Physics education researchers are interested in using the tools of machine learning and natural language processing to make quantitative claims from natural language and text data, such as open-ended responses to survey questions. The aspiration is that this form of machine coding may be more efficient and consistent than human coding, allowing…

Over the past 50 years physics education research (PER) has grown into a thriving subdiscipline of physics. PER grew out of a desire to approach education research and development from a disciplinary perspective, operating under the assumption that good physics education is deeply rooted in the disciplinary knowledge and practices of physicists.…

The communities of practice (COP) framework is useful in understanding the effort to expand physics education into professional preparation. This framework prompts physics educators and physics education researchers to consider "what counts as doing physics" that we want to prepare students for and how we can model professional physics…

To broaden participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education and continue building research capacity, this dissertation focuses on STEM professionals: those who take up education research later in their career and those who facilitate engagement in physics learning outside the formal classroom. Using agency,…

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Curriculum Development: Theory into Design.] In the "standard" physics education research curriculum-development model, researchers are cast primarily as producers of curricula and instructors are cast primarily consumers, i.e., adopters and adapters. We illustrate a complementary model in…

Hans Niedderer has contributed a lot to German physics education research. His work includes quantitative and qualitative studies about topics like the learning of physics concepts or the history and philosophy of science in science teaching, he has worked on theoretical issues as well as on textbooks. But it is not only his work that is…

Teachers are expected to consider the implications of recommendations made in educational research. In-service teachers are primary actors who play a leading role in education, so their attitudes towards educational research and researchers are more important than those of pre-service or trainee teachers. This study aims to find out inservice…

Recent elaborations on cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) (Engestrom et al., eds., "Perspectives on activity theory." New York: Cambridge University Press, "1999") and its relation to organizational theories have produced a theoretical amalgam of these earlier ideas, which allow for the exploration of learning in formal…

This paper concerns an empirical study carried out with a group of high school physics teachers engaged in the Module on relativity of a Master course on the teaching of modern physics. The study is framed within the general research issue of how to promote innovation in school via teachers' education and how to foster fruitful interactions…

A number of educational researchers have developed pedagogical approaches that involve the teacher in discovering and helping to correct misconceptions that students bring to their study of their subject matter. During the last decade, several computer systems have been developed to support teaching and learning using this kind of approach. A…

This paper presents findings of a project aimed to improve the quality of science education in Southeast Mexico by the creation of a community of practice among scientists, researchers and teachers, involved in the design, implementation and evaluation of a professional development program for mathematics, chemistry, biology and physics secondary…

Gives an overview of high school physics education in Japan. Discusses the history, curricular objectives, textbooks, and the entrance examination. Discusses several research groups and individuals and their activities. (YP)

This study reports on a multi-year effort to create and evaluate cognitive-based curricular materials for secondary school science classrooms. A team of secondary teachers, educational researchers, and academic biomedical engineers developed a series of curriculum units that are based in biomedical engineering for secondary level students in…