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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 of concepts pertaining to a theme. Here, we discuss the development, validation, and implementation of a multiple-choice question sequence (MQS) on the topic of quantum measurement in the context of wave functions in the infinite-dimensional Hilbert space. This MQS was developed using students' common difficulties with quantum measurements as a guide and was implemented in a junior-/senior-level quantum mechanics course at a large research university in the U.S. We compare student performance on assessment tasks focusing on quantum measurement before and after the implementation of the MQS and discuss how different difficulties were reduced and how to further improve students' conceptual understanding of quantum measurement in infinite-dimensional Hilbert space.

Quantum mechanics is a notoriously abstract subject, and therefore challenging to teach at pre-college and introductory college levels. Here we introduce the Bloch Cube, a hands-on educational tool which can illustrate key quantum concepts without equations. A series of videos have been created showing how Bloch Cubes can be used to teach concepts such as quantum measurement, quantum dynamics, pure states versus mixed states, and quantum decoherence. Bloch Cube states can assist in the development of more sophisticated concepts such as the Bloch Sphere, which plays a central role in the quantum mechanics of two-state systems and quantum information science., Comment: accepted for The Physics Teacher

Traditional approaches to undergraduate-level quantum mechanics require extensive mathematical preparation, preventing most students from enrolling in a quantum mechanics course until the third year of a physics major. Here we describe an approach to teaching quantum formalism and postulates that can be used with first-year undergraduate students and even high school students. The only pre-requisite is a familiarity with vector dot products. This approach enables students to learn Dirac notation and core postulates of quantum mechanics at a much earlier stage in their academic career, which can help students prepare for careers in quantum science and engineering and advance the Second Quantum Revolution., Comment: accepted manuscript for American Journal of Physics

In response to numerous programs seeking to advance quantum education and workforce development in the United States, experts from academia, industry, government, and professional societies convened for a National Science Foundation-sponsored workshop in February 2024 to explore the benefits and challenges of establishing a national center for quantum education. Broadly, such a center would foster collaboration and build the infrastructure required to develop a diverse and quantum-ready workforce. The workshop discussions centered around how a center could uniquely address gaps in public, K-12, and undergraduate quantum information science and engineering (QISE) education. Specifically, the community identified activities that, through a center, could lead to an increase in student awareness of quantum careers, boost the number of educators trained in quantum-related subjects, strengthen pathways into quantum careers, enhance the understanding of the U.S. quantum workforce, and elevate public engagement with QISE. Core proposed activities for the center include professional development for educators, coordinated curriculum development and curation, expanded access to educational laboratory equipment, robust evaluation and assessment practices, network building, and enhanced public engagement with quantum science.

Student beliefs in introductory physics courses can influence their course outcomes and retention in STEM disciplines and future career aspirations. This study used survey data from 501 students in the first of two-semester algebra-based introductory physics courses primarily taken by bioscience majors, in which women make up approximately 65% of the class. We investigated how the learning environment including perceived recognition, peer interaction, and sense of belonging correlate with students' physics outcomes, including their physics self-efficacy, interest, and identity. We found that in general, women had lower physics beliefs than men and the learning environment plays a major role in explaining student outcomes. We also found that perceived recognition played an important role in predicting students' physics identity and students' sense of belonging played an important role in predicting students' physics self-efficacy in the first algebra-based introductory physics course investigated. These findings can be useful to contemplate strategies to create an equitable and inclusive learning environment to help all students to excel in these physics courses.

Quantum information science and engineering (QISE) is a rapidly developing field that leverages the skills of experts from many disciplines to utilize the potential of quantum systems in a variety of applications. It requires talent from a wide variety of traditional fields, including physics, engineering, chemistry, and computer science, to name a few. To prepare students for such opportunities, it is important to give them a strong foundation in the basics of QISE, in which quantum computing plays a central role. In this study, we discuss the development, validation, and evaluation of a QuILT, or Quantum Interactive Learning Tutorial, on the basics and applications of quantum computing. These include an overview of key quantum mechanical concepts relevant for quantum computation (including ways a quantum computer is different from a classical computer), properties of single- and multi-qubit systems, and the basics of single-qubit quantum gates. The tutorial uses guided inquiry-based teaching-learning sequences. Its development and validation involved conducting cognitive task analysis from both expert and student perspectives and using common student difficulties as a guide. The inquiry-based learning sequences in the tutorial provide scaffolding support to help students develop a functional understanding. The final version of the validated tutorial was implemented in two distinct courses offered by the physics department with slightly different student populations and broader course goals. Students' understanding was evaluated after traditional lecture-based instruction on the requisite concepts, and again after engaging with the tutorial. We analyze and discuss their improvement in performance on concepts covered in the tutorial., Comment: 39 pages

