https://www.per-central.org/ The latest material additions to the PER-Central. en-US Copyright 2026, ComPADRE.org editor@per-central.org editor@per-central.org Wed, 25 Feb 2026 01:24:34 UTC http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss https://www.compadre.org/portal/services/images/LogoSmallPER.gif https://www.per-central.org/ 125 35 https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17241 Quantitative literacy---the use of mathematics to describe and understand the world---is an essential skill. One facet of quantitative literacy in physics is covariational reasoning: how changes in one quantity affect changes in another, related quantity. Research has demonstrated that reasoning mathematically in physics contexts is distinct from reasoning mathematically in a context-free way. Early indications suggest that, similarly, covariational reasoning is likely different in physics contexts than in mathematics. Moreover, research has shown that quantitative literacy is unlikely to improve in physics classrooms without direct instruction. There is a need to characterize and understand physics covariational reasoning towards developing instructional activities that can be used in physics classrooms to help students develop quantitative literacy. We characterize and operationalize physics covariational reasoning through a series of studies that examine how physics experts reasoned while generating graphical models. Our results, together with prior research in the field, are organized into a framework of covariational reasoning: the Covariational Reasoning in Physics (CoRP) framework. We present this framework and describe how it can be used towards identifying learning outcomes for introductory physics courses and beyond, identifying proto-expert resources that students may already have when entering physics courses, and developing instructional interventions that attend to improving students' quantitative literacy. We present two assessment tools, the Physics Inventory of Quantitative Literacy (PIQL) and the Generalized Equation-based Reasoning inventory of Quantity and Negativity (GERQN), designed to measure physics quantitative literacy across a range of student populations. We conclude with how these pieces can be used to guide development of instructional materials to improve students' physics quantitative literacy. Education Practices/Instructional Material Design https://www.per-central.org/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=17241 Wed, 25 Feb 2026 01:24:34 UTC https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17241 https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17228 Meta-Representational Competence (MRC) is a theoretical framework that is used to analyze how people create and interact with external representations. Within Quantum Mechanics, problems may be approached or perceived differently based on the notation used (either Dirac, Matrix, or Spinor notation) in the problem statement or by the person working on the problem. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to present physics students with change of basis content problems in the context of Quantum Mechanics. These content questions were paired with MRC-focused follow-up questions for the explicit purpose of asking students about MRC concepts directly. Student statements were coded to confirm previously identified MRC concepts and to identify MRC concepts that are novel to this data. Our analysis of three student interviews demonstrates an array of MRC concepts, the usefulness of asking direct questions about MRC concepts as part of an interview, and solidifies MRC as a useful lens for investigating student thinking. The attached codebook is authored by Idris Malik and Warren Christensen. It includes every "Meta-representational Competence statement" made by the students in the interview study. The authors coded each statement, either with a code informed by prior literature, or one defined based on the dataset analysis. Education Foundations/Research Design & Methodology/Evaluation https://www.per-central.org/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=17228 Tue, 20 Jan 2026 20:07:50 UTC https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17228 https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=16945 Physics education research (PER) is a global endeavor, with a wealth of work performed at a variety of institutions worldwide. However, results from research into undergraduate physics laboratory courses are often difficult to compare due to the broad variations in courses. We report here how we developed and validated a survey to classify these courses, as well as compare and contrast them. This will be useful in two key endeavors: comparisons between PER studies and providing useful data for individual instructors hoping to improve their courses. While we are still in the process of collecting sufficient data to create a full taxonomy of laboratory courses, we present here details of the survey creation itself, including its face, construct, and content validation, as well as a first look at the data collected, which includes a broad landscape of lab courses in 41 countries. We used both quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze the data collected. Some of these results include similarities between courses, such as students often using preconstructed apparatuses and instructors hoping for students to learn technical skills. We also find differences in courses, such as in the number and types of goals of the course, as well as the activities students participate in. Thus, this survey and its results can provide information relevant to both researchers and instructors. Education Practices/Curriculum Development/Laboratory https://www.per-central.org/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=16945 