The study outlines the early-stage development of a free-response General Relativity Concept Inventory (GRCI), an educational instrument designed to test for conceptual understanding of General Relativity. Data were collected for the study by having 26 participants from General Relativity courses work through the questions on the GRCI. Interviews…

We use the Survey of Thermodynamic Processes and First and Second Laws-Long (STPFaSL-Long), a research-based survey instrument with 78 items at the level of introductory physics, to investigate introductory and advanced students' difficulties with entropy and the second law of thermodynamics. We present an analysis of data from 12 different…

Transitions between educational levels have been identified as posing potential barriers for students' sense of belonging in science. In this paper, we focus on the transition from lower secondary to upper secondary school while foregrounding physics as a subject. We approach transitions as an ongoing negotiation-process of identities embedded…

This study reports students' perceptions of learning the physics concepts of equilibrium through making "Bulan" kites. The "Bulan" kite encompasses indigenous knowledge related to the teachings and ideas found in Islam. After a workshop where students (n = 109) made the "Bulan" kite under the tutelage of a local…

This study investigates if a force-based teaching approach, based on quantum mechanical principles and developed in a lesson study, would enhance the understanding of chemical bonding among upper secondary school students. The teaching approach was based on research on the teaching and learning of chemical bonding. The study included first-year…

Some of the online explainer videos for physics present misconceptions as scientifically correct explanations. Even so, some of these videos achieve good ratings on online platforms. A possible reason is that explainer videos with misconceptions foster an "illusion of understanding"--the mistaken belief that a topic has been understood.…

This paper is a proposal, project, and dissertation for Kenneth Johnson, Doctor of Philosophy degree in Science Education, in the Graduate College of The University of Iowa. I propose analyzing the writing assignment in an undergraduate online physics course offered by a small midwestern community college (CC). The goal is to study how Writing to…

This study employed a case study methodology to investigate students' misconceptions about solid, liquid, and atmospheric pressure. The research included 36 8th-grade students from various middle schools in Giresun, comprising 19 girls and 17 boys. Data collection involved a test consisting of 14 concept cartoon questions, and the concept cartoons…

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Instructional labs: Improving traditions and new directions.] This manuscript presents a case study of an introductory physics student who, during the remote learning conditions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, found inspiration within a new, open-inquiry, project-based, laboratory curriculum…

The effectiveness of mathematics in physics makes people take for granted the intimate connection between both disciplines. However, history shows that this is not always the case, because mathematics has played a minor role, not only in Aristotelian physics in ancient Greece, but also in Confucian and neo-Confucian science in ancient China. The…

Physics homework often boils down to solving end-of-chapter quantitative problems. For targeting different learning goals of physics education, different types of homework are needed. The aim of this research was to compare the effectiveness of simulation-based, video-based, and paper-and-pencil homework in developing an understanding about…

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…

Background: The theory of embodied cognition claims that body interaction with the environment change how we think and constitute cognition. Accordingly, active learning enriches learning experiences which in turn lead to better learning. Purpose: Although learning by moving one's body is often regarded as active learning, not all body movements…

We used student surveys to assess changes in proficiency with integral calculus, calculus self-efficacy, and physics self-efficacy in a second semester course of introductory physics focused on electricity and magnetism. In addition to tracking the fraction of quantitative problems solved correctly on the calculus proficiency survey, we also used…

Background: Electric circuit concepts in physics are abstract in nature and students find it difficult to comprehend. Purpose: This study was designed to compare the impact of three different strategies: simulation, hands-on and a combined strategy in enhancing conceptual understanding on electric circuit for class X students. Design: A mixed…