This study proposes methods of reporting results of physics conceptual evaluations that more fully characterize the range of outcomes experienced by students with differing levels of prior preparation, allowing for more meaningful comparison of the outcomes of educational interventions within and across institutions. Factors leading to variation…

Learning assistants (LAs) play a pivotal role in transforming traditional physics instruction toward a more inquiry-oriented approach. While empirical evidence supports the effectiveness of LA-involved physics instruction, there is a research gap regarding the specific competencies of LAs that contribute to improved conceptual understanding. One…

In this paper, we seek to evaluate the extent to which students can follow a deductive reasoning chain when it is presented to them. A great deal of instruction in introductory physics courses is centered on presenting students with a logical argument that starts from first principles and systematically leads to a particular conclusion. This…

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…

Research-based assessments (RBAs) measure how well a course achieves discipline-specific outcomes. Educators can use outcomes from RBAs to guide instructional choices and to request resources to implement and sustain instructional transformations. One challenge for using RBAs, however, is a lack of comparative data, particularly given the skew in…

In recent years, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have gained increasing importance in the field of physics. Despite efforts to enhance DEI, physics still faces numerous challenges in this area. This dissertation is divided into three main chapters, aiming to investigate the significance of learning-related emotions and physics identity as…

This study investigated how students reason about the partial derivative and the directional derivative of a multivariable function at a given point, using different graphical representations for the function in the problem statement. Questions were formulated to be as isomorphic as possible in both mathematics and physics contexts and were given…

Over the course of the introductory calculus-based physics course, students are often expected to build conceptual understanding and develop and refine skills in problem solving and qualitative inferential reasoning. Many of the research-based materials developed over the past 30 years by the physics education research community use sequences of…

It has been noted that the static friction force poses challenges for students and, at times, even their instructors. Unlike the gravitational force, which has a precise and unambiguous magnitude (F[subscript G] = mg), the magnitude and direction of the static friction force depend on other forces at play. Friction can be understood rather well in…

Newton's third law is one of the most important concepts learned early in introductory mechanics courses; however, ample studies have documented a wide range of students' misconceptions and fragmented understandings of this concept that are difficult to change through traditional instruction. This research develops a conceptual framework model to…

When learning science, students must often make sense of complex and counterintuitive ideas. However, this process of sensemaking is difficult, and consequently students risk emerging from science courses with highly fragmented understandings. In this study, I examine the ways in which students create conceptual connections to resolve such…

The net force and net torque exerted by a uniform magnetic field on a rigid current-carrying loop are discussed in all introductory physics textbooks. A notable omission, however, is the discussion of the equilibrium of a deformable current-carrying loop in a uniform magnetic field. In the article, we present such an analysis for the simplest case…

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…

We discuss an investigation of student sensemaking and reasoning in the context of degenerate perturbation theory (DPT) in quantum mechanics. We find that advanced undergraduate and graduate students in quantum physics courses often struggled with expertlike sensemaking and reasoning to solve DPT problems. The sensemaking and reasoning were…

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…