United States

We are developing a new research based assessment (RBA) focused on quantitative reasoning--rather than conceptual understanding--in physics contexts. We rapidly moved administration of the RBA online in Spring 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We present our experiences with online, unproctored administration of an RBA in development to students enrolled in a large-enrollment, calculus-based, introductory physics course. We describe our attempts to adhere to best practices on a limited time frame, and present a preliminary analysis of the results, comparing results from the online administration to earlier results from in-person, proctored administration. We include discussion of online administration of multiple-choice/multiple-response (MCMR) items, which we use on the instrument as a way to probe multiple facets of student reasoning. Our initial comparison indicates little difference between online and paper administrations of the RBA, consistent with previous work by other researchers.

PERC SM 20

Online administration of a reasoning inventory in development

multiple-choice/multiple-response

quantitative literacy

online assessment

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Join us in exploring emergent themes in PER as a scholarly endeavor and as a research community!  Since its inception, PER has served as a confluence of discipline, theory, research methodology, practice, and application.  How have these facets and the interplays among them been fruitful for physics education globally, regionally, locally, or otherwise?  And, how have our successes and interactions influenced the very nature of PER itself?
Following the lead of AAPT for the summer meeting, PERC 20/20 was virtual. Enjoy browsing the content.

Since its inception, PER has served as a confluence of discipline, theory, research methodology, practice, and application.  How have these facets and the interplays among them been fruitful for physics education globally, regionally, locally, or otherwise?  And, how have our successes and interactions influenced the very nature of PER itself?

Students sense of belonging in science has been identified as a predictor for students motivation, self-efficacy, and persistence in the field, especially for historically underrepresented students. Previous studies have shown that students sense of belonging can be influenced by interpersonal relationships (with peers, the instructor, or the general environment), perceived competence, course content, and other factors. We have administered attitudinal surveys to STEM students taking introductory physics labs at a large, diverse, Hispanic-serving public university, from Fall 2018 to Spring 2020. Courses surveyed include: a two-semester algebra-based sequence targeted toward students in the biosciences, a three-semester calculus-based sequence targeted toward engineering, computer science and physical science majors, and a one semester conceptual physics course targeted toward kinesiology majors. By identifying factors that affect students sense of belonging in the lab, we hope to further inform how we as a physics community can create inclusive, supportive scientific environments.

Students' Sense of Belonging in Physics Labs

In class discussions about the under-representation of women have been found to increase women's interest in physics-related careers and their physics identities. Using a figured worlds framework enhanced by an argumentation framework, we analyzed video of two under-representation discussions that occurred in a high school physics classroom to understand how the increase in interest in physics related careers and physics identities might be happening. We found that in the beginning of the discussion, students focus on an individual's choices or the influence of socialization, which contribute to them joining physics or not. Toward the end of the lesson students focus on the culture of physics which produce and reproduce under-representation and tie this framing of physics to experiences of their family members overcoming similar barriers in other fields. Future work could include student interviews or analyze more classroom artifacts to deepen our understanding of students' figured worlds and include perspectives of students who did not speak up in class.

Analyzing discussions of under-representation in a high school classroom

Most research focusing on student ideas about electric current frames these ideas as misconceptions, difficulties, and misunderstandings. This paper reports student resources for understanding electric current: ideas that we consider to be the beginnings of a scientific understanding. Here, we present three conceptual resources for understanding electric current based on our analysis of 550 written responses to conceptual circuits questions from introductory-level university physics students. Our aim is to offer knowledge that can support physics instructors in identifying and building on these resources during instruction.

Identifying student conceptual resources for understanding electric current

Learning Assistants (LAs) are undergraduate STEM students who participate in a pedagogy course and facilitate active learning among their peers in a variety of courses. Much of the existing research on LA programs focuses on the impact on the students taking courses with LAs, or on course transformation. In addition to this, we look at the impact on the LAs themselves, as students. We asked LAs in physics, other sciences, and math to reflect on how their LA experience has affected them, through interviews with fellow LAs and free-response surveys. We analyze these qualitative data to identify emerging themes. LAs found that their LA experiences had impacts on their conceptual understanding, metacognition, time management, confidence about public speaking and working with fellow students, and relationships with professors.

