Pub Date : 2023-11-29DOI: 10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020162
Marta Carli, Ornella Pantano
This study contributes to the literature on the role of communities of learners in the professional development of physics teachers. It offers insights from the Collabora—A Community of Learners on Laboratory Work program, designed to enhance the use of laboratories in secondary school physics teaching. The program’s foundation rested upon two pillars: a learning community approach and action research, grounded in the findings of physics education research. Furthermore, the program was structured to encompass the core features of effective professional development as outlined in the literature (content focus, active learning opportunities, coherence with teachers’ needs, and sufficient duration). The program spanned 2 years. During the first year, teachers engaged with and discussed different types of experiments, reflected on the assessment of scientific practices, and participated in action research aimed at improving laboratory activities in their classrooms. In the second year, they focused on integrating laboratory work within teaching-learning sequences developed through a backward design process. The research questions of this study were centered on examining the role and relevance of program features, with particular emphasis on the learning community and action research components, and on investigating the changes reported by teachers as a result of participating in the program. The findings emphasize the pivotal role of the teacher community, with reciprocal training identified as the “truly developmental” element. Moreover, they corroborate the relevance of action research in fostering a sense of ownership of research-based innovations. Over the course of the program, teachers reported changes in the personal domain, in the domain of practice, and, particularly in the second year, also in the domain of student outcomes. These changes included the use of different types of experiments, a greater sense of self-efficacy in the laboratory, and an increased focus on the design and assessment of laboratory work. We studied changes through a “growth” lens, both at the group level and within a subset of individual case studies. The latter analysis highlights different possible productive pathways to teachers’ growth, supporting a view of teacher professional development as complex and multifaceted. The program structure facilitated the processes of “enactment” and “reflection” that mediated the various changes.
{"title":"Collaborative physics teachers: Enhancing the use of the laboratory through action research in a community of learners","authors":"Marta Carli, Ornella Pantano","doi":"10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020162","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020162","url":null,"abstract":"This study contributes to the literature on the role of communities of learners in the professional development of physics teachers. It offers insights from the <i>Collabora—A Community of Learners on Laboratory Work</i> program, designed to enhance the use of laboratories in secondary school physics teaching. The program’s foundation rested upon two pillars: a learning community approach and action research, grounded in the findings of physics education research. Furthermore, the program was structured to encompass the core features of effective professional development as outlined in the literature (content focus, active learning opportunities, coherence with teachers’ needs, and sufficient duration). The program spanned 2 years. During the first year, teachers engaged with and discussed different types of experiments, reflected on the assessment of scientific practices, and participated in action research aimed at improving laboratory activities in their classrooms. In the second year, they focused on integrating laboratory work within teaching-learning sequences developed through a backward design process. The research questions of this study were centered on examining the role and relevance of program features, with particular emphasis on the learning community and action research components, and on investigating the changes reported by teachers as a result of participating in the program. The findings emphasize the pivotal role of the teacher community, with reciprocal training identified as the “truly developmental” element. Moreover, they corroborate the relevance of action research in fostering a sense of ownership of research-based innovations. Over the course of the program, teachers reported changes in the personal domain, in the domain of practice, and, particularly in the second year, also in the domain of student outcomes. These changes included the use of different types of experiments, a greater sense of self-efficacy in the laboratory, and an increased focus on the design and assessment of laboratory work. We studied changes through a “growth” lens, both at the group level and within a subset of individual case studies. The latter analysis highlights different possible productive pathways to teachers’ growth, supporting a view of teacher professional development as complex and multifaceted. The program structure facilitated the processes of “enactment” and “reflection” that mediated the various changes.","PeriodicalId":54296,"journal":{"name":"Physical Review Physics Education Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138533752","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-22DOI: 10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020161
Muhammad Aswin Rangkuti, Ricardo Karam
Despite its crucial importance in physics, there are not many studies focusing on student difficulties and teaching strategies related to the (1D) wave equation in the PER literature. In order to contribute to fill this gap, we conducted a study with university students which focused on specific aspects that are crucial for understanding this equation. Our results include not only key learning difficulties and potential teaching strategies to circumvent them, but they also suggest that students can search for a deeper understanding of physics equations when prompted to do so.
