As our lives have taken a sharp turn to the unknown, we have been forced to a stop. In this time of uncertainty, we have an opportunity to reflect on our learning goals and how we engage students for meaningful learning. We are currently extending the accumulation of research in physics education which focuses on instruction practices and the mismatch between theory and implementation. We are collecting course syllabi from undergraduate instructors who teach all levels of physics courses. Syllabi are being analyzed for aspects of learner-centered philosophy and practices to help understand how the shift in instructors’ intentions is reflected to students. Please contribute if you have taught physics in the last decade! This work will shed light on the current state of instructional practices within the US. Next we will be interviewing select instructors to gain a better understanding of the difficulties encountered while implementing research-based instructional strategies.

Lost In Translation: Reflecting on the Communication of Instructional Philosophy

Students enter classrooms with an accumulation of experiences. This case study examined the effect of multiple factors, including undergraduate students prior knowledge and attitudes, on their (G)FCI scores and final class grades. The participants were 43 students in an introductory mechanics class for engineers. The students completed either the FCI or GFCI to test for any differences due to the context of questions. We found that students GPA, self-reported gender, prior advanced physics classes, and negative attitudes towards physics to be the most predictive variables of their scores. Male students scored on average almost twice as high as their female counterpart regardless of the test taken. Though past research has shown no significant difference between the FCI and GFCI, we did detect a difference in the perceived ease of the questions. Notably, 53% of the students did not meet the 60% threshold which indicates the initiation of Newtonian thinking

Contributing Effects to Students’ Performance on the FCI as a measure of Physics Knowledge

The rapid spread of COVID-19 this spring abruptly halted normal everyday student and teacher experiences across the United States and the world. In addition to forcing classes online at many universities, the impact of the virus posed a number of external pressures for students as they struggled to complete their semester. We seek to bring light to those pressures through the lens of their physics coursework. In this case study, we looked at these impacts on three student subpopulations: beginning undergraduate students (n=13), advanced undergraduates (n=10), and graduate student TAs (n=8) Results of an end of semester survey revealed that decreased motivation had a large impact on student work for all subgroups. We found that advanced students had the largest increase in stress levels related to coursework graduate TAs struggled with supporting students. We discuss nuances and implications of instruction for next year.

Lightning changes amidst Covid-19: A case study of how a large research institute moved physics classes and labs online and its impact on students and graduate teaching instructors

C1.6 Physics Education Research II Posters

poster

AAPT® is a strong professional physics science society dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in physical science education.

Winter and Summer National Meetings:
These National Meetings, held each winter and summer, are opportunities for members, colleagues, and future physicists from around the world to:

- participate in physics workshops
- meet and greet other physics educators
- form networks nationally and locally
- engage exhibitors and learn about the latest physics resources
- discuss innovations in teaching methods
- share the results of research about teaching and learning.

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AAPT WM 21

Poster Session III

Join us in exploring emergent themes in PER as a scholarly endeavor and as a research community!  Since its inception, PER has served as a confluence of discipline, theory, research methodology, practice, and application.  How have these facets and the interplays among them been fruitful for physics education globally, regionally, locally, or otherwise?  And, how have our successes and interactions influenced the very nature of PER itself?
Following the lead of AAPT for the summer meeting, PERC 20/20 was virtual. Enjoy browsing the content.

PERC SM 20

Since its inception, PER has served as a confluence of discipline, theory, research methodology, practice, and application.  How have these facets and the interplays among them been fruitful for physics education globally, regionally, locally, or otherwise?  And, how have our successes and interactions influenced the very nature of PER itself?

Alia Hamdan

3

SHORT BIO

Presentations

Lost In Translation: Reflecting on the Communication of Instructional Philosophy

Contributing Effects to Students’ Performance on the FCI as a measure of Physics Knowledge

Lightning changes amidst Covid-19: A case study of how a large research institute moved physics classes and labs online and its impact on students and graduate teaching instructors

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