Teachers use a variety of resources when reasoning quantitatively in science contexts. We identify patterns related to the resources high school STEM teachers use, both productive and unproductive, when reasoning quantitatively on an inventory designed to probe Physics Quantitative Literacy (PQL). Based on these patterns, we identify topics for professional development that can provide teachers an opportunity to refine their PQL so that they can support their students to develop productive quantitative reasoning resources.

Quantitative Literacy of High School STEM Teachers: Resources and Opportunities

The process and role of developing new scientific models experimentally is a cornerstone of physics -- and arguably an important learning objective of laboratory courses -- but research in physics education suggests that most current lab curricula do not effectively meet this objective. Many instructional practices leave students believing that in-class experiments exist to supplement conceptual learning and that the sole purpose of real-world experiments is to test theories. As a result, many students frame lab work as an exercise in knowledge confirmation, and expect that all physics that appears in the labs can be found with a Google search. This paper describes an instructional intervention using virtual reality to integrate the process of authentic scientific discovery into the lab curriculum. We developed labs in which students explore and develop mathematical models for unknown force laws between new kinds of particles that we invented. We find that this intervention produced significant shifts in students' epistemologies about experimental physics toward being more expertlike -- specifically regarding the central role experimentation plays for research physicists in making new discoveries and developing theories, and the role of laboratory experiments in teaching a nuanced and unique scientific way of knowing.

Developing expertlike epistemologies about physics empirical discovery using virtual reality

The sudden transition to remote instruction left many introductory physics students with limited opportunities for meaningful interpersonal interactions with their classmates and instructors. Students reported discouragement over their ability to learn new concepts, and lack of motivation to engage in the courses. In response, we formed “Learning Pods” - online learning communities of small student groups connected through Slack and mentored in collaboration skills. Summer of 2020, Learning Pods became an organizing structure of the remotely delivered introductory calculus-based mechanics course. In subsequent terms, features of the Learning Pod Intervention varied as we scaled up from courses with ~100 students to those with 300-500 students. Based on analysis of student survey questions, we present preliminary indicators of increased student self-efficacy and improved engagement with instructors and peers. Improved self-efficacy and engagement have been correlated with improved success and persistence, especially for students from groups underrepresented in physics. We observe that explicitly incorporating collaboration as instructional material and setting up structures to facilitate communication increased student self-efficacy and interactivity. In addition, TA facilitation of synchronous activities to foster effective collaboration lowered barriers for students reaching out to them. Overall, instructor and TA efforts to increase effective collaboration and communication had a positive impact on student self-efficacy and engagement, and the more structured and explicit interventions had more impact.

Effects of facilitating collaboration in large-enrollment introductory physics courses

Students and experts engage in a plethora of sophisticated ways of thinking during modeling tasks, blending between mathematical and physical reasoning. This integrated way of reasoning about quantities and how they are related is ubiquitous to “thinking like a physicist.” One facet of this process is covariational reasoning -- reasoning about how changes in one quantity relate to changes in another quantity. In laboratory courses that engage students in experimental design, students commonly use covariational reasoning as they model changing quantities and the relationships between them. However, those without strong mathematical reasoning skills may unintentionally be perceived as also having less nuanced physics reasoning skills. To investigate the multifaceted ways students model in physics lab courses, we examined student discussions during remote, student-designed labs in which students interact with physical, but fictitious, matter in a virtual reality (VR) simulation. The VR environment allows for students to observe and measure novel situations for which the “answer,” in this case a mathematical model about the particles’ behavior, is not known. Using a conceptual blend analysis, we examine two lab groups that take different approaches to the task, despite beginning with the same observations and reporting on the same final model. One group demonstrates expert-like mathematical reasoning that is typically rewarded in physics courses, while the other engages in early signs of expert-like physics reasoning. Our analysis suggests that there are productive ideas emerging in both groups, and that of the less mathematically rigorous may be going unnoticed. We suggest that characterizing these features of physics covariational reasoning may provide an opportunity to move beyond data analysis techniques in lab courses towards incorporating more physics expert-like techniques. In doing so, instructors may recognize hidden strengths that may otherwise go undetected.

Emerging covariational reasoning student resources in physics lab courses

The sudden transition to remote instruction left many students struggling to fully engage with courses which had fewer opportunities for meaningful interpersonal interactions. In response, we formed “Learning Pods – online learning communities of small student groups connected through Slack and mentored in collaboration skills. Subsequently, Learning Pods became an organizing structure of the introductory calculus-based mechanics course. Features of the Learning Pod Intervention varied as we scaled up from courses with ~100 students to those with 300-500 students. Based on analysis of student survey questions, we present preliminary indicators of increased student self-efficacy and improved engagement with instructors and peers. Improved self-efficacy and engagement have been correlated with improved success and persistence, especially for students from groups underrepresented in physics. We observe that different implementations increased student self-efficacy to different degrees, and that instructor and TA engagement in mentoring effective collaboration lowered barriers for students’ engagement with TAs.

