Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

An Exploration Of Misconceptions In Introductory Physics, Christopher Mattthew Wheatley

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The study of student misconceptions about physics concepts has long been an important area of inquiry in physics education research (PER). The research discussed in this dissertation builds upon the developments in PER by exploring the prevalence of consistently held undergraduate student misconceptions in introductory calculus-based physics. This thesis explores the nature of student misconceptions, mistakes, and naive answering patterns in both introductory undergraduate Newtonian mechanics and electromagnetism by applying a network analytic technique called module analysis to student responses to different concept inventories from institutions of various levels of incoming physics preparation. Each study applying these methods also demonstrates …

Student Performance In Modern Physics In An Active, Partially-Flipped Classroom, Scott Yarbrough

Physics Dissertations

The effectiveness of the flipped classroom and hybrid-flipped (partially flipped, partially lecture-based) method of instruction has been extensively studied for high school and introductory undergraduate physics courses, and it has been shown to increase student understanding and performance. However, few studies have been done for upper-level undergraduate courses, and even fewer have been done for virtual courses. In Spring 2021 and Fall 2023, a fully virtual, hybrid-flipped Modern Physics course was taught, primarily to a class of primarily juniors and seniors, with some sophomores. All were STEM majors. The same course, with a similar enrolment and demographic of students, was …

Empowering Latinos To Pursue A Degree In Astronomy/Physics, Ivon Tapia

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Empowering Latino students to pursue careers in astronomy/physics is possible if we find the correct way to help them. Astronomy can help our planet, and physics teaches us how to appreciate our earth and everything around us. Currently, Latinos are underrepresented in these careers. This senior capstone examines the different ways that schools could empower Latino students to pursue careers in astronomy/physics. Through the use of literature review, interviews with two teachers and one astronomer, and an anonymous survey of students, the result findings indicate that introducing careers in astronomy/physics to Latino students at a young age could spark their …

Reflective Freewriting As A Strategy To Improve Pre-Service Teacher’S Physics Content Knowledge And Overall Attitude Toward Physics And Physics Teaching, Kali Ann Shoaf-Laughlin

MSU Graduate Theses

A pilot study conducted in the pre-service teacher (PST) physics classroom at Missouri State University sought to validate a tool for learning. A writing treatment, in which students were asked to participate in reflective freewriting exercises over the course of the semester was administered to one lab group. The Physics Attitude Scale was used to determine whether a positive impact was made on pre-service teacher attitudes about physics and teaching physics. Classroom exams and lab reports were used to determine whether or not aptitude was affected. This action research study used qualitative data to assess content knowledge and overall shift …

Assessing The Effectiveness Of A Tool For Classifying And Assessing Student Energy Diagrams In Pre- And Post-Covid-19 Instruction, Michael Dudley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Energy is a broad concept that is used to interpret and understand scientific phenomena, and appears throughout the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) at all grade levels and across disciplines. The NGSS specifies no single approach for energy instruction, and makes use of different energy metaphors, often within individual standards. Gray, et al. (2019) created a checklist (the “Gray Checklist”) to identify whether or not a diagram exhibits evidence of core constituent ideas that align to the energy model of the NGSS. This study used the Gray Checklist to find trends in student energy diagrams that were produced during a …

Mechani-Kits Senior Design Project, Jake Utley, Sophie Carson, Vincent Seguin

Mechanical Engineering

Studies suggest that when designed and executed well, hands-on activities can enhance student understanding of key mechanics concepts. Current products are expensive and typically not designed to meet a variety of learning objectives. Through the Mechanics of Inclusion and Inclusivity in Mechanics grant, the Cal Poly Physics and Engineering Departments are seeking to incorporate new hands-on activities into their courses. Our team has designed three inexpensive ”MechaniKits” to be used in physics, statics and dynamics courses [1]. This Final Design Review outlines our findings, objectives, and final designs for this project. It also explains our manufacturing and design verification plans. …

College Student Changing Attitudes And Beliefs About The Nature Of And Teaching Of Mathematics And Science, Stephen R. Skinner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With an estimated 17.3 million STEM jobs in the US, there exists a need for a STEMready workforce that is science literate with positive attitudes and beliefs toward the learning and teaching of mathematics and science (Graf, Fry, & Funk, 2018). However, the US has seen a steady decline in the number of high school students interested in STEM-related fields with only 16% of interested students with proven proficiency in mathematics and science and are ready to enroll in college STEM programs (ACT, 2017; Osborne & Dillon, 2008; Stake & Mares, 2001). With the decline in student interest, the US …

Learning A New Physics Concept By Exploring Analogous Problems : An Instructional Intervention, Joanna Perry Weaver

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study tested the hypothesis that exploratory learning, with and without analogous problems, would improve students’ ability to make connections between conceptually-related topics. In this randomized experiment, undergraduates in introductory physics (N = 171) studied a new topic under three different instructional conditions. Order and type of instruction varied: Two experimental groups explored the concept before hearing a lecture; a control group followed the typical sequence of hearing a lecture before working with the concept. Within the experimental condition, students in the analogy-first group simultaneously explored analogous problems; students in the explore-first group explored only the new problem with a …

