Hurricane and galaxy tidal effect are routine teaching topics in community college first year science courses, but there is a knowledge gap without a quantitative discussion of the physics of non-inertia frame. A survey of YouTube videos posted by Education Centers and professors showed that the hand-waving conceptual explanation is the most…

Interactive learning materials can be a more efficient and engaging way of studying physics than lecturing. This research aims to explore the use of interactive H5P video as an alternative to traditional teacher-led class presentations at the university physics practicum. The quasi-experimental research design was implemented with 60 undergraduate…

College Introductory STEM courses impact students' persistence. Guided by Eccles' Expectancy-Value (EV) theory, we examined undergraduates' open-ended explanations for major persistence plans. Students (N=2,737; 45.6% women; 16.4% White, 22.6% Latino/a, 46.5% Asian, 14.5% other; 43% 1st-generation college-going students) reported certainty in…

Women in physics and engineering continue to remain underrepresented in higher education. To illuminate underlying processes, we used data from undergraduate Physics students (N= 338) enrolled in an introductory physics course to investigate the development of field belonging and its association with gender and perceived competence. Latent change…

The purpose of this study is to measure the development of students' conceptual understanding of basic physics concepts at introductory physics courses at the University of Latvia. The authors of the research have translated, tested and verified the Force Concept Inventory and other Concept Inventories in the context of Latvian education system.…

San José State University, in partnership with California State University-Los Angeles and Cal Poly Pomona, was awarded a prestigious 2015 First in the World grant, sponsored by the Department of Education. The multi-campus effort is focused on bringing the flipped classroom model to seven STEM gateway courses over three years that have high…

The Big Five Inventory (BFI) measuring the 5-factor personality model was given to 440 science and engineering students in introductory physics classes at a large US university. Science and engineering students showed similar personality characteristics as would be expected from measurements of the general population, with women scoring…

Students should use words (their own words) to learn physics,and that is why it is important for students learning introductory physics to write as they learn. To teach physics badly, teach it as a bunch of equations with no underlying meaning, or make it scary and nearly incomprehensible. Physics is really about subtle ideas and concepts--it is…

The Student-Centered Activities for Large Enrollment University Physics (SCALE-UP) project at North Carolina State University (NCSU) is developing a curriculum to promote learning through in-class group activities in introductory physics classes up to 100 students. The authors are currently in Phase II of the project using a specially designed…

The purpose of this study was to examine in detail the experiences of non-major undergraduate students progressing through an introductory physics course taught in a four-year research university, to discover why the students have these experiences, and to uncover the consequences of those experiences. A theory was developed for relating…