trucks.

Using analysis of variance on a sample consisting of 1,499 US students across 21 US PhD programs, we show that there is no significant difference in the time it takes US male and female physics PhD students to complete their degree programs. This result comes in spite of a statistically significant 18 percentile point gap in median GRE-P scores between genders. Additional analyses reveal that there is no statistical difference between US students reported as White, Black/Hispanic/Multiracial/Native American, and Asian. Expanding our sample to also include 1,143 Non-US students, we find a small but significant effect of citizenship status on time to PhD completion where the average time for Non-US students to complete a physics PhD is about two months less than their US student counterparts. These results show that in spite of known gaps in standardized admissions exams between genders, these differences are not reflected in subsequent graduate school performance. Our findings reinforce the need for graduate admissions committees to go beyond quantitative metrics and conduct a holistic assessment of an applicant's potential to perform research effectively and to earn a PhD.

M. Verostek, C. W. Miller, and B. M. Zwickl, Time to PhD completion is no different between men and women despite score gap on physics GRE, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Verostek.

Previous work has shown that many physics students will draw unprompted diagrams while solving physics problems. These diagrams are distinct from prompted student-generated diagrams in that they tend to be smaller and contain fewer details, an unsurprising finding given that these two types of diagrams are generated for different reasons. In this study, we expand and elaborate on reasons physics problem-solvers generate diagrams and the differences between unprompted and prompted diagrams by analyzing a set of 10 interviews with undergraduates, graduates, postdocs, and faculty in physics. Interviewees were given several physics problems and diagramming tasks to anchor a subsequent conversation about diagramming while problem solving. In these conversations, participants reported that their unprompted diagrams help them: understand the situation and question; store, organize, and prioritize information; support solution strategies; and communicate information. Participants also shared their beliefs about the limitations of diagrams, including when they are not useful or stop being useful, as well as difficulties with generating diagrams.

M. Vignal and B. R. Wilcox, Physics Problem-Solvers on Why They Generate Unprompted Diagrams, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Vignal.

We use quantitative measures and visual inspection to compare the item response curves (IRCs) of matched pre-/post-instruction Force Concept Inventory (FCI) data. We find that the IRCs are not static; the pre-instruction IRCs differ from the post-instruction IRCs by more than can be explained by random chance. This result is also the case for a subpopulation consisting of students who make little or no gains on the FCI, suggesting that learning is taking place even when scores do not change appreciably. We consider three items where students make substantial progress (item 4) or little progress (items 14 and 21) compared to overall changes in FCI scores.

P. J. Walter and T. I. Smith, Comparing pre/post item response curves to identify changes in misconceptions, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Walter.

In this study, we surveyed students from a calculus-based and an algebra-based introductory physics course at a liberal arts college about their ability to draw conclusions from measurement data. Both courses are taught in a studio mode and use the Workshop Physics curriculum. The survey questions were adapted from Kok et al. (2019), who found that an increase in the number of decimal places hinders students' ability to compare data sets. We administered the survey online before and after instruction on measurement uncertainty. On the survey, students considered two experiments that differ only by one setup. Students were first asked to make predictions about the experimental outcomes as to whether or not the outcomes agree, and then were given data to analyze and draw conclusions. The survey had two versions where the measurement data had either two or four decimal places. We used the framework of point and set paradigms to characterize student reasoning. The set paradigm emphasizes a measurement distribution rather than a single measurement; it is considered more expert-like. The results show that students tended to switch from a correct to an incorrect answer after analyzing the data. The number of decimal places did not seem to correlate with the switch in student answers. We also found that after instruction on measurement uncertainty, student reasoning tended to shift from the point paradigm toward set paradigm as many students included the standard deviation or standard deviation of the mean in the analysis. However, many students did not seem to recognize how the uncertainty could inform the conclusion as to whether or not the data sets agree; most students appeared to rely only on the comparison of the means. We discuss implications for instruction as well as future research areas.

T. Wan and J. M. Mickelsen, Investigating student ability to draw conclusions from measurement data, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Wan.