Mon, 03 Nov 2025 18:27:26 UTC https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=16945 https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17200 Instructors often give prompts that encourage students to articulate their beliefs and conceptions, as well as encourage students to understand the thoughts of their peers. This reflective discourse is used in a calculus-based introductory physics class at Lane Community College, where the instructor explicitly has discourse goals integrated into his course structure. We investigate whether students utilize this discourse when solving problems outside of the classroom context. We interviewed groups of students after the end of spring term, 2012. The students were asked to solve open-ended problems, with analysis focused on whether students applied this reflective discourse. Students were asked a series of follow-up questions to reflect upon their experiences in the course. Education Foundations/Problem Solving/Metacognition https://www.per-central.org/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=17200 Sun, 02 Nov 2025 03:41:04 UTC https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17200 https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17199 A great deal of literature exists surrounding the misconceptions that students have regarding the moon, specifically how the moon phases and eclipses occur. These studies provide teachers with information regarding what misconceptions their students may come to the classroom with as well as some ideas as to how to approach and correct them. However, these methods are not always validated with classroom-based research, and much of the research that has been done is in the high school and college setting. As such, we have undertaken a study to investigate what a group of middle school students know about the moon pre-instruction, and how hands-on activities and computer simulations affect student learning and understanding of these topics. The results of this project show that neither supplementation was distinguishably more effective in improving student test scores, as measured by normalized gains; this may be an artifact of high pre-test scores, as described herein. Astronomy/Fundamentals/Lunar Phases https://www.per-central.org/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=17199 Sun, 02 Nov 2025 03:31:45 UTC https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17199 https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17198 Inspired by a paper at last year's PERC conference, in which Rebello [1] compared students' individual and cohort mean score estimations with their actual assessment scores, we present results of a study in which students in an introductory physics class were asked to predict their scores on two assessments, one delivered at the start of the course (pre-instruction) and one at the end of the course (post-instruction). Our results show that, pre-instruction, the academically strongest students tend to underestimate their score slightly, whereas the weakest overestimate their performance significantly, consistent with the findings of Rebello and demonstrating a well-known cognitive bias (the Dunning-Kruger effect). Post-instruction, we find that the ability of the original weakest quartile cohort to accurately predict their own assessment score has improved significantly, but a flux of students between quartiles from one assessment to the other reveals that the least able students continue to over-estimate their performance, but with a reduced mean discrepancy. We discuss the implications these results have for instruction and for development of enhanced metacognition amongst physics students. Education Foundations/Assessment/Self Assessment https://www.per-central.org/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=17198 Sun, 02 Nov 2025 03:24:44 UTC https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17198 https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17197 At the University of Colorado Boulder, as part of our broader efforts to transform middle- and upper-division physics courses, we research students’ difficulties with particular concepts, methods, and tools in classical mechanics, electromagnetism, and quantum mechanics. Unsurprisingly, a number of difficulties are related to students’ use of mathematical tools (e.g., approximation methods). Previous work has documented a number of challenges that students must overcome to use mathematical tools fluently in introductory physics (e.g., mapping meaning onto mathematical symbols). We have developed a theoretical framework to facilitate connecting students’ difficulties to challenges with specific mathematical and physical concepts. In this paper, we motivate the need for this framework and demonstrate its utility for both researchers and course instructors by applying it to frame results from interview data on students’ use of Taylor approximations. Education Foundations/Cognition https://www.per-central.org/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=17197 Sun, 02 Nov 2025 03:08:47 UTC https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17197 https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17196 We surveyed 88 students at four colleges: one men's college, two women's colleges, and one coeducational college. The questions, modified from Reid (2007), asked about in-class participation, how fulfilled they were by their achievement in their calc-based physics class, their attitude toward their class, and their self-efficacy (Bandura 1994) in the class. While a t-test showed no difference between men and women, an ANOVA showed a significant interaction between sex and type of school. Detailed results will be presented and discussed. Education Foundations/Student