Facilitating Online Learning Communities in Large-Enrollment Introductory Physics Courses

Virtual reality (VR) technology continues to mature at a rapid clip, creating potential for its use as a means of administering "hands-on" physics lab curriculum in hybrid or remote learning contexts. This talk draws from experiences administering VR-enabled labs to classes of 120 students in a hybrid model and 37 students in a remote model to inform answers to key questions around use of VR in remote labs: What advantages does VR offer over traditional "flat" simulations? Do students recognize "hands-on" work done in an immersive 3D environment as being "real" science? How is collaboration between distant students affected by use of VR? What is the current and near-future feasibility of VR technology use in remote instruction? We argue that VR labs have a niche in the remote physics lab instructor's toolbox, and outline current and anticipated applications of VR to remote physics lab instruction.

Virtual Reality Enabling Remote Collaborative Physics Labs

Reasoning about the concept of electric charge, and the meaning of the term "net charge" in particular, presents a greater learning challenge than students and instructors might initially recognize. This may be due in part to subtleties in the use of positive and negative signs to characterize complementary charges, rather than to indicate that the quantities are greater than or less than zero. In this talk, we discuss the nuances of electric charge as a physical quantity and situate it in a body of work by mathematics and physics education researchers to characterize the uses and meanings of signs. We then describe preliminary research that illustrates the effect of wording differences on student reasoning about electric charge as a signed quantity and discuss implications for instruction.

Electric charge as a signed quantity

Mathematics education researchers have been investigating for decades – in math contexts – student understanding of the many uses of algebraic variables. Physics, with its alphabet soup of symbolic representations of quantities and constants, takes this variation in variable use to a whole new level. There is a growing body of evidence from physics education researchers suggesting that student difficulty with manipulating variables presents a barrier to succeeding in physics. The context dependence of symbol use in physics is nuanced, and often not part of students’ mathematics preparation. In this talk we present evidence that the presence of a single variable significantly affects the outcome in even simple quantitative questions for students in calculus-based introductory physics. We present a framework, adapted from mathematics education, for thinking about the various roles that algebraic variables play in physics contexts. We present recommendations for instruction to help students conceptualize these uses.


The mixed messaging of algebraic variables in physics

Quantitative reasoning in introductory physics is characterized by using simple mathematics in creative and novel ways. Physics Quantitative Literacy (PQL) is characterized by the blending of conceptual and procedural mathematics to generate and apply models relating physics quantities to each other. As part of developing a PQL assessment instrument, the Physics Inventory of Quantitative Literacy (PIQL), we characterized expert reasoning in three domains – proportional reasoning, covariational reasoning and reasoning with sign and signed quantities. Accurately characterizing student reasoning can help guide instructional interventions designed to help students develop more expert-like reasoning.&nbsp; In this talk, I will share ongoing quantitative analyses of student PIQL responses, and related qualitative studies. I will report on reasoning clusters revealed through module analysis, and hierarchical structure using item tree analysis. I will also share results that isolate emergent student resources associated with the three domains of expert PQL in introductory physics.&nbsp;

Finding Potential Pathways between Expert and Student Physics Quantitative Reasoning

Poster Session

poster

PERC 2022 is focused on "queering physics education" through an intersectional lens. By "queering," we are centering queer theory which breaks down social constructions and hierarchies to unpack normalized assumptions. In the context of physics education, we want to apply the theory to unpack who has power in physics to control the production of future physicists, how physics policies and practices are sometimes built on ideas of punishment and power, and how PER embeds binaries in both its content and sociological research. Further, we want to encourage a dialogue that is both a critique and an imagining of a queer future for PER.

Explicit attention will be given to constructions of race, (dis)ability, gender, sexuality and how they interact and impact lived experiences.

We have had such a fun time organizing this year’s PERC. You might be aware that we were committed to transparency and documenting our processes and decision making which we outlined here. This year has also been challenging to be a queer or otherwise marginalized person in the US. And we continue to seek and provide support for those individuals.

As such, we recommend that folks visiting Grand Rapids who have the means consider giving to some local organizations who are working to advocate for those impacted by historic and ongoing marginalization and violence.


PERC SM 22

PERC 2022 focused on "queering physics education" through an intersectional lens. By "queering," we centered queer theory which breaks down social constructions and hierarchies to unpack normalized assumptions. In the context of physics education, we apply the theory to unpack who has power in physics to control the production of future physicists, how physics policies and practices are sometimes built on ideas of punishment and power, and how PER embeds binaries in both its content and sociological research. Further, we wanted to encourage a dialogue that is both a critique and an imagining of a queer future for PER. Explicit attention was given to constructions of race, (dis)ability, gender, sexuality and how they interact and impact lived experiences.

