Physics education research

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Physics education research (PER) is a form of discipline-based education research specifically related to the study of the teaching and learning of physics, often with the aim of improving the effectiveness of student learning. PER draws from other disciplines, such as sociology, cognitive science, education and linguistics, [1] and complements them by reflecting the disciplinary knowledge and practices of physics. [2] Approximately eighty-five institutions in the United States conduct research in science and physics education.

Contents

Goals

Number of Publications on Students' Ideas on the Bibliography by Duit (2005)
FragmentPublication

Mechanics (force)*792
Electricity (electrical circuit)444
Optics 234
Particle model226
Thermal physics (heat/temp.)192
Energy 176
Astronomy (Earth in space)121
Quantum physics 77
Nonlinear systems (chaos)35
Sound 28
Magnetism 25
Relativity 8

* Predominant concept in brackets.

Adapted from Duit, R., H. Niedderer and H. Schecker (see ref.).

One primary goal of PER is to develop pedagogical techniques and strategies that will help students learn physics more effectively and help instructors to implement these techniques. Because even basic ideas in physics can be confusing, together with the possibility of scientific misconceptions formed from teaching through analogies, lecturing often does not erase common misconceptions about physics that students acquire before they are taught physics. Research often focuses on learning more about common misconceptions that students bring to the physics classroom so that techniques can be devised to help students overcome these misconceptions.

In most introductory physics courses, mechanics is usually the first area of physics that is taught. Newton's laws of motion about interactions between forces and objects are central to the study of mechanics. Many students hold the Aristotelian misconception that a net force is required to keep a body moving; instead, motion is modeled in modern physics with Newton's first law of inertia, stating that a body will keep its state of rest or movement unless a net force acts on the body. Like students who hold this misconception, Newton arrived at his three laws of motion through empirical analysis, although he did it with an extensive study of data that included astronomical observations. Students can erase such as misconception in a nearly frictionless environment, where they find that objects move at an almost constant velocity without a constant force.

Major areas

The broad goal of the PER community is to understand the processes involved in the teaching and learning of physics through rigorous scientific investigation.

According to the University of Washington PER group, one of the pioneers in the field, [3] work within PER tends to fall within one or more of several broad descriptions, including:

"An Introduction to Physics Education Research", by Robert Beichner, [5] identifies eight trends in PER:

Journal association

Physics education research papers in the United States are primarily issued among four publishing venues. [14] Papers submitted to the American Journal of Physics: Physics Education Research Section (PERS) are mostly to consumers of physics education research. The Journal of the Learning Sciences (JLS) publishes papers that regard real-life or non-laboratory environments, often in the context of technology, and are about learning, not teaching. Meanwhile, papers at Physical Review Special Topics: Physics Education Research (PRST:PER) are aimed at those for whom research is conducted on PER rather than to consumers. The audience for Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings (PERC) is designed for a mix of consumers and researchers. The latter provides a snapshot of the field and as such is open to preliminary results and research in progress, as well as papers that would simply be thought-provoking to the PER community. Other journals include Physics Education (UK), the European Journal of Physics (UK), and The Physics Teacher . Leon Hsu and others published an article about publishing and refereeing papers in physics education research in 2007. [14]

See also

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References

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  2. Council, National Research (2012-05-21). Discipline-Based Education Research: Understanding and Improving Learning in Undergraduate Science and Engineering. doi:10.17226/13362. ISBN   978-0-309-25411-3.
  3. Physics Education Research | Physics Education Group
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  5. Robert J. Beichner (2009). "An Introduction to Physics Education Research". In Charles R. Henderson and Kathleen A. Harper. Getting Started in PER. Reviews in PER 2.
  6. McDermott (2010). A Personal History of Physics Education Research and the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington. unpublished. pp. 1–81.
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  14. 1 2 Leon Hsu et al. (2007). "Publishing and refereeing papers in physics education research". Physics Education Research Conference 951: 3–6.