Characteristics/Affect https://www.per-central.org/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=17196 Sun, 02 Nov 2025 02:57:05 UTC https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17196 https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17111 The theme of the 2025 Physics Education Research (PER) Conference was "A PER lens on the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology." PERC 2025 focused on supporting members of the community as they gathered, discussed, shared, learned, and worked together to improve their research and the field of Physics Education Research as a whole. General Physics/Physics Education Research https://www.per-central.org/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=17111 Mon, 27 Oct 2025 23:55:22 UTC https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17111 https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17183 This study investigates how strong an interest in theoretical and computational physics develops among undergraduate physics majors. While broad exposure to theoretical, computational, and experimental methods is essential for supporting students' career decision-making in physics, curricular and institutional barriers often limit these opportunities. Using Social Cognitive Career Theory, we examined how strong interest develops by analyzing interviews with 18 physics majors, focusing on 10 who showed the highest interest in theoretical or computational methods. Using causal maps, we identified key influences on interest developments, including self-directed learning, coursework, mentorship, and early research exposure. Outcome expectations, like enjoying math or seeking practical skills, also shaped interest. These findings can guide departments in refining curricula and advising to better support student exploration and interest formation across theoretical and computational physics. General Physics/Computational Physics https://www.per-central.org/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=17183 Mon, 27 Oct 2025 23:54:56 UTC https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17183 https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17182 Within PER, case studies of successful physics learning are important for many reasons, including because they provide insight into curricular development. Additionally, from a theoretical perspective, examples of successful learning as demonstrated through microgenetic analyses of moment-by-moment shifting priorities of intuitions, can also contribute to the Knowledge in Pieces (KiP) framework by providing empirical evidence for the KiP learning mechanism. Here we present a moment-by-moment analysis of a case of successful learning in which we see how intuitions about translational symmetry, scaling symmetry, and how magnets work, i.e. they have opposite poles that attract or repel, are raised and lowered as students develop and run a model of permanent magnetism that is substantively similar to the canonical model. Education Foundations/Cognition/Cognition Development https://www.per-central.org/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=17182 Mon, 27 Oct 2025 23:54:34 UTC https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17182 https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17181 Scholarship on Quantum Mechanics (QM) in physics education research (PER) tends to persist in examining learners' reasoning from a deficit perspective by emphasizing learners' incorrect approaches. Although there is a common understanding that QM is challenging, with students describing it as "wonky," "bizarre," or "weird," much of the deficit literature examines learners' difficulties by documenting incorrect strategies students take. Alternatively, some research literature and instruction seek to elevate students' approaches to QM. Drawing on resource theory and epistemological approaches, the current study aims to amplify students' voices, not through judgment or a deficit lens, but rather by foregrounding how they articulate QM and what strategies they find meaningful. Data comes from ethnographic-style solo or pair open-ended interviews with undergraduate quantum physics learners. Coding their verbal responses identified three approaches students take to navigating QM's wonky nature: reasoning across scale boundaries, relying on mathematics, and drawing on classical knowledge. Although prior deficit literature has identified two of the three approaches as barriers to quantum learning, we document cases where students view these approaches as their learning strategies. Furthermore, in the relevant literature, reasoning across scale boundaries has been overlooked as an approach to QM, thereby highlighting a new quantum learning opportunity. The results described throughout are situated in a broader literature emphasizing students' voices in PER, offering instructional implications, and prioritizing students' perspectives over researcher-imposed judgments. Education Foundations/Cognition/Cognition Development https://www.per-central.org/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=17181 Mon, 27 Oct 2025 23:54:11 UTC https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17181 https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17180 The Quantum Information Science and Technology (QIST) workforce is rapidly expanding as it helps develop transformative technologies used for computing, sensing, and communication. However, exposure to quantum concepts in high school and college is limited for students in many science and engineering degrees, which means many students may lack knowledge about QIST and what the subject entails. This project involved interviews with 22 undergraduate students from varying STEM disciplines. In our analysis, we separate students with high and low