Poster Session 1A

**Making Physics More Inclusive and Eliminating Exclusionary Practices in Physics**

As a gateway discipline to STEM majors and careers, physics plays a central role in deciding who does, and who doesn't, get to discover and pursue scientific careers. Technical and scientific professionals are rewarded with economic privilege and status which affords them both social and cultural power. Therefore, social justice will be realized only when the opportunity, and the choice, to excel in physics is open to all students. The culture and practices of the physics classroom reflect the culture of physics at large, which raises the question of how our professional physics communities can embrace, rather than inadvertently repel, a diverse group of academics that can help improve physics culture.  To this end, the 2021 Physics Education Research Conference will focus on defining inclusive spaces and practices. Additionally, we will explore strategies for eliminating exclusionary practices in our classrooms, research spaces, and professional organizations. We call on the community to propose sessions that will drive conversations related to these initiatives throughout PERC 2021.

Please download the full program [here. ](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TRMC_SYJ3PUqXyP7sskA7LRSA8ow0eRE/view?usp=sharing)

PERC SM 21

August 4, 2021 - August 5, 2021 in a Virtual Conference Format

Making Physics More Inclusive and Eliminating Exclusionary Practices in Physics

Poster Session 1D

<br>**Session Chair:** Charlotte Zimmerman
<br>

Characterizing change is at the heart of physics. Mathematics and physics education researchers grapple with how change is conceptualized and quantified. The ways in which students make sense of how two quantities are related -- how changes in one quantity affect changes in another -- have been an integral part of physics education research on scaling, proportional reasoning, and modeling. In mathematics education research, this is called covariational reasoning, and is often described as a central skill for precalculus and calculus curriculum. These courses are typically considered pre- or co-requisites for introductory physics courses, suggesting that students may be assumed to have strong, reliable covariational reasoning skills as an outcome of their math courses. Recent work in both physics and mathematics education indicates that covariational reasoning involves high levels of sophisticated thinking, and by considering it prerequisite we may unintentionally enforce a barrier for students coming into physics. As mathematics education is highly variable across U.S. high schools, this prerequisite thinking may also disproportionately affect students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. In this parallel session, we bring together physics and mathematics education experts to explore the overlap of covariational reasoning in our disciplines. We will consider the ways that we collectively ask students to reason about related quantities and discuss modes of student reasoning about change and rates of change. In addition, as a mechanism for broadening access and differentiating instruction in our courses, we aim to foster a discussion about supporting instructors (and students) to shift the narrative towards framing covariational reasoning as an emerging and developing skill during college physics and mathematics courses. The session will begin with talks from each of the researchers, and conclude with time for a larger discussion and questions for speakers.

Considering covariational reasoning in math and physics

technical paper

PS.B-SA-12: Using Educational Technology to enhance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Join AAPT and Physics Educators worldwide in developing and strengthening your professional connections by attending the 2021 AAPT Virtual Summer Meeting. AAPT meetings are a great way to reflect on your teaching, recommit to best practices and re-energize your career with new research, products, and techniques.

Listen to internationally known plenary speakers, attend sessions, workshops, and special activities. Attending the virtual summer meeting is an excellent opportunity to share your expertise and learn from and network with leaders in the field.

Please log in with your AAPT account or register for the event if you haven't already.

If you are registered please note that you need to be logged in with your AAPT email / credentials in order to get access.

AAPT SM 21

PS.C-SU-04: Emergent Technologies for Remote Instruction

PS.F-WE-11: PER: Student Content Understanding, Problem-Solving and Reasoning IV

C2.9 Recent Developments and Perspectives in Research on Student Reasoning

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.

If you're not able to log in, you're most likely using **incorrect login credentials**. Double-check that you are using the same email and password that you used to register for the conference, submit your abstract or access your AAPT membership. There may also be **an issue with your AAPT meeting registration**. Please email aapt2021@underline.io and programs@aapt.org and we will work quickly to resolve this issue.

Suzanne White Brahmia

9

SHORT BIO

Presentations

Quantitative Literacy of High School STEM Teachers: Resources and Opportunities

Developing expertlike epistemologies about physics empirical discovery using virtual reality

Effects of facilitating collaboration in large-enrollment introductory physics courses

Emerging covariational reasoning student resources in physics lab courses

Facilitating Online Learning Communities in Large-Enrollment Introductory Physics Courses

Virtual Reality Enabling Remote Collaborative Physics Labs

Electric charge as a signed quantity

The mixed messaging of algebraic variables in physics

Finding Potential Pathways between Expert and Student Physics Quantitative Reasoning

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