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 analysis of data from 12 different introductory and advanced physics classes at four different higher education public institutions in the US in which the survey was administered in-person to more than 1000 students. We find that a widespread unproductive tendency for introductory students to associate the properties of entropy with those of energy leads to many errors based on an idea of "conservation of entropy," in which entropy increases are always balanced by equal entropy decreases. For many of the more advanced students (calculus-based and upper level), we detect a tendency to expect entropy increases even in processes in which the entropy does not change. We observed a widespread failure to correctly apply the relationship {\Delta}S = {\delta}Qreversible/T, either by using it for irreversible processes to which it does not apply, or by applying it incorrectly or completely neglecting it in reversible processes to which it does apply. We also noted that many introductory students are simply not aware that total entropy must increase in any "spontaneous" heat transfer process. Students at all levels were very frequently found to be confused that while net entropy (system + reservoir) in reversible isothermal processes does not change, the entropy of the working substance itself does indeed increase or decrease depending on whether the process is an expansion or compression. Our findings are broadly consistent with prior research findings in this area, expanding upon them and revealing previously unreported aspects of students' thinking., Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures

We present comparative case study of three physics department culture from different institutions using the experiences undergraduate women. The three studies conducted in the United States include Johnson's 2020 study in a small physics department at a small predominantly White liberal arts college, Santana and Singh's 2023 study at a large predominantly White research institution, and Santana and Singh's 2024 study in a medium-sized physics department at a small predominantly White private liberal arts college. Using synergistic frameworks such as Standpoint Theory, Domains of Power, and the Holistic Ecosystem for Learning Physics in an Inclusive and Equitable Environment and reflections from undergraduate women, we aim to understand how those in the position of power, e.g., instructors, have important roles in establishing and maintaining safe, equitable, and inclusive environments for undergraduate students. Their accounts help us contrast the experiences of undergraduate women in physics departments with very different cultures. This comparative analysis is especially important for reflecting upon what can be done to improve the physics culture so that historically marginalized students such as women and ethnic and racial minority students in physics feel supported and thrive. In particular, this comparative case study can be invaluable to understand the positive and negative aspects of the physics culture as they impact undergraduate women majoring in physics within these three departments. This analysis can help other physics departments contemplate strategies to improve the physics culture so that all undergraduate physics majors have validating experiences while navigating their physics journey regardless of their identities., Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2403.13621

This research focuses on the experiences of seven undergraduate women who were majoring in physics in a medium-size physics department at a small liberal arts college. In the semi-structured, empathetic interviews we conducted, the women discussed how they decided to major in physics, their interactions with their peers and instructors, who supported them during their physics trajectory, and suggestions that would improve their experiences in physics. We used Standpoint theory and focused on the experiences of undergraduate women to get a holistic perspective of how they became interested in physics, how they have been supported in their physics journey as well as identify any challenges that they faced in their undergraduate physics program due to their identity. Using synergistic frameworks such as the Domains of Power and the Holistic Ecosystem for Learning Physics in an Inclusive and Equitable Environment (HELPIEE), we analyzed how those in the position of power, e.g., instructors, can play important roles in establishing and maintaining safe, equitable, and inclusive environments for students, which is especially important for historically marginalized students such as women and ethnic and racial minority students in physics. We also discuss the suggestions provided by the undergraduate women to implement in the future to support current and future undergraduate women in physics and astronomy. Their suggestions are separated as personal advice for peers and suggestions for physics instructors.

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 internal energy, work, and heat transfer. We present analysis of data from 12 different introductory and advanced physics classes at four different higher education public institutions in the US in which the survey was administered in person to more than 1000 students. We find that not only introductory but also advanced physics students have many common difficulties with these introductory thermodynamic concepts after traditional lecture-based instruction in relevant concepts. We utilize a wide variety of problem types and contexts and our sample includes large numbers of introductory algebra-based, calculus-based, and advanced students. Some of our findings are consistent with prior research in this area, but others expand upon them and reveal previously unreported aspects of students' thinking. Findings related to common difficulties of students before and after traditional lecture-based instruction in college physics courses can help instructors of these courses plan instruction and curricula to improve student understanding. These findings can also be valuable for developing effective research-based curricula and pedagogies to address student difficulties and help students develop a functional understanding of these fundamental thermodynamic concepts., Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, 5 tables

