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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 …
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.