{"title":"Encouraging students to understand the 1D wave equation","authors":"Muhammad Aswin Rangkuti, Ricardo Karam","doi":"10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020161","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020161","url":null,"abstract":"Despite its crucial importance in physics, there are not many studies focusing on student difficulties and teaching strategies related to the (1D) wave equation in the PER literature. In order to contribute to fill this gap, we conducted a study with university students which focused on specific aspects that are crucial for understanding this equation. Our results include not only key learning difficulties and potential teaching strategies to circumvent them, but they also suggest that students can search for a deeper understanding of physics equations when prompted to do so.","PeriodicalId":54296,"journal":{"name":"Physical Review Physics Education Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138533757","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-20DOI: 10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020160
Vidushi Adlakha, Eric Kuo
Recent critiques of physics education research (PER) studies have revoiced the critical issues when drawing causal inferences from observational data where no intervention is present. In response to a call for a “causal reasoning primer” in PER, this paper discusses some of the fundamental issues in statistical causal inference. In reviewing these issues, we discuss well-established causal inference methods commonly applied in other fields and discuss their application to PER. Using simulated data sets, we illustrate (i) why analysis for causal inference should control for confounders but not control for mediators and colliders and (ii) that multiple proposed causal models can fit a highly correlated dataset. Finally, we discuss how these causal inference methods can be used to represent and explain existing issues in quantitative PER. Throughout, we discuss a central issue in observational studies: A good quantitative model fit for a proposed causal model is not sufficient to support that proposed model over alternative models. To address this issue, we propose an explicit role for observational studies in PER that draw statistical causal inferences: Proposing future intervention studies and predicting their outcomes. Mirroring the way that theory can motivate experiments in physics, observational studies in PER can predict the causal effects of interventions, and future intervention studies can test those predictions directly.
{"title":"Critical issues in statistical causal inference for observational physics education research","authors":"Vidushi Adlakha, Eric Kuo","doi":"10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020160","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020160","url":null,"abstract":"Recent critiques of physics education research (PER) studies have revoiced the critical issues when drawing causal inferences from observational data where no intervention is present. In response to a call for a “causal reasoning primer” in PER, this paper discusses some of the fundamental issues in statistical causal inference. In reviewing these issues, we discuss well-established causal inference methods commonly applied in other fields and discuss their application to PER. Using simulated data sets, we illustrate (i) why analysis for causal inference should control for confounders but not control for mediators and colliders and (ii) that multiple proposed causal models can fit a highly correlated dataset. Finally, we discuss how these causal inference methods can be used to represent and explain existing issues in quantitative PER. Throughout, we discuss a central issue in observational studies: A good quantitative model fit for a proposed causal model is not sufficient to support that proposed model over alternative models. To address this issue, we propose an explicit role for observational studies in PER that draw statistical causal inferences: Proposing future intervention studies and predicting their outcomes. Mirroring the way that theory can motivate experiments in physics, observational studies in PER can predict the causal effects of interventions, and future intervention studies can test those predictions directly.","PeriodicalId":54296,"journal":{"name":"Physical Review Physics Education Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138533750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-20DOI: 10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020159
Simon Zacharias Lahme, Pascal Klein, Antti Lehtinen, Andreas Müller, Pekka Pirinen, Lucija Rončević, Ana Sušac
[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Instructional labs: Improving traditions and new directions.] Physics lab courses permanently undergo transformations, in recent times especially to adapt to the emergence of new digital technologies and the COVID-19 pandemic in which digital technologies facilitated distance learning. Since these transformations often occur within individual institutions, it is useful to get an overview of these developments by capturing the status quo of digital technologies and the related acquisition of digital competencies in physics lab courses. Thus, we conducted a survey among physics lab instructors () at German, Finnish, and Croatian universities. The findings reveal that lab instructors already use a variety of digital technologies and that the pandemic particularly boosted the use of smartphones and tablets, simulations, and digital tools for communication, collaboration, and organization. The participants generally showed a positive attitude toward using digital technologies in physics lab courses, especially due to their potential for experiments and students’ competence acquisition, motivational effects, and contemporaneity. Acquiring digital competencies is rated as less important than established learning objectives, however, collecting and processing data with digital tools was rated as an important competency that students should acquire. The instructors perceived open forms of labwork and particular digital technologies for specific learning objectives (e.g., microcontrollers for experimental skills) as useful for reaching their learning objectives. Our survey contributes to the reflection of what impact the emergence of digital technologies in our society and the COVID-19 pandemic had on physics lab courses and reveals first indications for the future transformation of hands-on university physics education.
