Physics Commons^™

Examining The Relations Among Academic And Non-Cognitive Factors And Student Achievement, Dona Sachini Hasanjalie Hewagallage

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Since the 1980s, Physics Education Research (PER) has explored the factors influencing students' success in college. This manuscript reports three different studies to understand the impact of different factors on students' college physics achievement. The first study explored several academic (high school physics preparation, high school preparation, math readiness, and ACT or SAT verbal and mathematics scores) and non-cognitive (self-efficacy, personality, belonging, grade expectation, and demographic) factors using correlation and linear regression analysis to understand their relation to students' physics conceptual understanding measured by the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation (FMCE). High school preparation was found to be the most …

Methods For Analyzing Physics Student Retention And Physics Curricula, John Darrell Hansen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Retention of students in college has been a concern of academic institutions for many years. In the last two decades, the focus on student retention in STEM fields has intensified. The current graduation rate of students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields is well below that required to fill the projected need of STEM professionals. The work presented in this dissertation investigates the problem of student retention in physics programs. Four studies were performed. The first identifies the relationships between student retention and pre-college and early-college academic factors at an eastern U.S. university using logistic regression and Bayesian …

Using Machine Learning To Predict Student Outcomes, Saba Fatima

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Predicting students’ performance to identify which students are at risk of receiving aD/Fail/Withdraw (DFW) grade and ensuring their timely graduation is not just desirable but also necessary in most educational entities. In the US, not only is the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) major becoming less popular among students, the graduation rate of STEM students is steadily declining. The lack of STEM graduates in the US is a serious problem that will place this country at a disadvantage as a competitor in international technological advancement. In order to secure its status as a technological leader internationally, the US institutions …

Tell All The Truth But Tell It Slant: The Essential Role Of Metaphor In Constructing Physics, Theodora E. Zastrocky

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

The common understanding of interdisciplinary work is that it is a partial merger of two related disciplines, such as history and philosophy or chemistry and biology. This understanding does not account for the interdisciplinary work possible between seemingly disparate disciplines, such as physics and poetry, and as a result this ignores the immense potential of true interdisciplinary study. Interdisciplinary work has the power to further research, better educate students, and redefine the script that dictates which people are allowed within certain disciplines, allowing for more diverse and inclusive fields of study. Zastrocky looks at metaphor in physics as a way …

New Methodologies For Examining And Supporting Student Reasoning In Physics, John C. Speirs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Learning how to reason productively is an essential goal of an undergraduate education in any STEM-related discipline. Many non-physics STEM majors are required to take introductory physics as part of their undergraduate programs. While certain physics concepts and principles may be of use to these students in their future academic careers and beyond, many will not. Rather, it is often expected that the most valuable and longlasting learning outcomes from a physics course will be a repertoire of problem-solving strategies, a familiarity with mathematizing real-world situations, and the development of a strong set of qualitative inferential reasoning skills.

For more …

Design And Development Of Inquiry-Based Materials For Conducting Observational Astronomy Research At Utrgv, Americo Francisco Hinojosa Lee

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this work is to develop instructional materials to enhance the expertise of students in conducting observational astronomy research. The designed instructional units aim to provide students with an adequate knowledge of astronomy and hone their skills necessary in conducting observations, collecting and analyzing data including processing of astronomical images.

The instructional design is anchored on the ADDIE model (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluate). The phases from ADDIE were used as a framework to accomplish the process of developing the instructional materials. After following the ADDIE, it was possible to define performance goals and tasks which were …

Development Of An Innovative Observational Astronomy Class For High School Students In Collaboration With The University Of Texas/Rio Grande Valley, Alan W. Hendrick

Theses and Dissertations

The vision presented by the National Academy of Science Standards is for all students to spend more time ‘doing’ science in order to develop science literacy and be better prepared not only for college but also in understanding and participation in global current events. A course in observational Astronomy is just that, an opportunity for student to “do ‘science by collaborating with actual scientists in real research. The course follows a path in which students learn foundational knowledge and apply this knowledge to complete a successful celestial observation, interpreting the results by making inferences and predictions. This paper begins with …

Students' Reasoning With Haptic Technologies: A Qualitative Study In The Electromagnetism Domain, Sadhana Balachandran

Open Access Theses

With abundant applications in the medical training and entertainment industry, haptic technology is slowly making its way into the realm of science education, particularly in conveying abstract and non-visible concepts. Electric field is one such abstract concept. Past studies have shown that learning concepts such as electric fields in a traditional classroom can be quite challenging since students have a hard time visualizing the phenomena and applying its effects to reason. Furthermore, these concepts are the building blocks for more complex concepts such as matter and molecular interactions. Visuo-haptic devices provide a great platform to enable students to visualize and …

Correlations Between Introductory Students’ Attitudes About Physics And Conceptual Understanding, Raym Alzahrani

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to measure correlations between the students’ incoming attitudes, beliefs and expectations about physics and their conceptual understanding. The study presents a profile of the attitudes and beliefs for Wright State University students who enrolled in calculus-based General Physics I courses during academic years 2014-2015 and 2015-2016. Students’ initial and final attitudes, measured using the CLASS, are correlated with initial and final conceptual gain, measured using the Force Concept Inventory. Students’ initial attitudes (Opre) was correlated with students’ gain (FCIgain) in many sections. Correlations between students’ final attitudes (Opost) and their conceptual understanding (FCIpost), reported …

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 …

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 …

Radio And A Public Address System For The High School, Kenneth H. Westlake

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

All the findings and knowledge of electricity and magnetism are not new; even the Greeks as far back as 600 B. C. knew something about these forces. As time went on the facts increased.

After the experiments of Faraday, Maxwell, Hertz and such men as these, electricity and magnetism became a vital part of human life and endeavor. Within the last twenty-five years the advances in electricity have been very rapid. The action of the electric current is a vital part of many developments and is helping to make human life more enjoyable and interesting.

Almost all schools today are …