Earning a bachelor's degree is expensive and time-consuming. Many undergraduate students pursue Advanced Placement (AP) courses in high school or transfer coursework from degree-granting institutions. However, the effect of those transfer credits on the time that it takes students to graduate (time-to-degree) is currently not well understood. We have investigated how incoming transfer credit impacts students' time-to-degree by defining three independent groups of transfer students: (1) those entering with College-level transfer credit, (2) those with only AP-level transfer credit, and (3) those without any transfer credit. The time-to-degree has been shown to be statistically different for each of these groups, with students who enter with college-level transfer credit graduating with the fewest semesters. We have explored differences in time-to-degree for students majoring in Physics and specifically for those who are traditionally underrepresented in the field. Cohen's d results suggest large negative effects on the time-to-degree for Physics students without any transfer credit, especially for female students and underrepresented ethnic or racial minority students. These results provide implications toward how universities support graduation in four years, as well as other impacts toward student financial aid such as four-year scholarships. This work was supported by Michigan State University's College of Natural Science and the National Science Foundation (DUE-1725520).

A. C. Waterson, M. D. Caballero, and R. Henderson, Analyzing time-to-degree for transfer students at Michigan State University, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Waterson.

There are many difficulties for students when it comes to learning the fundamental relationships in Newtonian mechanics, which is supported by manifold research. Even after class the understanding of Newton’s laws of motion is often inadequate, which is problematic because classical mechanics is the foundation of many other areas in physics and the natural sciences in general. These problems stem from the fact that students’ preconceptions in the field of mechanics are especially diverse and persistent because they are strengthened in everyday life over the course of many years. These preconceptions and the fact that idealized situations are often most prominent in class can lead to a felt incompatibility of everyday life and physics lessons. The computer can be a tool to reduce that gap by discussing complex and authentic motions in class without the need to use difficult mathematics, which can lead to reduction in certain unwanted preconceptions. Two different ways of using the computer in mechanics class, computational modeling and video motion analysis, are discussed in this article. The two methods are compared in a pre-post design study with N = 267 students from 11th grade from German high schools in regard to the overall conceptual understanding of Newton’s first two laws. The results suggest that both methods can be successful in teaching the basic concepts of Newtonian dynamics and no differences can be seen in the overall scores for conceptual understanding. Furthermore, it seems that computational modeling performs better in items regarding Newton’s first law due to a comparatively greater reduction of a specific preconception, which is further discussed in the article.

J. Weber and T. Wilhelm, Conceptual understanding of Newtonian dynamics in a comparative study of computational modeling and video motion analysis, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Weber.

Descriptions of the Nature of Science are in contrast with the widespread notion that “physics” is objective, unaffected by human influence. To better understand students’ thinking about the nature of physics, we taught a lesson from the Underrepresentation Curriculum and collected written responses before and after in-class discussion about the nature of physics. In this manuscript, we share student responses about the presence of subjectivity in physics and relate them to commonly accepted ideas about the Nature of Science. Students tend to describe physics without reference to human influence. After discussing subjectivity, many students identify that while physical properties may be objective, human interpretation, biases, and values influence physics as well. Some students also consider our understanding of physics as incomplete. These discussions are a first step towards increasing awareness of structural and individual subjectivity. We believe this will ultimately support a more equitable, robust scientific community.

A. L. Wooley, R. Basara, and A. R. Daane, Embracing subjectivity in physics to support student empowerment, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Wooley.

As a method to shorten the test time of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI), we previously suggested the use of Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT). CAT is the process of administering a test on a computer, with items (i.e., questions) selected based upon the responses of the examinee to prior items. As a step to develop a CAT–based version of the FCI (FCI-CAT), we previously examined the optimal test length of the FCI-CAT such that accuracy and precision [which were measured in terms of root-mean-square error (RMSE)] of Cohen’s d would be comparable to that of the full FCI for a given class size. The objective of this paper is to address an issue in our previous study to improve the FCI-CAT. We consider content balancing ensuring that the same set of concepts assessed in the original test is covered in the CAT administration for each respondent. To balance content in CAT, the percentage of items to be administered from each subgroup is defined in advance. Doing so ensures that items from each subgroup are administered. We conducted a Monte Carlo simulation to analyze how implementing an algorithm of content balancing affects the RMSE of Cohen’s d. As a result, we found that, for a class size of 40, the increase of the RMSE due to content balancing is 6%-7% for test lengths of 2-5 items and less than 1% if the test length is larger than 13 items. This result indicates that for a sufficiently large test length (say, larger than 13 items), content balancing does not compromise the accuracy and precision of the FCI-CAT. Hence, we recommend that the FCI-CAT incorporate content balancing, provided the test length is larger than 13 items.