{"title":"Physics lab courses under digital transformation: A trinational survey among university lab instructors about the role of new digital technologies and learning objectives","authors":"Simon Zacharias Lahme, Pascal Klein, Antti Lehtinen, Andreas Müller, Pekka Pirinen, Lucija Rončević, Ana Sušac","doi":"10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020159","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020159","url":null,"abstract":"[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Instructional labs: Improving traditions and new directions.] Physics lab courses permanently undergo transformations, in recent times especially to adapt to the emergence of new digital technologies and the COVID-19 pandemic in which digital technologies facilitated distance learning. Since these transformations often occur within individual institutions, it is useful to get an overview of these developments by capturing the status quo of digital technologies and the related acquisition of digital competencies in physics lab courses. Thus, we conducted a survey among physics lab instructors (<math display=\"inline\" xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML\"><mi>N</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>79</mn></math>) at German, Finnish, and Croatian universities. The findings reveal that lab instructors already use a variety of digital technologies and that the pandemic particularly boosted the use of smartphones and tablets, simulations, and digital tools for communication, collaboration, and organization. The participants generally showed a positive attitude toward using digital technologies in physics lab courses, especially due to their potential for experiments and students’ competence acquisition, motivational effects, and contemporaneity. Acquiring digital competencies is rated as less important than established learning objectives, however, collecting and processing data with digital tools was rated as an important competency that students should acquire. The instructors perceived open forms of labwork and particular digital technologies for specific learning objectives (e.g., microcontrollers for experimental skills) as useful for reaching their learning objectives. Our survey contributes to the reflection of what impact the emergence of digital technologies in our society and the COVID-19 pandemic had on physics lab courses and reveals first indications for the future transformation of hands-on university physics education.","PeriodicalId":54296,"journal":{"name":"Physical Review Physics Education Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138533746","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-16DOI: 10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020158
David T. Brookes, Mc Kenna Wallace, Michael Nelson, Anna Karelina, Peter Bohacek, Matthew Vonk, Eugenia Ektina
[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Instructional labs: Improving traditions and new directions.] In this paper, we describe the results of a research project whose goals were to (1) develop and implement video-based experimental investigations using the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) approach and (2) study how students who engage with video experiments develop scientific abilities and learn physics ideas in comparison to students who do the same investigations using physical apparatus. We developed six parallel ISLE-based investigations for the students to engage in, either with apparatus or with video arrays created in the Pivot platform. We found that substituting 30% of the apparatus-based activities with video-based activities did not affect student development of conceptual physics knowledge. On the other hand, the development of certain scientific abilities was significantly affected by whether students experimented with physical apparatus or used video experiments.