New technology like the Arduino microcontroller platform presents an opportunity to transform Beyond the First Year (BFY) physics labs to better prepare physics students for work in research labs and beyond. The flexibility, low cost, and power of these devices provides an attractive way for students to learn to use and master research-grade instrumentation. Therefore, we introduced new technology, including Arduino Due microcontroller boards, to a second-year honors physics lab in order to provide improved learning experiences for students. This transformation was implemented in three lab modules and focused on diminishing the black box nature of the traditional labs while encouraging students to engage in troubleshooting. The importance of troubleshooting was made evident to students by the instructor emphasizing it as an inevitable and central part of experimentation. This lab transformation also required that students perform work that was `above and beyond' the scope of the assigned experimental work for part of the course credit. While the technological aspects of the transformation were received well by a majority of students, our observations during the initial implementation suggested a need for some modifications to instructional practices in order to improve the learning and experiences for all students. In particular, we find that many students can benefit from additional scaffolding in order to complete `above and beyond' work. Similarly, we find that students in general, and underrepresented students such as women in particular, may need thoughtful intervention from the instructor, e.g., in order to avoid becoming isolated when the lab work is designed for pair work. Otherwise, some students may be left to work alone with a disproportionate work-load if students choose their own partners., Comment: Publish 1 Oct 2020

This review article provides an overview of research on the topic of gender equity in educational physics labs. As many institutions and instructors seek to evolve or transform physics lab learning, it is important that changes are made that improve equity for all students along multiple axes of identity, including gender. The studies highlighted in this review article describe the existence of complex gender-based differences, e.g., in opportunities to tinker with lab equipment, as well as differences in grades, conceptual understanding, and motivational outcomes across a broad range of lab curricula and contexts. The studies also illustrate and explore social interactions and structures that can impact students' experiences based on their gender identities. Although there has been less scholarship focused on proposals to reduce gender-based inequities in labs, this review article also provides an overview of some relevant proposals as well as associated research results. This overview of research on gender equity in physics labs helps to make clear that future scholarship on equity in physics labs should adopt gender frameworks that allow researchers to transcend binary gender identities and student deficit framing of research results. Likewise, a case is made that future research is needed on equity along other axes of identity, as well as research that accounts for intersectionality of different identities, in the physics lab context., Comment: Published 30 Jan 2024

Quantum information science is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary field that is attracting the attention of academics and industry experts alike. It requires talent from a wide variety of traditional fields, including physics, engineering, chemistry, and computer science, to name a few. To prepare students for such opportunities, it is important to give them a strong foundation in the basics of quantum information science, in which quantum computing plays a central role. In this study, we discuss the development, validation, and evaluation of a tutorial on the Bloch sphere, a useful visual tool for developing intuition about single quantum bits (qubits), which are the basic building block of any quantum computer. Students' understanding was evaluated after they received traditional lecture-based instruction on the requisite topics, and again after engaging with the tutorial. We observe, analyze, and discuss their improvement in performance on concepts covered in the tutorial., Comment: 19 pages, 1 figure

Research-validated multiple-choice questions comprise an easy-to-implement instructional tool that serves to scaffold student learning and formatively assess students knowledge. We present findings from the implementation, in consecutive years, of research-validated multiple-choice question sequence on measurement uncertainty as it applies to two-state quantum systems. This study was conducted in an advanced undergraduate quantum mechanics course, in an online and in-person learning environments in consecutive years. Student learning was assessed after receiving traditional lecture-based instruction in relevant concepts, and their performance was compared with that on a similar assessment given after engaging with the multiple-choice question sequence. We analyze and discuss the similar and differing trends observed in the two modes of instruction., Comment: 23 pages, 0 figures

Research-validated multiple-choice questions comprise an easy-to-implement instructional tool that serves to scaffold student learning and formatively assess students' knowledge. We present findings from the implementation, in consecutive years, of a research-validated multiple-choice question sequence [referred to in this study as a Clicker Question Sequence (CQS)] on quantum measurement as it applies to two-state quantum systems. This study was conducted in an advanced undergraduate quantum mechanics course, in both online and in-person learning environments across three years. Student learning was assessed after traditional lecture-based instruction in relevant concepts, and their performance was compared with that on a similar assessment given after engaging with the CQS. We analyze, compare, and discuss the trends observed in the three implementations., Comment: 30 pages, 3 figures

Research-validated clicker questions as instructional tools for formative assessment are relatively easy to implement and can provide effective scaffolding when developed and implemented in a sequence. We present findings from the implementation of a research-validated clicker question sequence (CQS) on student understanding of the time-development of two-state quantum systems. This study was conducted in an advanced undergraduate quantum mechanics course for two consecutive years in virtual and in-person classes. The effectiveness of the CQS discussed here in both modes of instruction was determined by evaluating students' performance after traditional lecture-based instruction and comparing it to their performance after engaging with the CQS., Comment: 18 pages, 1 figure