J. Yasuda and M. M. Hull, Balancing content of computerized adaptive testing for the Force Concept Inventory, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Yasuda.

Magnetism is a significant topic in physics and student reasoning about magnetism is of interest to PER. Temporary magnetism is encountered during scientific inquiry, and pervasive in school physics, despite it typically not being an explicit part of the curriculum. We examine how middle grade students reason with this complex topic, and findings demonstrate that students' reasoning about different facets of this topic reflect that complexity.

T. G. Young, L. A. Barth-Cohen, S. K. Braden, and S. Gailey, Middle grade students reasoning about temporary magnetism, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Young.

Supporting students’ sense-making in discussions and labs is an important goal of college physics instruction. In this study, we explore how students navigate the socio-emotional risks of collaboration during moments of uncertainty while doing a lab activity. Attending to sense-making in the video recording of one group’s work, we contrasted two episodes where the quality of their collaboration played out differently. We found that one of the group members changed how they navigated the tension that arose within the group from episode 1 to 2, going from disengagement to forceful idea-sharing, which increased the risk of disagreement in the second episode and hindered the group’s sense-making progress. This case study shows how different approaches to socio-emotional risks could lead to different conceptual results of group work, contributing another example to a body of work showing how achieving our objectives for collaborative learning depends on careful attention to students’ epistemological, conceptual, and socio-emotional resources.

M. Zhang, K. Ansell, and E. Kuo, Navigating moments of uncertainty and socio-emotional risks in small-group work, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Zhang.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many educators had to shift their in-person teaching to either synchronous instruction using hybrid methods or asynchronous delivery with HyFlex models. In synchronous models, educators had to master many online tools to instruct and engage their students throughout the pandemic. Students may find online instruction an additional challenge beyond the typical academic demands of student lives. To grasp the problems students face, a team of STEM faculty members studied student feedback surveys related to online instruction. We focused specifically on the SCALE-UP (Student-Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-down Pedagogies) classroom model designed for "group-based" learning. The study investigates how hybrid instruction during the pandemic has affected students’ study strategies, motivations, and group work in STEM SCALE-UP classrooms. We inquired students’ preferred methods for group activities, their tendencies to participate in in-person group activities, and their concerns on privacy and camera usage. We also evaluated the emotional toll of online instruction on instructor-student relationships. Another factor we assessed was students’ inclination to accessing unauthorized web-based assistance providers. This study has three primary aims. They are, understanding students’ experiences of the transition from face-to-face to online learning, conducting an analysis of strengths and weaknesses/challenges of online learning during the pandemic, and offering suggestions and recommendations for the success of online learning modes during a crisis.

E. Zipperer, N. Weliweriya, T. Cotten, M. Dassanayake, and A. Karunaratne, Online teaching-learning in STEM SCALE-UP classrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic: feedback from students, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Zipperer.

Due to the growing concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, colleges and universities either canceled or remotely hosted their 2020 National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs. This analysis is part of a larger study examining the impact of these fully remote experiences on professional and psychosocial factors such as mentees' sense of belonging, identity, and self-efficacy and their retention in STEM degree programs. We present a single-student case study and describe the dramaturgical analysis which centers on identifying five fundamental constructs within the data: objectives, conflicts, tactics, attitudes, and emotions. These items investigate what the participant in the remote REU program experienced and how this experience changed the ways in which he thinks about his future career decision-making. Our analysis explored four different sub-narratives: lack of community in virtual REU, mentor support, perception of the "real" nature of the experience in a virtual format, and future career decision-making. The mentee reported that this experience was highly beneficial and that he developed a sense of belonging and identity, despite working remotely -- often from his own bedroom.

D. Zohrabi Alaee and B. M. Zwickl, A case study approach to understanding a remote undergraduate research program, 2021 PERC Proceedings [Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021], edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, doi:10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Zohrabi_Alaee.