Instructors and researchers often use research-based assessments to identify the impact of instructional activities. These investigations often focus on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusions by comparing outcomes across social identity groups (e.g., gender, race, and class). Comparisons across groups assume the assessments measure the same…

The purpose of this study is to investigate how teachers use different types of discourse to support dialogic argumentation. Dialogic argumentation is a collaborative process in which students construct arguments together and examine arguments presented by their peers. Science teachers can use argumentation as a vehicle to help students gain a…

Physics is a subject requiring strong logical thinking, and writing a problem-solving path according to logical thinking can enhance students' knowledge and problem-solving ability. The purpose of the study was to explore the effects of problem presentation of different scaffolds (MAPS or dynamic figures) on students' physical problem solving.…

Students have diverse learning needs and unique learning styles. Providing options in assessments to address those needs helps eliminate rote learning and also addresses learner diversity (Pauline & Collings,2018). This study aims to promote student learning by designing teaching activities and assessments to support all students. This…

Measuring permeability in a high school physics course has long been a hard task. However, with the advent of using smartphones in the classroom, it is not only possible but even easily done. This paper offers detailed instructions on how to measure permeability using a smartphone's magnetometer, starting with experimentally discovering the…

Enhancing interest in physics learning has been an important component of education policy and policy implementation for decades. However, in many countries, student interest in physics has not increased. The aim of this study was to predict situational interest using individual interest and the instructional activities students engaged in. Also,…

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Qualitative Methods in PER: A Critical Examination.] This article details methodologies employed to enable sharing and coconstructing the stories of three women's lives in physics. The first case explores the usefulness of timeline interviewing, where participants narrate episodes that are…

Secondary school students' early choices related to staying in the science track define their future decisions to choose chemistry at college. This investigation aims at analyzing the role of gender in students' causal attributions to choose or abandon chemistry when it first becomes optional in the Spanish educational system. Our analyses…

The time-resolved detection of very low intensity light emission has become an essential capability in many areas of science including molecular biology, fluorimetry, DNA sequencing, virus detection, nanoparticle research, and optical materials development. Among the most basic techniques for the detection of rapidly fluctuating low-intensity…

In this quantitative study, we explored learners' intrinsic motivation towards three different experimental physics educational activities offered by our department to upper-grade high school students. The inspected activities were lecture demonstrations, a science show, and hands-on practical work. The respondents were Czech high school students…

We present data from large introductory algebra-based physics courses at a large public research university in the US in which most students were bioscience majors or other health-related majors. The data was analyzed from two introductory physics courses, which are required for most of these students and they are often considered "weed…

As the development and application of large language models (LLMs) in physics education progress, the well-known AI-based chatbot ChatGPT4 has presented numerous opportunities for educational assessment. Investigating the potential of AI tools in practical educational assessment carries profound significance. This study explored the comparative…

In this research, it was aimed to determine the effect of Simulation-Supported Prediction Observation Explanation (SSPOE) activities related to solid and liquid pressure on the conceptions of learning physics of 10th grade students. In the research, a quasi-experimental design with pretest-posttest control group, which is one of the quantitative…

Students often experience science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses as competitive, weed-out spaces. Learning Assistants (LAs) have potential to improve students' experiences in these courses. Previously, we elucidated themes describing the impact of LAs on students' sense of STEM belonging and science-related confidence in…

Despite its intellectual and philosophical significance, cosmology and general relativity (GR) remain largely inaccessible to high-school physics teaching because of the advanced conceptual and mathematical prerequisites to master these topics. Integrating them into upper secondary physics teaching, outside specialized courses, poses a significant…