Research-validated multiple-choice questions comprise an easy-to-implement instructional tool for scaffolding student learning and providing formative assessment of students' knowledge. We present findings from the implementation of a research-validated multiple-choice question sequence on the basics of two-state quantum systems, including inner products, outer products, translation between Dirac notation and matrix representation in a particular basis, and change of basis. This study was conducted in an advanced undergraduate quantum mechanics course, in both online and in-person learning environments, across three years. For each cohort, students had their learning assessed after traditional lecture-based instruction in relevant concepts before engaging with the multiple-choice question sequence. Their performance was evaluated again afterwards with a similar assessment and compared to their earlier performance. We analyze, compare, and discuss the trends observed in the three implementations., Comment: 25 pages, 0 figures; added references

We discuss the development and validation of the long version of a conceptual multiple-choice survey instrument called the Survey of Thermodynamic Processes and First and Second Laws-Long (STPFaSL-Long) suitable for introductory physics courses. This version of the survey instrument is a longer version of the original shorter version developed and validated earlier. The 19 contexts including the exact wording of all of the problem situations posed in the two versions of the survey instrument are identical and the difference between the long and short versions of the instrument is only in the multiple-choice options. In particular, in the longer version of the survey instrument, there are no alternative conceptions explicitly embedded in the four multiple-choice options students choose from and the questions asked in a given context in one item of the shorter survey instrument were split into several items focusing, e.g., on different thermodynamic variables. After the development and validation of the longer version of the survey instrument, the final version was administered in 12 different in-person classes (four different institutions) in which students answered the questions in-class on paper scantron forms with the instructor as the proctor and 12 different in-person classes (five different institutions) in which students answered the questions online on Qualtrics within a two-hour period. This longer version of the survey instrument was administered to introductory physics students in various traditionally taught calculus-based and algebra-based classes before and after traditional lecture-based instruction in relevant concepts. It was also administered to upper-level undergraduates majoring in physics and Ph.D. students taught traditionally for bench marking purposes., Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2102.07302

After the passage of the US National Quantum Initiative Act in December 2018, the National Science Foundation and the Office of Science and Technology Policy assembled an interagency working group and conducted a workshop titled "Key Concepts for Future Quantum Information Science Learners" that focused on identifying core concepts for future curricular and educator activities to help pre-college students engage with quantum information science (QIS). Helping pre-college students learn these key concepts in QIS is an effective approach to introducing them to the Second Quantum Revolution and inspiring them to become future contributors in the growing field of quantum information science and technology as leaders in areas related to quantum computing, communication and sensing. This paper is a call to pre-college educators to contemplate including QIS concepts into their existing courses at appropriate levels and get involved in the development of curricular materials suitable for their students. Also, research shows that compare and contrast activities can provide an effective approach to helping students learn. Therefore, we illustrate a pedagogical approach that contrasts the classical and quantum concepts so that educators could adapt them for their students in their lesson plans to help them learn the differences between key concepts in quantum and classical contexts.

We describe student difficulties in applying the superposition principle in combination with Gauss's law. We addressed these difficulties by developing a tutorial that uses guided inquiry. Students who used this tutorial following lecture-based instruction performed significantly better on these topics than those who did not. Instructors can assign the tutorial as classwork or homework., Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure for article; 10 pages, 8 figures for supplement

The importance of science beliefs such as self-efficacy, interest, identity, sense of belonging, perceived recognition and effectiveness of peer interaction in science education has been increasingly recognized in recent years. Here, we use five years of data from a validated survey administered to non-majors during their first year, physics majors throughout their undergraduate education, and first-year physics Ph.D. students at a large research university in the US. We find that physics majors in the first-year responded to the survey prompts more positively than their non-physics major peers who were in the same introductory courses, with the largest differences in perceived recognition, interest, and physics identity and somewhat smaller differences in self-efficacy, perception of peer interaction, and sense of belonging. Further, the average survey responses of physics majors for each belief remain largely constant over time from their first-year of the undergraduate curriculum through the last year and comparable to the Ph.D. students. This suggests that students are adjusting their interpretation of the survey items to match the current level of expertise expected of them. One exception occurs in the second year, when peer interaction and sense of belonging reach a minimum. Moreover, physics identity dips to the lowest value in the fourth year when many students are contemplating continuing in physics beyond their undergraduate years or switching fields. We also find that perceived recognition is the best predictor of physics identity for physics majors throughout their entire physics education, pointing to the importance of instructors making a concerted effort to recognize and affirm their students throughout their education., Comment: Res Sci Educ (2022)

