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Full-Text Articles in Physics
Gender Fairness Within The Force Concept Inventory, Adrienne Traxler, Rachel Henderson, John Stewart, Gay Stewart, Alexis Papak, Rebecca Lindell
Gender Fairness Within The Force Concept Inventory, Adrienne Traxler, Rachel Henderson, John Stewart, Gay Stewart, Alexis Papak, Rebecca Lindell
Faculty & Staff Scholarship
Research on the test structure of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) has largely ignored gender, and research on FCI gender effects (often reported as “gender gaps”) has seldom interrogated the structure of the test. These rarely crossed streams of research leave open the possibility that the FCI may not be structurally valid across genders, particularly since many reported results come from calculus-based courses where 75% or more of the students are men. We examine the FCI considering both psychometrics and gender disaggregation (while acknowledging this as a binary simplification), and find several problematic questions whose removal decreases the apparent gender …
Math And Physics Activities, Maureen Miller, Hope Bragg, Christy Keefer
Math And Physics Activities, Maureen Miller, Hope Bragg, Christy Keefer
Integrated Math & Social Studies Lessons
Mathematics is at the core of the Hidden Figures story. These women were united by their passion for the field of mathematics. Society often portrays that there are “bad” math students, those that struggle with calculations and applications. The structure of these activities, pairing of students, permits students to support each other in working through the problems. The video clip allows students to establish connections between mathematical calculations and scientific concepts. The physics problems that students complete are motion problems that beginning rocket engineers would have solved to determine how high their rocket flew.
Which Accelerates Faster A Falling Ball Or A Porsche?, James D. Rall, Wathiq Abdul-Razzaq
Which Accelerates Faster A Falling Ball Or A Porsche?, James D. Rall, Wathiq Abdul-Razzaq
Faculty & Staff Scholarship
An introductory physics experiment has been developed to address the issues seen in conventional physics lab classes including assumption verification, technological dependencies, and real world motivation for the experiment. The experiment has little technology dependence and compares the acceleration due to gravity by using position versus time graphs and the kinematic equation. The students are then asked to compare the acceleration they found to the one of a Porsche car which they seem surprised when they learn about it. This experiment may contribute significantly to the understanding of the concept of acceleration and the appreciation for the force of gravity.