Physics

Historically, non-disabled individuals have viewed disability as a personal deficit requiring change to the disabled individual. However, models have emerged from disability activists and disabled intellectuals that emphasize the role of disabling social structures in preventing or hindering equal access across the ability continuum. We used the social relational proposition, which situates disability within the interaction of impairments and particular social structures, to identify disabling structures in introductory STEM courses. We conducted interviews with nine students who identified with a range of impairments about their experiences in introductory STEM courses. We assembled a diverse research team and analyzed the interviews through phenomenological analysis. Participants reported course barriers that prevented effective engagement with course content. These barriers resulted in challenges with time management as well as feelings of stress and anxiety. We discuss recommendations for supporting students to more effectively engage with introductory STEM courses.

The effect of class size on student learning has numerous policy implications and has been a major subject of conversation and research for decades. Despite this, few studies have been done on class size in the context of university settings or physics courses. After discussing some of the reasoning behind hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) as well as how to interpret the results of an HLM analysis while grounding this study in measurement theory as it applies to course grades, this paper goes on to examine the effect of class size in active-learning based introductory physics courses using a series of hierarchical linear models. It is found that class size over the ranges studied does not have a significant effect on student grades which were used as a proxy for student understanding of the underlying material. However, a variety of issues and limitations means this is certainly not the end of the story and there is still much to be done and discussed when it comes to these courses and the various factors which affect student achievement in them, both theoretically and empirically.

"Rigor" is an often sought after but ill-defined concept in education. This work reviews several models of rigor from current literature before proposing a tool which is used to analyze science education throughout history. The 20\textsuperscript{th} century science education in the United States was subject to changing sociopolitical motivations about the use of science both in general and for students. These factors as well as developments in theory of learning and broad education reforms had changing affects on the level of rigor in science education. This work analyzes the theoretical level of rigor of science education in the US based on two main motivating factors for science education; science as a social endeavor and science as a discipline, throughout the 20\textsuperscript{th} century.

Momentum exists in the physics community for integrating computation into the undergraduate curriculum. One of many benefits would be preparation for computational research. Our investigation poses the question of which computational skills might be best learned in the curriculum (prior to research) versus during research. Based on a survey of computational physicists, we present evidence that many relevant skills are developed naturally in a research context while others stand out as best learned in advance.

With limited time available in the classroom, e-learning tools can supplement in-class learning by providing opportunities for students to study and learn outside of class. Such tools can be especially helpful for students who lack adequate prior preparation. However, one critical issue is ensuring that students, especially those in need of additional help, engage with the tools as intended. Here we first discuss an empirical investigation in which students in a large algebra-based physics course were given opportunities to work through research-validated tutorials outside of class as self-study tools. Students were provided these optional tutorials after traditional instruction in relevant topics and were then given quizzes that included problems that were identical to the tutorial problems with regard to the physics principles involved but had different contexts. We find that students who worked through the tutorials as self-study tools struggled to transfer their learning to solve problems that used the same physics principles. On the other hand, students who worked on the tutorials in supervised, one-on-one situations performed significantly better than them. These empirical findings suggest that many introductory physics students may not engage effectively with self-paced learning tools unless they are provided additional incentives and support, e.g., to aid with self-regulation. Inspired by the empirical findings, we propose a holistic theoretical framework to help create learning environments in which students with diverse backgrounds are provided support to engage effectively with self-study tools.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced many universities to move to virtual instruction during the spring 2020 semester. The transition to remote learning was abrupt and overwhelming for teachers of all subjects, all across the US. Nowhere was this more true than in science lab courses. The experience nevertheless provides an opportunity to investigate the optimal design of remote labs, with similar learning goals as in-person labs. In this study we explore the three most common approaches to remote labs: recorded experiments, applet-based experiments, and at-home projects. We use surveys and interviews to make two comparisons: remote labs vs. in-person labs; the different types of remote labs. Examining these two questions we find that remote labs perform as well as in-person labs and students learn the most from at home physics experiments while also enjoying those the most.

The Arduino platform is widely used in education of physics to perform a number of different measurements. Teachers and students can build their own instruments using various sensors, the analogue-to-digital converter of the Arduino board and code to calculate and display the result. In several cases this can mean incautious reproduction of what can be found on the Internet and an in-depth understanding can be missing. Here we thoroughly analyse a frequently used resistance measurement method and show demonstration experiments as well to make it clear.

In this paper I explain how I usually introduce the Schrödinger equation during the quantum mechanics course. My preferred method is the chronological one. Since the Schrödinger equation belongs to a special case of wave equations I start the course with introducing the wave equation. The Schrödinger equation is derived with the help of the two quantum concepts introduced by Max Planck, Einstein, and de Broglie, i.e., the energy of a photon E=ℏω and the wavelength of the de Broglie wave λ=h/p . Finally, the difference between the classical wave equation and the quantum Schrödinger one is explained in order to help the students to grasp the meaning of quantum wavefunction Ψ(r,t) . A comparison of the present method to the approaches given by the authors of quantum mechanics textbooks as well as that of the original Nuffield A level is presented. It is found that the present approach is different from those given by these authors, except by Weinberg or Dicke and Wittke. However, the approach is in line with the original Nuffield A level one.

The paper describes the practical work for students visually clarifying the mechanism of the Monte Carlo method applying to approximating the value of Pi. Considering a traditional quadrant (circular sector) inscribed in a square, here we demonstrate the original algorithm for generating random points on the paper: you should arbitrarily tear up a paper blank to small pieces (the first experiment). By the similar way the second experiment (with a preliminary staining procedure by bright colors) can be used to prove the quadratic dependence of the area of a circle on its radius. Manipulations with tearing up a paper as a random sampling algorithm can be applied for solving other teaching problems in physics.

In this study, we adapt prior identity framework to investigate the effect of learning environment (including perceived recognition, peer interaction and sense of belonging) on students' physics self-efficacy, interest and identity by controlling for their self-efficacy and interest at the beginning of a calculus-based introductory physics course. We surveyed 1203 students, 35% of whom were women. We found that female students' physics self-efficacy and interest were lower than male students' at the beginning of the course, and the gender gaps in these motivational constructs became even larger by the end of the course. Analysis revealed that the decrease in students' physics self-efficacy and interest were mediated by the learning environment and ultimately affected students' physics identity. Our model shows that perceived recognition played a major role in explaining students' physics identity, and students' sense of belonging in physics played an important role in explaining the change in students' physics self-efficacy.