Helping students become proficient problem-solvers is one of the primary goals of physics courses. In part 1 of this article, we summarized the vast research on problem-solving relevant for physics instruction, and here we discuss a concrete example of problem solving in the context of waves from introductory physics. The goal of this research was to investigate how drawing of diagrams affects students' problem-solving performance. An introductory class was broken up into three recitations which received different instructions related to diagrams on their weekly quizzes: one group was provided a diagram, another was asked to draw one, and the third was the comparison group which was given no instructions about diagrams. We find that students who were provided a diagram performed significantly worse than students in the other two groups. Furthermore, we find that irrespective of the condition, students who drew diagrams as part of the problem-solving process performed better overall despite primarily using a mathematical approach to solving the problem. Lastly, we conducted think-aloud interviews with students who solved the same problem to further understand their solution approaches as well as how drawing a diagram is useful even in situations where a primarily mathematical approach is used., Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures

Understanding issues involved in expertise in physics problem solving is important for helping students become good problem solvers. In part 1 of this article, we summarize the research on problem-solving relevant for physics education across three broad categories: knowledge organization, information processing and cognitive load, and metacognition and problem-solving heuristics. We also discuss specific strategies discussed in the literature for promoting development of problem-solving skills in physics. This review article can be valuable in helping instructors develop students' problem-solving, reasoning, and metacognitive skills in physics and other related disciplines. Additionally, this review article is relevant across educational contexts in countries that may have different educational paradigms and challenges., Comment: 21 pages

Helping students become proficient problem solvers is a major goal of many physics courses from introductory to advanced levels. In fact, physics has often been used by cognitive scientists to investigate the differences between the problem-solving strategies of expert and novice problem solvers because it is a domain in which there is reasonably good agreement about what constitutes good problem-solving. Since the laws of physics are encapsulated in compact mathematical form, becoming an expert physics problem solver entails learning to unpack and interpret those physical laws as well as being able to apply them in diverse situations while solving problems. A physics expert must have a well-organized knowledge structure of relevant physics and math concepts and be able to manage cognitive load and do metacognition while solving complex problems. In this chapter, we review foundational research on expertise in physics problem-solving and then discuss research on instructional strategies that promote effective problem-solving as well as challenges in changing the instructional practices of physics instructors and teaching assistants via professional development to promote and support effective problem-solving approaches., Comment: 34 pages, 3 figures

Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a statistical method widely used in educational research to investigate relationships between variables. SEM models are typically constructed based on theoretical foundations and assessed through fit indices. However, a well-fitting SEM model alone is not sufficient to verify the causal inferences underlying the proposed model, as there are statistically equivalent models with distinct causal structures that equally well fit the data. Therefore, it is crucial for researchers using SEM to consider statistically equivalent models and to clarify why the proposed model is more accurate than the equivalent ones. However, many SEM studies did not explicitly address this important step, and no prior study in physics education research has delved into potential methods for distinguishing statistically equivalent models with differing causal structures. In this study, we use physics identity model as an example to discuss the importance of considering statistically equivalent models and how other data can help to distinguish them. Previous research has identified three dimensions of physics identity: perceived recognition, self-efficacy, and interest. However, the relationships between these dimensions have not been thoroughly understood. In this paper, we specify a model with perceived recognition predicting self-efficacy and interest, which is inspired by individual interviews with students in physics courses to make physics learning environments equitable and inclusive. We test our model with fit indices and discuss its statistically equivalent models with different causal inferences among perceived recognition, self-efficacy, and interest. We then discuss potential experiments that could further empirically test the causal inferences underlying the models, aiding the refinement to a more accurate causal model for guiding educational improvements., Comment: We note that a corresponding paper for physics 2 was published in the International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education (IJISME) based on the conference proceedings of the International Conference on Physics Education that one author attended

Students' self-efficacy, interest, and perceived recognition from others have been shown to be very important for the development of their identity in a given field, which is a critical predictor of students' career decisions. Prior research suggests that students' self-efficacy and interest play an important role in their performance and persistence in STEM fields. However, very little has been investigated about the role of perceived recognition and validation by instructors on students' self-efficacy and interest. Moreover, prior quantitative studies show that women often report a lower level of physics perceived recognition, self-efficacy and interest. In this study, we analyzed data from individual interviews with 38 female students to investigate their learning experiences in physics courses in order to obtain a qualitative understanding of the factors that shape their self-efficacy and interest. We find that female students' negative and positive perceived recognition from instructors and teaching assistants (TAs) greatly influenced their self-efficacy and interest and even impacted their desire to persist in STEM majors. We categorize different types of perceived recognition that women reported in our interviews and how they influenced them. For example, many women reported that they felt belittled for their questions or efforts in physics courses, which often negatively influenced their self-efficacy. These findings can help physics educators develop better ways to interact with students in order to provide positive recognition and validation, such as acknowledging students' efforts and questions, expressing faith in students' ability to excel, and being careful not to give unintended messages to students. Our research also suggests that it is important for instructors/TAs to note that it is not their intentions that matter but the impact they are having on their students.

