The assessment of test anxiety has received increasing attention in educational research due to the potential negative effects of anxiety on student performance. Traditionally, test anxiety scales have been developed for mathematics, but few studies have focused on physics. In this study, we validated two test anxiety scales for undergraduate…

Instructional physics labs offer students unique opportunities to develop an understanding of experimentation. By transforming labs to be more open ended and experimentation focused, instructors can better support student agency and choice. In this study, we examine students' overall sense of and perceptions about agency in two…

The development, testing, and classroom implementation of a low-cost, reproducible, desktop sized, highly visual double-pipe heat exchanger are presented. Quantitative measurements with the module reveal its usefulness for demonstrating basic and advanced convective heat transfer theory while worksheet-guided inquiries promote student engagement.…

This paper investigates the viewpoints and perspectives of 179 undergraduate students engaged in a co-creation project regarding their anticipated progress, exploring, simultaneously, the affecting factors. The students attended the physics course in the Department of Industrial Design and Production Engineering at the University of West Attica,…

The number of physics bachelor's degrees that are awarded in the United States annually is small compared to most other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, and only about one-fifth of these degrees are awarded to women. Understanding the influence of students' science and engineering experiences on career choices is critical…

Researchers have pinpointed recognition from others as one of the most important dimensions of students' science and engineering identity. Studies, however, have found gender biases in students' recognition of their peers, with inconsistent patterns across introductory science and engineering courses. Toward finding the source of this variation,…

Self-efficacy represents an individual's belief that he or she can perform a particular task in a given domain. It is a strong predictor for performance and persistence in STEM education. Research shows that there is a large and persistent gender gap in student self-efficacy in STEM academic disciplines. In some cases, active teaching strategies…

Textbooks are experiencing a 21st century makeover. The author has created a web-based electronic textbook, Material and Energy Balances zyBook, that records students' interactions. Animations and question sets create interactive and scaffolded content. The interactive format is adopted successfully in other engineering disciplines and is now…

Women remain underrepresented in physical science, engineering, and computer science college majors and careers. Prior research has suggested that motivational beliefs and experiences in high school play a critical role in girls' persistence in science fields. We hypothesized that compared to male students, female high school students may…

In this study, I sought to identify differences in the views and understandings of engineering design among individuals along the learning-to-teach continuum. To do so, I conducted a comprehensive review of literature to determine the various aspects of engineering design described in the fields of professional engineering and engineering…

States' efforts to incorporate technology and engineering into K-12 science instruction appear to be bearing fruit: More than five years after states began adopting K-12 science standards that feature technology and engineering, eighth graders have notched higher scores on a national assessment of those subjects. This Policy Brief presents…

The author describes the principal findings of a survey study looking at student perceptions of a new form-based approach to reflective journaling. A form-based journal assignment was developed for use in introductory lecture courses and tested over a two-year period in an Honors General Chemistry course for engineers with a total of 157…

Advanced technology helps educational institutes to improve student learning performance and outcomes. In this study, our aim is to measure and assess student engagement and collaborative learning in engineering classes when using online technology in solving physics problems. The interactive response system used in this study is a collaborative…

Greek engineering Schools have a high status and attract good students. However, we show that in the leading institution, the National Technical University of Athens, only 27% of the students admitted in 1992-2003 graduated after the nominal five years study: the median graduation time was 73 months (reaching 93 months in one School) and 12% are…

Spatial thinking--such as visualizing the earth rotating--is crucial to student success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Since spatial thinking is associated with skill and interest in STEM fields (as well as in other areas, such as art, graphic design, and architecture), the immediate question is whether it can be…