{"title":"Comparing students’ learning and development of scientific abilities with apparatus-based versus video-based experimentation","authors":"David T. Brookes, Mc Kenna Wallace, Michael Nelson, Anna Karelina, Peter Bohacek, Matthew Vonk, Eugenia Ektina","doi":"10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020158","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020158","url":null,"abstract":"[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Instructional labs: Improving traditions and new directions.] In this paper, we describe the results of a research project whose goals were to (1) develop and implement video-based experimental investigations using the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) approach and (2) study how students who engage with video experiments develop scientific abilities and learn physics ideas in comparison to students who do the same investigations using physical apparatus. We developed six parallel ISLE-based investigations for the students to engage in, either with apparatus or with video arrays created in the Pivot platform. We found that substituting 30% of the apparatus-based activities with video-based activities did not affect student development of conceptual physics knowledge. On the other hand, the development of certain scientific abilities was significantly affected by whether students experimented with physical apparatus or used video experiments.","PeriodicalId":54296,"journal":{"name":"Physical Review Physics Education Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138533748","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-15DOI: 10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020157
Emily M. Stump, Matthew Dew, Gina Passante, N. G. Holmes
Measurement uncertainty is an important topic in the undergraduate laboratory curriculum. Previous research on student thinking about experimental measurement uncertainty has focused primarily on introductory-level students’ procedural reasoning about data collection and interpretation. In this paper, we extended this prior work to study upper-level students’ thinking about sources of measurement uncertainty across experimental contexts, with a particular focus on classical and quantum mechanics contexts. We developed a survey to probe students’ thinking in the generic question “What comes to mind when you think about measurement uncertainty in [classical/quantum] mechanics?” as well as in a range of specific experimental scenarios and interpreted student responses through the lens of availability and accessibility of knowledge pieces. We found that limitations of the experimental setup were most accessible to students in classical mechanics while principles of the underlying physics theory were most accessible to students in quantum mechanics, even in a context in which this theory was not relevant. We recommend that future research probe which sources of uncertainty experts believe are relevant in which contexts and how instruction in both classical and quantum contexts can help students draw on appropriate sources of uncertainty in classical and quantum experiments.
{"title":"Context affects student thinking about sources of uncertainty in classical and quantum mechanics","authors":"Emily M. Stump, Matthew Dew, Gina Passante, N. G. Holmes","doi":"10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020157","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020157","url":null,"abstract":"Measurement uncertainty is an important topic in the undergraduate laboratory curriculum. Previous research on student thinking about experimental measurement uncertainty has focused primarily on introductory-level students’ procedural reasoning about data collection and interpretation. In this paper, we extended this prior work to study upper-level students’ thinking about sources of measurement uncertainty across experimental contexts, with a particular focus on classical and quantum mechanics contexts. We developed a survey to probe students’ thinking in the generic question “What comes to mind when you think about measurement uncertainty in [classical/quantum] mechanics?” as well as in a range of specific experimental scenarios and interpreted student responses through the lens of availability and accessibility of knowledge pieces. We found that limitations of the experimental setup were most accessible to students in classical mechanics while principles of the underlying physics theory were most accessible to students in quantum mechanics, even in a context in which this theory was not relevant. We recommend that future research probe which sources of uncertainty experts believe are relevant in which contexts and how instruction in both classical and quantum contexts can help students draw on appropriate sources of uncertainty in classical and quantum experiments.","PeriodicalId":54296,"journal":{"name":"Physical Review Physics Education Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138533744","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Editorial: To Review Is to Be","authors":"Randall D. Kamien","doi":"10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020001","url":null,"abstract":"<span>DOI:</span><span>https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.19.020001</span>","PeriodicalId":54296,"journal":{"name":"Physical Review Physics Education Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138533749","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-08DOI: 10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020127
L. Dana, Benjamin Pollard, Sara Mueller
{"title":"Professional contexts of physics instructional labs: More than technical support","authors":"L. Dana, Benjamin Pollard, Sara Mueller","doi":"10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020127","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020127","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54296,"journal":{"name":"Physical Review Physics Education Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47758217","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-05DOI: 10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020124
Wangyi Xu, Yonggui Jiang, Lan Yang, Lei Bao
{"title":"Conceptual framework based instruction for promoting knowledge integration in learning momentum","authors":"Wangyi Xu, Yonggui Jiang, Lan Yang, Lei Bao","doi":"10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020124","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020124","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54296,"journal":{"name":"Physical Review Physics Education Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48194740","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-05DOI: 10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020125
Yangqiuting Li, Chandralekha Singh
{"title":"Impact of perceived recognition by physics instructors on women’s self-efficacy and interest","authors":"Yangqiuting Li, Chandralekha Singh","doi":"10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020125","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevphyseducres.19.020125","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54296,"journal":{"name":"Physical Review Physics Education Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45915541","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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