Efforts to promote equity and inclusion using evidence-based approaches are vital to correcting long-standing societal inequities that have disadvantaged women and discouraged them from pursuing studies, including in many STEM disciplines. We used 10 years of institutional data from a large public university to investigate the grade point average trends in different STEM disciplines for men and women who declared a major and then either completed the degree or dropped the major after declaring it. We found alarming trends, such as that women who dropped majors on average earned higher grades than men, and in some STEM majors, women who dropped the majors were earning comparable grades to men who persisted in those majors. While these quantitative findings call for a deeper understanding of the reasons women and men drop a major, we provide suggestions for approaches to make learning environments more equitable and inclusive so that traditionally excluded stereotyped groups can have a higher sense of belonging and thrive., Comment: 12 pages 2 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2004.00560

This article describes reflections on the Fifth International Conference on Women in Physics which was a conference attended by 215 female physicists and a few male physicists from 49 different countries. The article focuses on the barriers that women face in their professional advancement in physics and the extent to which the situation is different in various countries., Comment: This article describes reflections on the Fifth International Conference on Women in Physics

This article summarizes why physics instructors should use social psychological interventions to make physics classes equitable and inclusive.

This article summarizes strategies and resources for teaching physics courses online on short notice.

This article discusses the mindset of an effective mentor. Guidelines are provided for how to be a good mentor., Comment: 4 pages

There is some evidence that conceptual inquiry-based introductory physics lab curricula, such as RealTime Physics, may improve students' understanding of physics concepts. Thus, these curricula may be attractive for instructors who seek to transform their physics labs to improve student learning. However, the impact of conceptual inquiry-based lab instruction on students' attitudes and beliefs about experimental physics, as measured by the E-CLASS survey, is not yet fully understood. We present data from three curricular approaches over four semesters ($n=701$). We saw no change in E-CLASS scores in the first implementation of a conceptual inquiry-based introductory physics lab. However, the addition of questions that asked students to reflect on issues relating to experimental physics was associated with E-CLASS outcomes that are comparable to other effective approaches to lab instruction.

In 2020, many instructors and students at colleges and universities were thrust into an unprecedented situation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic disruptions. Even though they typically engage in in-person teaching and learning in brick and mortar classrooms, remote instruction was the only possibility. Many instructors at our institution who had to switch from in-person to remote instruction without any notice earlier in the year worked extremely hard to design and teach online courses to support their students during the second half of 2020. Since different instructors chose different pedagogical approaches for remote instruction, students taking multiple remote classes simultaneously experienced a variety of instructional strategies. We present an analysis of students' perceptions of remote learning in their lecture-based, active learning, and lab physics classes at a large research university in the USA, focusing on positive and negative aspects including collaboration, communication, and assessment. Student reflections emphasized the importance of grade incentives for out-of-class and in-class work; frequent, low-stakes assessments; community-building activities; and opportunities to study with peers. Reflecting on the challenges and successes of different types of remote instructional approaches from students' perspective could provide useful insight to guide the design of future online courses as well as some aspects of in-person courses.

This Physics Today article discusses why the physics community needs to embrace the challenge of educating students with diverse educational backgrounds to meet future research and workforce demands and outlines some of the efforts underway., Comment: Physics Today, 2021

The rapidly growing quantum information science and engineering (QISE) industry will require both quantum-aware and quantum-proficient engineers at the bachelor's level. We provide a roadmap for building a quantum engineering education program to satisfy this need. For quantum-aware engineers, we describe how to design a first quantum engineering course accessible to all STEM students. For the education and training of quantum-proficient engineers, we detail both a quantum engineering minor accessible to all STEM majors, and a quantum track directly integrated into individual engineering majors. We propose that such programs typically require only three or four newly developed courses that complement existing engineering and science classes available on most larger campuses. We describe a conceptual quantum information science course for implementation at any post-secondary institution, including community colleges and military schools. QISE presents extraordinary opportunities to work towards rectifying issues of inclusivity and equity that continue to be pervasive within engineering. We present a plan to do so and describe how quantum engineering education presents an excellent set of education research opportunities. Finally, we outline a hands-on training plan on quantum hardware, a key component of any quantum engineering program, with a variety of technologies including optics, atoms and ions, cryogenic and solid-state technologies, nanofabrication, and control and readout electronics. Our recommendations provide a flexible framework that can be tailored for academic institutions ranging from teaching and undergraduate-focused two- and four-year colleges to research-intensive universities., Comment: 25 pages, 2 figures