Using Machine Learning And Traditional Statistics To Explore Retention And Knowledge Structure In Stem With An Emphasis On Physics, Cabot Alexander Zabriskie

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Retention of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students is a serious problem as STEM graduation rates continue to lag the growing demand for the skills taught by these degree programs. Critical to fixing this “leaky pipeline” is investment in improving retention in the first two years of college study and increasing and maintaining the interest of K-12 students in STEM. This thesis will address this in three parts. The first is through evaluation of conceptual tests used to evaluate course improvements to determine the structure student knowledge measured by them. The second part uses machine learning to construct early …

Investigating Student Understanding Of Vector Calculus In Upper-Division Electricity And Magnetism: Construction And Determination Of Differential Element In Non-Cartesian Coordinate Systems, Benjamin Schermerhorn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Differential length, area, and volume elements appear ubiquitously over the course of upper-division electricity and magnetism (E&M), used to sum the effects of or determine expressions for electric or magnetic fields. Given the plethora of tasks with spherical and cylindrical symmetry, non-Cartesian coordinates are commonly used, which include scaling factors as coefficients for the differential terms to account for the curvature of space. Furthermore, the application to vector fields means differential lengths and areas are vector quantities. So far, little of the education research in E&M has explored student understanding and construction of the non-Cartesian differential elements used in applications …

Echoes Of The Past: The Effect Of Background Experience On Far Transfer, Graham H. Hummel-Hall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Far transfer is the application of knowledge learned in one setting to a problem in a very different setting. This multi-method study looked at far transfer in humans and whether it could be facilitated, inhibited, or remain unaffected by the number of courses or years a student at a university spent learning about the subject matter of the knowledge being transferred. Through quantitative and qualitative analysis of pretest and post-test data from an introductory undergraduate earth science course, I found that students with more physical science background experience more frequently engaged in successful and accurate transfer of physics information to …

Mississippians In Physics: Perspectives And Practice In A Search For Physics Excellence, Paul D. Rogers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-method study represents a broad evaluation of the physics views of Mississippi physics students and physicists, along with an analysis of graduate school data, in a search for answers which might improve physics education in Mississippi. Descriptive statistics were calculated using data from eight graduate degree programs (from Fall 2003 through Full Summer 2012) at the University of Mississippi. This was done to find the percent of graduate degrees in each degree program which were awarded to in-state residents. It was found that of the eight University of Mississippi graduate degree programs in the study, two programs awarded a …

Effect Of Modeling Instruction On Concept Knowledge Among Ninth Grade Physics Students, Devin Alan Ditmore

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A basic knowledge of physics concepts is the gateway to success through high-paying careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Many students show little understanding of concepts following traditional physics instruction. As an alternative to current lecture-based approaches for high school physics instruction, Piaget's theory of cognitive development supports using real scientific experiences to lead learners from concrete to formal understanding of complex concepts. Modeling instruction (MI) is a pedagogy that guides learners through genuine scientific experiences. This project study analyzed the effects of MI on 9th grade physics students' gains on the test measuring mastery of physics concepts, …

Integrating Formative Assessment Into Physics Instruction: The Effect Of Formative Vs. Summative Assessment On Student Physics Learning And Attitudes, Chaiphat Plybour

Dissertations

Of many instructional strategies used to improve teaching and learning in science, formative assessment is potentially one of the most effective. A central feature is timely feedback during learning, giving students the opportunity to benefit and improve while also enabling teachers to adjust instruction to learner needs. By contrast, conventional assessment tends to be mostly summative, assigning point scores, grading and ranking students, and providing extrinsic motivation. For maximum effectiveness in enhancing learning, formative assessment should be designed into instruction from the start rather than being an add-on. This project comprised development, teaching, and research aspects. Two physics topic modules, …

Science For Visually Impaired Students And Accessible Technology, Lydia M. Moreland

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Blind and visually impaired students need appropriate methods and accessible technology in order to compete and advance in learning the science concepts. The study investigated the attitudes, perceptions, and knowledge of assistive technology used by science teachers of the visually impaired from a Mid-Atlantic state and how they are incorporated in the classroom. The participant response gives notice to what forms of assistive technology are used in frequency, and the training and comfort level to use the assistive technology. The open responses stated themes of teachers needing more training in visual impairment college programs to use assistive technology to increase …

Chasing Polys: Interdisciplinary Affinity And Its Connection To Physics Identity, Tyler Scott

All Dissertations

This research is based on two motivations that merge by means of the frameworks of interdisciplinary affinity and physics identity. First, a goal of education is to develop interdisciplinary abilities in students' thinking and work. But an often ignored factor is students interests and beliefs about being interdisciplinary. Thus, this work develops and uses a framework called interdisciplinary affinity. It encompasses students interests in making connections across disciplines and their beliefs about their abilities to make those connections. The second motivation of this research is to better understand how to engage more students with physics. Physics identity describes how a …

Student Application Of The Fundamental Theorem Of Calculus With Graphical Representations In Mathematics And Physics, Rabindra R. Bajracharya

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One mathematical concept frequently applied in physics is the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus (FTC). Mathematics education research on student understanding of the FTC indicates student difficulties with the FTC. Similarly, a few studies in physics education have implicitly indicated student difficulties with various facets of the FTC, such as with the definite integral and the area under the curve representation, in physics contexts. There has been no research on how students apply the FTC in graphically-based physics questions.

