Physics Education Research Laboratory

As part of the Focused Collection on Gender in Physics, in Phys Rev PER, Jayson and Jon published a paper on “Gender, experience, and self-efficacy in introductory physics.” Click here for more. ABSTRACT: There is growing evidence of persistent gender achievement gaps in university physics instruction, not only for learning physics content, but also for […]

Our alum, Trevor Smith, sent word that he’d submitted a paper on error analysis when using Lei Bao’s Model Analysis. You can get a pre-print version of the paper at arxiv.org.

Analytical derivation: An epistemic game for solving mathematically based physics problems Rabindra R. Bajracharya and John R. Thompson Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 12, 010124 – Published 30 March 2016 Problem solving, which often involves multiple steps, is an integral part of physics learning and teaching. Using the perspective of the epistemic game, we documented […]

Editorial: Focused Collection: Preparing and Supporting University Physics Educators Rachel E. Scherr and MacKenzie R. Stetzer Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 12, 010002 – Published 22 February 2016 Click on the link to get the full text…

Mathematical actions as procedural resources: An example from the separation of variables Michael C. Wittmann and Katrina E. Black Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 11, 020114 – Published 23 September 2015 [This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Upper Division Physics Courses.] Students learning to separate variables in order to solve a […]

Two papers from the thermal physics project have been accepted for publication in Physical Review Special Topics – Physics Education Research.  Phys. Rev. ST – PER is publishing a Focused Collection on Physics Education Research in Upper Division Courses. The two papers are both from the dissertation work of Trevor Smith. T.I. Smith, D.B. Mountcastle, and […]

Congratulations to Evan Chase and Michael C. Wittmann: Their paper “Evidence of embodied cognition via speech and gesture complementarity” was a finalist in the competition for the 2012 PERC Proceedings Paper Award. UMaine PERL has a track record of outstanding conference proceedings papers. In 2011, Rabindra Bajracharya et al.’s paper “Student interpretation of definite integrals […]