interest in QIST across the following factors: awareness and early learning experiences, course-based learning experiences, perceptions of math in quantum, perceptions of the scariness and mystery of quantum, perceptions of a disconnect between QIST and their primary discipline, and perceptions of quantum careers. We examine why quantum may be viewed as "scary" or "mysterious", and how quantum technology may come into contact with their discipline. Many interviewees expressed an interest in quantum, but were reluctant to pursue it as a subject due to a perceived disconnect with their own discipline. Overall, we hope that developing an understanding of students' views of QIST will support ongoing improvements in the development and implementation of introductory QIST courses, minors, and tracks. Education Foundations/Student Characteristics/Affect https://www.per-central.org/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=17180 Mon, 27 Oct 2025 23:52:59 UTC https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17180 https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17179 A major challenge for departmental change efforts is a lack of reliable tools to consistently and accurately monitor progress. Without such tools, identifying challenges in the change process and adjusting strategies accordingly is difficult. This paper presents results from a pilot administration of the Culture around Systemic Change Survey (CSCS), a tool developed to help physics departments assess and improve their local culture. The instrument captures faculty and staff perceptions of both their department's "current" and "ideal" states across five factors: open mindedness, student involvement, collective use of evidence, sustainability, and disrupting systemic injustices. Data from N=111 participants across 33 departments show significantly higher ratings for current departmental open mindedness and collective use of evidence compared to other factors. Across all factors, significant gaps exist between current and ideal states. These findings offer actionable insights for change leaders seeking to build more inclusive and sustainable cultures in their departments. Education Practices/School Improvement https://www.per-central.org/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=17179 Mon, 27 Oct 2025 23:51:35 UTC https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17179 https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17178 Founded in 2014, the Access Network brings together nine student-centered, university-based programs that pursue systemic change towards a vision of a more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible STEM community. Leaders at the Network-level and program-level are either current students (undergraduate or graduate) or young faculty and professional scientists, many of whom started out as student leaders in Access programs. Over the last 9 years, Access has brought people together (virtually or in-person) for an annual event called the "Assembly." Student leaders who attend the Assembly appreciate community-building and networking opportunities that help them build capacity for leading local site programming. Many participants report that the Assembly is a special place with a different feel than many other professional spaces. In this paper, we share stories from past Assembly events to give you a feel for how this space operates differently. We also report on the results of a post-Assembly evaluation survey which illustrate that participants tend to feel included, make new friends, feel valued, and build confidence as leaders. Education Practices/Professional Development https://www.per-central.org/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=17178 Mon, 27 Oct 2025 23:50:27 UTC https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17178 https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17177 This paper introduces a novel methodology that was designed to enrich student perspective interview data by providing students with a more robust approach to supplying their justifications to interview questions. This methodology evokes student perspectives on a target object (e.g., their typing speed) by inviting participants to place the object along a physical dial representing a conceptual continuum (e.g., slow to fast) and justify their placement through open-ended discussion. The data presented to introduce the methodology was collected from upper-level undergraduate students in a quantum mechanics (QM) course. In this paper, we focus on two illustrative case studies, Oliver and Emma, to demonstrate the range of interpretive strategies used among students. The methodology supports multiple modes of reasoning: object-focused, scale-focused, qualitative, and quantitative. The physical dial acted as an anchor for students to provide structure to not only the interview protocol, but also how students deliver their responses to the interviewer. Through the use of a training period at the beginning of the interview, where students "learn how to play the game", students were able to give consistent responses to course perspectives interview questions. The pilot study presented here is part of a larger analysis of the methodology, but already suggests that integrating semantic differential scaling into interviews offers a promising framework for structured yet open-ended exploration of student thinking across complex scientific domains. Education Foundations/Research Design & Methodology/Evaluation https://www.per-central.org/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=17177 Mon, 27 Oct 2025 23:50:02 UTC https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17177 https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17176 An increasing number of studies in physics education research