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Complex multiple-choice questions are commonly used to test for physics knowledge, appearing on course exams, concept inventories, and the physics GRE. These questions are assumed to measure more complex thinking than standard multiple choice questions do because students must determine which set of statements is true (e.g., A only, A and C, etc.). Our previous work found students in STEM courses answer these questions incorrectly more often than standard multiple-choice questions. Here, we examine whether there are disparities in who answers these questions correctly in introductory physics compared to other introductory STEM courses. Our data comes from an online, “points-free” test bank where students practice for their upcoming exams using actual questions from previous exams. As expected, results showed significant variation between students in who answers complex multiple-choice questions correctly, which can inform whether using these types of questions might be introducing unintended systematic grade penalties in course exams.

AAPT SM 22

Who Answers Complex Multiple-choice Questions in Physics Correctly?

AAPT meetings are a great way to reflect on your teaching, recommit to best practices and re-energize your career with new research, products, and techniques. Listen to internationally known plenary speakers, attend sessions, workshops, and special activities. This meeting is an excellent opportunity to share your expertise and learn from and network with leaders in the field.



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The Energy and Momentum Conceptual Survey (EMCS) is a multiple-choice survey that contains a variety of energy and momentum 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 EMCS 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 EMCS questions that remain challenging for many upper-level and graduate students.

Evolution in Student Conceptual Understanding of Energy and Momentum

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Reflective Writing in Physics I

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Simulating quantum dynamics with IBM quantum computers

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Impact of pre-class reading and peer instruction in quantum mechanics

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Using Mutual Mentoring to Mitigate Isolation for TYC Physics Faculty

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, faculty members have faced a changed and challenging environment. They were faced with reallocating their time across various teaching, research, and service responsibilities; adjusting their teaching format, testing, and labs; and dealing with reduced access to the resources they needed to teach and/or conduct research, all while trying to maintain the quality of their work and personal well-being. Using data from the American Institute of Physics’ Statistical Research Center 2021 Faculty Member Survey, we will dissect some of these changes and discuss how they may (or many not) vary based on faculty members’ gender identity and parenting status.

Faculty Members’ Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Using data from the American Institute of Physics’ Statistical Research Center 2011-12 Survey of Physics in Two-Year Colleges, we will look back at various facets of diversity in physics in two-year colleges including students and faculty members (people), academic units (places), and variety in course offerings (pedagogy). Using more recent data from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the US Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education System (IPEDS), we will examine trends in two-year college student diversity since 2012. In addition, using data from College Board, we will explore the impact of the pandemic on enrollments and retention for students at two- and four-year colleges.

Diversity in Physics in TYCs: People, Places, and Pedagogy

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Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project: Approaches for Guiding Student Learning

Lighter-than-air ballooning ranges from flame-carrying “sky lanterns” (not a recommended activity) that have been flown for centuries, to the earliest balloon flights carrying people in 1783, to the largest flying vehicles – the amazing airships from the decades before WWII, to rubber and mylar “party” balloons, to tourist-carrying hot-air balloons, to home-built solar balloons, to pico-balloons capable of circumnavigating the earth (multiple times!), to latex-rubber weather balloons, zero-pressure balloons, and super-pressure balloons capable of carrying curricular and research payloads into the stratosphere. Lighter-than-air ballooning provides a context for students of all ages to study aviation history and to do many engaging STEM lessons ranging from studying buoyancy and the properties of lifting gases, to measuring the extreme conditions of the atmosphere and studying weather/climate, to predicting balloon trajectories and tracking flights, to building and operating “near-space” vehicles, to doing photography and remote sensing, to programming microcontrollers and analyzing sensor data.

Overview of Educational Applications of Lighter-Than-Air Ballooning

How physics and astronomy is presented to K-12 students can help determine how they declare their academic major in college. Students tend to declare their major based on personal, interpersonal, or practical reasons. This talk will focus on how students can see themselves at your institution, how undergraduate clubs can retain them once they are there, and the tools that the Society of Physics Students can offer to help inspire and reinforce K-12 students’ interest in physics and astronomy. This pragmatic talk will outline steps you can take to connect them to physics and astronomy and be their academic choice in college.

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Who Answers Complex Multiple-choice Questions in Physics Correctly?

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