How the Learning Assistant Experience Impacts Learning Assistants as Students

The first two semesters of introductory calculus-based physics at Anonymous University are taught in two parallel formats: a flipped section (taught in a SCALE-UP-style active learning classroom, replacing lecture and recitation) and a traditional lecture section. To assess the influence on these formats on student performance and retention, we analyzed a data set of over 1000 students who took the traditional and/or flipped introductory courses in 2013-15, and tracked them longitudinally through their subsequent physics and engineering courses. Comparing grades in select later courses, initial results suggest that students who successfully completed the flipped version of Physics I received higher grades, while taking flipped Physics II is associated with lower grades. However, the full picture is more complicated. A greater fraction of the students who take flipped Physics II go on to take advanced courses, which suggests that this course with more active learning is associated with higher overall retention in physics and related fields.

Longitudinal impact of flipped and traditional introductory physics courses

Physics laboratory classes offer great potential for learning, often in ways that are distinct and complementary to theory-focused courses. However, there are relatively few research-based assessments that are suitable for use in an upper-division physics laboratory course. Our group has created a new set of research-based assessments for measuring a central aspect of laboratory learning: modeling. The assessments, known as the Modeling Assessment for Physics Laboratory Experiments (MAPLE), are computer-based surveys with two parts. The first part is a ``choose your own adventure, while the second part consists of standard coupled multiple response items. There are three surveys in MAPLE, each contextualizing modeling within different experimental apparatus: a pendulum, an op-amp circuit, and a laser incident on two polarizers. I present the development process and theoretical foundations of MAPLE, describe the assessments themselves, and discuss how they can be used to measure and improve laboratory learning.

MAPLE, the Modeling Assessment for Physics Laboratory Experiments (PERC)

Student assistants (SA), including graduate and undergraduate teaching/learning assistants, are pivotal to non-traditional physics instruction in large classrooms. Despite the importance and necessity of SAs, little is known about SAs' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and its impact on students learning. We are particularly interested in SAs PCK of questioning (PCK-Q) skills as that may be key to effective SA-student interaction. Our goal is to design and validate a written instrument to measure PCK-Q. Based on video analysis of SA-student interactions in an inquiry-based, introductory physics class, we are developing and validating open-ended questions for this instrument. The questions are tested on SAs, and their answers, in conjunction with analysis of their PCK-Q from video data, are used for question revision and instrument redesign. Once developed, we will use the instrument to study the impact of SAs PCK-Q on college students conceptual understanding of physics and critical thinking skills.

Development of an Instrument to Measure Student Assistants’ PCK-Q

  Within the last 15 years, computational thinking (CT) has emerged as a focal point of K-12 education. A plethora of studies have outlined the practices involved when students and teachers engage in CT, and these works discuss the topic for a variety of disciplines, academic levels, and research purposes. In this work, we present our process of navigating the field of existing CT practices. We have established a framework that is specific to the computationally-integrated high school physics context, where students use minimally working code to construct models of physical phenomena. From a total of nine previous scholarly works, we have identified fourteen CT practices that are applicable to the introductory physics classroom. This work will provide a foundation for exploring high school students perceptions of computational thinking.

Navigating Computational Thinking Frameworks for Introductory Physics Courses (PERC)

Physics has greatly impacted society, both in solving problems and perpetuating harm. Yet we rarely train physics students to grapple with their responsibilities to society by facilitating conversations about ethical issues. We developed and collected classroom video of a unit on the development of the atomic bomb. Here, we analyze students' small group interactions to reveal factors that enable and limit their engagement. Enabling factors include: (a) curricular materials that elicit students' opinions, (b) opportunities for students to push each other to engage with the content, and (c) instructor facilitation that further pushes and validates student reasoning. Limiting factors include: (a) students' discomfort around inexperience with ethical reasoning in physics, (b) students' anticipation of their lack of agency in the physics community, and (c) students' projections of their lack of agency in a historical context due to their race and gender. We consider the implications of these factors for instruction.

"I'm not that important": Barriers and bolsters to student agency during conversations about the intersections of physics and ethics

The American Physical Society calls for improving the diversity of physics by supporting an inclusive culture that encourages women and people of color to become physicists. Evidence shows that a major barrier to pursuing a career in physics or any other STEM discipline is passing the introductory physics course. We investigated the intersectional nature of racism, sexism, and classism in inequities in student rates of earning a non-passing grade (d, f, or withdrawal; DFW) using a quantitative critical framework. The analyses examined DFW rates for students in LA and non-LA supported physics courses at a Hispanic Serving Institution. Results identified large differences across intersecting identities. Controlling for instructors, LAs were found to be associated with decreases in DFW rates across all demographic groups.

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