The lack of diversity and the under-performance of underrepresented students in STEM courses have been the focus of researchers in the last decade. In particular, many hypotheses have been put forth for the reasons for the under-representation and under-performance of women in physics. Here, we present a framework for helping all students learn in science courses that takes into account four factors: 1) characteristics of instruction and learning tools, 2) implementation of instruction and learning tools, 3) student characteristics, and 4) students' environments. While there has been much research on factor 1 (characteristics of instruction and learning tools), there has been less focus on factor 2 (students' characteristics, and in particular, motivational factors). Here, we focus on the baseline motivational characteristics of introductory physics students obtained from survey data to inform factor 2 of the framework. A longitudinal analysis of students' motivational characteristics in two-semester introductory physics courses was performed by administering pre- and post-surveys that evaluated students' self-efficacy, grit, fascination with physics, value associated with physics, intelligence mindset, and physics epistemology. Female students reported lower self-efficacy, fascination and value, and had a more "fixed" view of intelligence in the context of physics compared to male students. Grit was the only factor on which female students reported averages that were equal to or higher than male students throughout introductory physics courses. These gender differences can at least partly be attributed to the societal stereotypes and biases about who belongs in physics and can excel in it. The findings inform the framework and have implications for the development and implementation of effective pedagogies and learning tools to help all students learn., Comment: published in the issue honoring first tenured female physics professor in Canada, Dr. Ursula Franklin

We discuss the development and validation of a conceptual multiple-choice survey instrument called the Survey of Thermodynamic Processes and First and Second Laws (STPFaSL) suitable for introductory physics courses. The survey instrument uses common student difficulties with these concepts as resources in that the incorrect answers to the multiple-choice questions were guided by them. After the development and validation of the survey instrument, the final version was administered at six different institutions. It was administered to introductory physics students in various traditionally taught calculus-based and algebra-based classes in paper-pencil format before and after traditional lecture-based instruction in relevant concepts. We also administered the survey instrument to upper-level undergraduates majoring in physics and Ph.D. students for bench marking and for content validity and compared their performance with those of introductory students for whom the survey is intended. We find that although the survey instrument focuses on thermodynamics concepts covered in introductory courses, it is challenging even for advanced students. A comparison with the base line data on the validated survey instrument presented here can help instructors evaluate the effectiveness of innovative pedagogies designed to help students develop a solid grasp of these concepts.

Teaching assistants (TAs) are often responsible for grading in introductory physics courses at large research universities. Their grading practices can shape students' approaches to problem solving and learning. Physics education research recommends grading practices that encourage students to provide evidence of understanding via explication of the problem-solving process. However, TAs may not necessarily grade in a manner that encourages students to provide evidence of understanding in their solutions. Within the context of a semester-long TA professional development course, we investigated whether encouraging TAs to use a grading rubric that appropriately weights the problem-solving process and having them reflect upon the benefits of using such a rubric prompts TAs to require evidence of understanding in student solutions. We examined how the TAs graded realistic student solutions to introductory physics problems before they were provided a rubric, whether TAs used the rubric as intended, whether they were consistent in grading similar solutions, and how TAs' grading criteria changed after discussing the benefits of a well-designed rubric. We find that many TAs typically applied the rubric consistently when grading similar student solutions but did not require students to provide evidence of understanding. TAs' written responses, class discussions, and individual interviews suggest that the instructional activities involving the grading rubrics in this study were not sufficient to change their grading practices. Interviews and class discussions suggest that helping TAs value a rubric that appropriately weights the problem-solving process may be challenging partly due to the TAs past educational experiences and the departmental context., Comment: 18 pages

Societal stereotypes and biases pertaining to who belongs in physics and who can excel in physics can impact motivational beliefs, e.g., of women and racial and ethnic minority students in physics courses. This study investigates how the learning environment predicts male and female students' motivational beliefs including physics self-efficacy, interest, and identity at the end of year long (spanning two-semester) algebra-based introductory physics courses. These were courses at a large university in the US taken primarily by biological science majors many of whom are interested in health professions. Although women are not underrepresented in these physics courses, societal stereotypes and biases internalized by female students over their lifetime can still impact their motivational beliefs about physics. Our findings show gender gap in motivational beliefs favoring men. These findings can be useful to provide support and create an equitable and inclusive learning environment to help all students excel in these courses., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PERC