This study investigated student understanding of the FTC and its application to graphically-based problems. Our interest spans several aspects of the FTC: …

Investigating The Proposed Affordances And Limitations Of The Substance Metaphor For Energy, Lisa Goodhew

Honors Projects

This study explores the instructional advantages and disadvantages of representing energy as a material substance; this is done in the context of a computer simulation that illustrates processes of energy transfer and transformation. These affordances and limitations have been proposed in science education literature as extensions of the substance metaphor itself, but there is little empirical evidence to support them. This study is intended to provide preliminary empirical evidence for these affordances and limitations. We examine data from eight interviews conducted with students from Seattle Pacific University’s introductory physics classes as they used the simulation. We explore the hypotheses that …

Identifying Productive Resources In Secondary School Students' Discourse About Energy, Benedikt Walter Harrer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A growing program of research in science education acknowledges the beginnings of disciplinary reasoning in students’ ideas and seeks to inform instruction that responds productively to these disciplinary progenitors in the moment to foster their development into sophisticated scientific practice. This dissertation examines secondary school students’ ideas about energy for progenitors of disciplinary knowledge and practice. Previously, researchers argued that students’ ideas about energy were constrained by stable and coherent conceptual structures that conflicted with an assumed unified scientific conception and therefore needed to be replaced. These researchers did not attend to the productive elements in students’ ideas about energy. …

Physics First: Impact On Sat Math Scores, Craig Earl Bouma

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Improving science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education has become a national priority and the call to modernize secondary science has been heard. A Physics First (PF) program with the curriculum sequence of physics, chemistry, and biology (PCB) driven by inquiry- and project-based learning offers a viable alternative to the traditional curricular sequence (BCP) and methods of teaching, but requires more empirical evidence. This study determined impact of a PF program (PF-PCB) on math achievement (SAT math scores) after the first two cohorts of students completed the PF-PCB program at Matteo Ricci High School (MRHS) and provided more quantitative data …

An Analysis Of Science Content And Representations In Introductory College Physics Textbooks And Multimodal Learning Resources, Suzanne Mary Donnelly

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study features a comparative descriptive analysis of the physics content and representations surrounding the first law of thermodynamics as presented in four widely used introductory college physics textbooks representing each of four physics textbook categories (calculus-based, algebra/trigonometry-based, conceptual, and technical/applied). Introducing and employing a newly developed theoretical framework, multimodal generative learning theory (MGLT), an analysis of the multimodal characteristics of textbook and multimedia representations of physics principles was conducted. The modal affordances of textbook representations were identified, characterized, and compared across the four physics textbook categories in the context of their support of problem-solving.

African-American College Student Attitudes Toward Physics And Their Effect On Achievement, Carl Timothy Drake

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors affecting the attitudes that African-American college students have towards introductory college physics. The population targeted for this study consisted of African-American males and females enrolled in introductory college physics classes at an urban public historical black college or university (HBCU) located in the southeastern United States. Nine of the Fennema- Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scales, modified for physics, were used to analyze the attitudes of the 135 participants enrolled in an introductory college physics class. The nine scales used to measure the students' attitudes were Attitude Toward Success in Physics Scale (AS), …

A Guide To Motion And Newton's Laws For General Science, Roger F. Hume

All Graduate Projects

This project provides activities in motion and Newton's Laws of motion. Besides instructions on how to perform the activity, a list of student selfassessment questions is provided to encourage further inquiry. The activities are also aligned with the Essential Academic Learning Requirements for the State of Washington. These activities are designed to supplement curriculum already being taught.

An Introduction To Model Rocketry For The Classroom Teacher, David Reese

All Graduate Projects

The writer of this project was in a fifth grade teaching position beginning Fall, 1974, in Lacey, Washington. The writer taught thirty students in a self-contained classroom situation. The purpose of this individualized study was to develop a general framework and assemble some specific materials which would aid others in starting and developing a program in model rocketry in an orderly and logical manner.

Community And School Involvement In Model Rocketry Instruction Including Suggestions For Efficient Model Rocket Construction, Helen Joyce Frizzell

All Master's Theses

This paper presents the pilot-study of conducting model rocketry classes for parents and youth leaders as well as students and teachers to broaden involvement in aerospace education. Ideas gleaned from questionnaires, surveys, observations, and the review of literature were used to compile A Handbook of Tins for the Efficient Construction and Use of Model Rockets.

A slide presentation illustrating school and community involvement in model rocketry was also developed.

Recommendations included more model rocketry classes involving students and adults be offered and suggested that an appropriate organization publish and distribute the handbook and slide presentation.