use social network analysis to quantify interactions among students. These studies typically gather data through online surveys using one of two different survey formats: recognition, where students select peers' names from a provided course roster, and recall, where students type their peers' names from memory as an open response. These survey formats, however, may be subject to two possible systematic errors. First, students may report more peers' names on a recognition survey than a recall survey because the course roster facilitates their memory of their interactions, whereas they may only remember a subset of their interactions on the recall format. Second, recognition surveys may be subject to name order effects, where students are more likely to select peers' names that appear early on in the roster than those that appear later on (e.g., due to survey fatigue). Here we report the results of two methodological studies of these possible errors in the context of introductory physics courses: one directly comparing 65 student responses to recognition and recall versions of the same network survey prompt, and the other measuring name order effects on 54 recognition surveys from 27 different courses. We find that students may report more peer interactions on a recognition survey than a recall survey and that most recognition surveys are not subject to significant name order effects. These results help to inform survey design for future network studies in physics education research. Education Foundations/Research Design & Methodology/Evaluation https://www.per-central.org/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=17176 Mon, 27 Oct 2025 23:48:29 UTC https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17176 https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17175 Understanding the ways that unconscious information processing occurs can help educators teach in more efficient ways. In any given science task, there are typically a myriad of relevant and irrelevant features that frame and direct reasoning pathways. To better train students to navigate task features productively, more needs to be understood about the ways that attention-attracting task features interact with reasoning processes. Eye-tracking methodologies allow physics education researchers to record where a student allocates their attention, including the initial focus of attention. In this paper, we discuss results from eye-tracking research into a mechanic graph task that has a strong intuitive reasoning pathway that leads to an incorrect conclusion. We analyze data from students in algebra-based physics courses. We find that analysis of the eye-tracking metrics of first look and dwell time are consistent with predictions made from dual-process theories of reasoning. General Physics/Scientific Reasoning https://www.per-central.org/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=17175 Mon, 27 Oct 2025 23:48:03 UTC https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17175 https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17174 The abilities of Generative-Artificial Intelligence (AI) to produce real-time, sophisticated responses across diverse contexts has promised a huge potential in physics education, particularly in providing customized feedback. In this study, we investigate around 1200 introductory students' preferences about AI-feedback generated from three distinct prompt types: (a) self-crafted, (b) entailing foundational prompt-engineering techniques, and (c) entailing foundational prompt-engineering techniques along with principles of effective-feedback. The results highlight an overwhelming fraction of students preferring feedback generated using structured prompts, with those entailing combined features of prompt engineering and effective feedback to be favored most. However, the popular choice also elicited stronger preferences with students either liking or disliking the feedback. Students also ranked the feedback generated using their self-crafted prompts as the least preferred choice. Students' second preferences given their first choice and implications of the results such as the need to incorporate prompt engineering in introductory courses are discussed. Education Foundations/Assessment/Formative Assessment https://www.per-central.org/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=17174 Mon, 27 Oct 2025 23:46:48 UTC https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17174 https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17173 Analyzing students’ written solutions to physics questions is a major area in PER. However, gauging student understanding in college courses is bottlenecked by large class sizes, which limits assessments to a multiple-choice (MC) format for ease of grading. Although sufficient in quantifying scientifically correct conceptions, MC assessments do not uncover students’ deeper ways of understanding physics. Large language models (LLMs) offer a promising approach for assessing students’ written responses at scale. Our study used an LLM, validated by human graders, to classify students’ written explanations to three questions on the Energy and Momentum Conceptual Survey as correct or incorrect, and organized students’ incorrect explanations into emergent categories. We found that the LLM (GPT-4o) can fairly assess students’ explanations, comparable to human graders (0-3% discrepancy). Furthermore, the categories of incorrect explanations were different from corresponding MC distractors, allowing for different and deeper conceptions to become accessible to educators. Education Foundations/Research Design & Methodology/Evaluation https://www.per-central.org/bulletinboard/Thread.cfm?ID=17173 Mon, 27 Oct 2025 23:45:12 UTC https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17173