In two earlier studies, we developed a new method to measure students' ability to transfer physics problem solving skills to new contexts using a sequence of online learning modules, and implemented two interventions in the form of additional learning modules designed to improve transfer ability. The current paper introduces a new data analysis scheme that could improve the accuracy of the measurement by accounting for possible differences in students' goal orientation and behavior, as well as revealing the possible mechanism by which one of the two interventions improves transfer ability. Based on a two by two framework of self-regulated learning, students with a performance-avoidance oriented goal are more likely to guess on some of the assessment attempts in order to save time, resulting in an underestimation of the student populations' transfer ability. The current analysis shows that about half of the students had frequent brief initial assessment attempts, and significantly lower correct rates on certain modules, which we think is likely to have originated at least in part from students adopting a performance-avoidance strategy. We then divided the remaining population, for which we can be certain that few students adopted a performance-avoidance strategy, based on whether they interacted with one of the intervention modules designed to develop basic problem solving skills, or passed that module on their first attempt without interacting with the instructional material. By comparing to propensity score matched populations from a previous semester, we found that the improvement in subsequent transfer performance observed in a previous study mainly came from the latter population, suggesting that the intervention served as an effective reminder for students to activate existing skills, but fell short of developing those skills among those who have yet to master it., Comment: Updated abstract, body, and captions after referee comments

In this study, we adapt prior identity framework to investigate the effect of learning environment (including perceived recognition, peer interaction and sense of belonging) on students' physics self-efficacy, interest and identity by controlling for their self-efficacy and interest at the beginning of a calculus-based introductory physics course. We surveyed 1203 students, 35% of whom were women. We found that female students' physics self-efficacy and interest were lower than male students' at the beginning of the course, and the gender gaps in these motivational constructs became even larger by the end of the course. Analysis revealed that the decrease in students' physics self-efficacy and interest were mediated by the learning environment and ultimately affected students' physics identity. Our model shows that perceived recognition played a major role in explaining students' physics identity, and students' sense of belonging in physics played an important role in explaining the change in students' physics self-efficacy.

We discuss a study in a first year college introductory physics course for physical science and engineering majors that shows that women, on average, feel less recognized by their physics instructors than men as students who can excel in physics. We also discuss how this lack of perceived positive recognition pertaining to physics can adversely affect their self-efficacy and performance in the course. We recommend that physics instructors not be parsimonious in their praise of students and make a conscious effort to positively recognize their students for their effort and progress whenever an opportunity arises. Interviews with female students suggest that instructors should be careful not to give unintended messages to students, e.g., by praising some students for brilliance or intelligence as opposed to their effort because praising a student for brilliance can convey to other students that they do not have what is required to excel in physics. Interviews also suggest that when students ask instructors for help on physics problems, if instructors inadvertently label those problems as "easy", "trivial" or "obvious", it can also make students feel disparaged. The perception of being belittled by these kinds of unintended comments by instructors as well as a lack of positive recognition for good effort and progress have the potential to most adversely impact students from underrepresented groups including women.

With limited time available in the classroom, e-learning tools can supplement in-class learning by providing opportunities for students to study and learn outside of class. Such tools can be especially helpful for students who lack adequate prior preparation. However, one critical issue is ensuring that students, especially those in need of additional help, engage with the tools as intended. Here we first discuss an empirical investigation in which students in a large algebra-based physics course were given opportunities to work through research-validated tutorials outside of class as self-study tools. Students were provided these optional tutorials after traditional instruction in relevant topics and were then given quizzes that included problems that were identical to the tutorial problems with regard to the physics principles involved but had different contexts. We find that students who worked through the tutorials as self-study tools struggled to transfer their learning to solve problems that used the same physics principles. On the other hand, students who worked on the tutorials in supervised, one-on-one situations performed significantly better than them. These empirical findings suggest that many introductory physics students may not engage effectively with self-paced learning tools unless they are provided additional incentives and support, e.g., to aid with self-regulation. Inspired by the empirical findings, we propose a holistic theoretical framework to help create learning environments in which students with diverse backgrounds are provided support to engage effectively with self-study tools., Comment: accepted Phys. Rev. PER. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1606.00518

Many prior studies have found a gender gap between male and female students' performance on conceptual assessments such as the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism (CSEM) with male students performing better than female students. Prior studies have also found that activation of a negative stereotype about a group or stereotype threat, e.g., asking test-takers to indicate their ethnicity before taking a test, can lead to deteriorated performance of the stereotyped group. Here, we describe two studies in which we investigated the gender gap on the FCI and CSEM. In the first study, we investigated whether asking students to indicate their gender immediately before taking hte CSEM increased the gender gap compared to students who were not asked for this information. In the second study, conducted with over 1100 introductory physics students, we investigated the prevalence of the belief that men generally perform better in physics than women and the extent to which this belief is correlated with the performance of both the female and male students on the FCI., Comment: 4 pages, i figure. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2006.16846