We discuss how research on student difficulties was used as a guide to develop, validate, and evaluate a Quantum Interactive Learning Tutorial (QuILT) to help students learn how to determine the completely symmetric bosonic or completely antisymmetric fermionic wave function and be able to compare and contrast them from the case when the particles…

We use the Survey of Thermodynamic Processes and First and Second Laws-Long, a research-based survey instrument with 78 items at the level of introductory physics, to investigate introductory and advanced students' difficulties with internal energy, work, and heat transfer. We present analysis of data from 12 different introductory and advanced…

When learning physics, students need more than just an understanding of mathematical and physical concepts. Integrating the two fields is crucial, as research indicates that students often struggle even when they have a strong grasp of both. In this paper, we use the heat equation as an example from higher education. Given the importance of the…

Although there has been extensive research on students' understanding of the particulate nature of matter (PNM), there is still a lack of research on contexts that can be used to teach this challenging topic. In a previous design-based research study, the authors developed a teaching-learning sequence (TLS) on the PNM in the context of crystal…

Student learning in upper-division thermal physics has not been studied to the same extent as in other courses like electromagnetism and quantum mechanics. Studies addressing reasoning and learning at the graduate level are even more limited. In this study, we conducted think-aloud interviews with eight graduate students involving questions…

Even after research-based instruction, students who demonstrate the ability to assemble relevant conceptual knowledge on one physics question may have difficulty assembling that same knowledge on a closely related problem. Recent research has suggested that reflexive, bottom-up reasoning processes seemingly unrelated to the physics concepts…

Work and mechanical energy is a fundamental topic in introductory physics. Studies in existing literature have shown that students have difficulties in understanding work and mechanical energy, particularly the topic of work-energy theorem. To study students' knowledge integration in learning work and mechanical energy, a conceptual framework…

A new diagnostic instrument, the Conceptual Survey on Wave Optics (CSWO), was developed and validated on 224 high school students (aged 18-19 years) in Croatia. The process of test construction, which included the testing of 61 items on the total of 712 students is presented. The final version of the test consists of 26 multiple-choice items which…

Research-based multiple-choice questions implemented in class with peer instruction have been shown to be an effective tool for improving students' engagement and learning outcomes. Moreover, multiple-choice questions that are carefully sequenced to build on each other can be particularly helpful for students to develop a systematic understanding…

Students experience many difficulties learning the fundamental relationships in Newtonian mechanics, partly due to preexisting mental models that originate from their everyday lives. These preconceptions often persist even after instruction in mechanics and lead to a supposed incompatibility between physics lessons in school and personal…

Young children, students, and adults may have alternative ideas about the motion of the Sun and stars as we observe them in the sky. However, a good understanding of this apparent motion is essential as a starting point to study more advanced astronomical concepts, especially when these include astronomical observations. In this paper, we describe…

Learning assistants (LAs) are peer educators who work alongside faculty to facilitate active learning activities and help students develop conceptual understanding. LAs and LA training programs are becoming increasingly prevalent in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) gateway courses in the United States, and research…

Momentum is a foundational concept in physics. Although it is often taught in introductory mechanics courses, there are a limited number of studies on this topic in the literature. The results from these studies have consistently shown that students have difficulties in understanding momentum, especially the connections between net force, time,…

We present the design, statistical analysis, and validation of a questionnaire to assess students' knowledge about basic aspects of quantum mechanics (QM). The QM evaluation (QME) is a true-false and multiple-choice mixed questionnaire that features 10 two-tier items spanning three relevant themes in quantum mechanics: wave behavior of matter,…