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As humanity reaches the 5.0 industrial revolution, education plays a critical role in boosting the quality of human resources. This paper reports bibliometric research on emerging TiP during 1993-2022 in the educational field to analyse its development on any level of education during the last three decades. This study employed a Scopus database. The findings are that the trend of TiP publication in educational fields has tended to increase every year during the past three decades and conference paper became the most published document type, the USA is the country which produces the most publications; "Students" being the most occurrences keyword and total link strength. The publication of the TiP is ranked to the Quartile 1, which implies that a publication with the cited performance is a publication with credibility because the publisher has a good reputation. Researchers can find the topics most relevant to other metadata sources such as Web of Science, Publish, and Perish.

The switch to online learning required a creative solution to allow for the experiential learning outcomes of the program to be satisfied when access to physical spaces and equipment was restricted. This paper describes a collaborative process between technical and support staff as well as research and teaching faculty that led to the creation of meaningful experiential learning opportunities for over one thousand stakeholders. The implemented solutions included the development of hardware and software, the creation of documentation and training procedures for teaching assistants and designing a support system for the students. [Articles in this journal were presented at the University of Calgary Conference on Postsecondary Learning and Teaching.]

Researchers have expressed concern about the state of STEM education. To improve this situation, new pedagogies, such as blended learning, have been proposed and tested. The last decade has seen an increase in the use of blended learning to support learning; however, the effect of blended learning on learning remains unclear and often mixed. The two studies in this paper draw on data from pre-university science students in the following courses: (1) Electricity and Magnetism (E&M) and (2) Waves, Optics & Modern Physics (Waves). In study 1, the treatment group (blended learning coupled with two-stage quizzes & peer formative feedback) performed significantly higher than the control group (lecture format with online homework & instant feedback) in the standardized final exam. In contrast, in study 2, there was a non-significant main effect of groups, indicating that the treatment group (blended learning with online homework & instant feedback) and the control group (lecture format with online homework & instant feedback) performed similarly in the standardized final exam. The finding of study 1 suggests that the effect of an instructional pedagogical framework embedded in a blended learning context improves performance in STEM education. Whereas the finding of study 2 suggests that a blended learning context without incorporating any instructional framework or support for cognition other than the lecture is comparable to a traditional face-to-face course.

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Qualitative Methods in PER: A Critical Examination.] Epistemic beliefs about physics are most often investigated using quantitative instruments that reflect binary conceptualizations of those beliefs. This study reports from a qualitative study which used continua to represent the epistemic beliefs about physics knowledge of sixteen Western Canadian, high school physics teachers. Unlike other research, this study did not intend to compare epistemic beliefs to any specific epistemology of science. This article presents a novel, more nuanced means of analyzing interview data to construct profiles to describe epistemic beliefs. The epistemic belief profiles of the physics teachers in this study reflect each of four areas of a literature-derived theoretical framework regarding epistemic beliefs about physics knowledge. These four areas are individuals' beliefs about the (a) source, (b) content, (c) certainty, and (d) structure of physics knowledge. The use of thematic analysis research methods and reasons for the placement of participants along continua are discussed. Potential classroom applications of this research include prompting discussions about student epistemic beliefs and collecting more nuanced representations of students' epistemic beliefs to inform teaching.

In this paper, we present the results of an investigation into the effects of engaging with robotic telescopes during an Astronomy 101 (Astro101) course in the United States and Canada on the self-efficacy of students. Using an astronomy self-efficacy survey that measures both astronomy personal self-efficacy and instrumental self-efficacy, the authors probed their covariance with the respondents' experience of an Astro101 course that uses robotic telescopes to collect astronomical data. Strong effects on both self-efficacy scales were seen over the period of a semester utilizing a scalable educational design using robotic telescopes. After participation in the course, the results show that the gender gap in self-efficacy between self-identified men and women is largely reduced to statistically insignificant differences compared to the initial large significant difference.

Science, technology, society, and environment (STSE) education is a focus of the public education system of both Canada and Brazil and therefore should translate into the teaching and learning that occurs within their respective Bachelor of Education programs when addressing Science education, and specifically the connections between STSE and Physics Education within the curriculums of both countries. This research is based on the experiences that took place during a 20-day scholarly visit to St. Francis Xavier University with Dr. MacLeod by Dr. Roehrig, a Physic Education scholar from Brazil. Using the technique of comparative study, the authors agreed upon three areas of comparison to be considered: the performance of teacher educators, the curriculum structure of the B.Ed. programs, and university-school interaction. Each of these three areas drew attention and are discussed within. This work points to possibilities for strengthening the insertion of STSE pre-service education with the aim to exchange best practices. As this collaboration evolves, this work is expected to expand with discussions leading to both breadth and depth of improvements within course offerings, overall education of pre-service and in-service physics teachers, and faculty who enact the premises of STSE physics education in their daily practice and profession. [Note: The publication year (2021) shown on the PDF is incorrect. The correct publication year for this article is 2022.]

We investigated the effects of just-in-time guidance at various stages of inquiry learning by novice learners. Thirteen participants, randomly assigned to an intervention (n = 8) or control (n = 5) group, were observed as they learned about DC electric circuits using a web-based simulation. Just-in-time instructional prompts to observe, predict, explain, systematically test, collect evidence, and generate rules were strongly associated with diagnosing and correcting misconceptions, and constructing correct scientific concepts. Students' repeated use of predictions, systematic testing, and evidence-coordinated reasoning often led to formulating new principles, generalizing from observed patterns, verifying comprehension, and experiencing "Aha!" moments. Justin-time prompts helped learners manage embedded cognitive challenges in inquiry tasks, achieve a comprehensive understanding of the model represented in the simulation, and show significantly higher knowledge gain. Just-in-time prompts also promoted rejection of incorrect models of inquiry and construction of robust scientific mental models. The results suggest ways of customizing guidance to promote scientific learning within simulation environments.

Simulation educational technologies provide a convenient way to augment classroom learning in higher education. The University of Colorado Boulder has created many Physics Education Technology (PhET) computer simulations relevant to concepts in Sciences and Mathematics. There is a notable gap in the literature of simulation-based technologies, learning theories, and Physics pedagogy in higher education. This action research study addresses that gap by exploring the role of the intentional inclusion of PhETs in the teaching practice of an undergraduate Physics class in a Canadian university. The professor of PHYS 105 taught a class of 80 students (primarily non-Physics majors) and integrated PhETs throughout his lesson plans during the semester to see if they supported students' learning of the Physics concepts. Findings indicate that PhETs have value as a "more capable peer" in Vygotsky's (1978) zone of proximal development. Findings indicate that PhETs are a valuable bridge between classroom learning and the laboratory learning experiences in a Physics higher education course.

Students' high school decisions will always impact efforts to achieve gender parity in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) at the university level and beyond. Without a comprehensive understanding of gendered disparities in high school course selection, it will be impossible to close completely the gender gap in many STEM disciplines. This study examines 11 years of detailed administrative data to determine gendered enrolment trends in university-stream secondary school STEM courses. Male and female enrolments for all publicly funded secondary schools across the province of Ontario (N = 844) were tracked from the 2007/2008 academic year to 2017/2018. The data reveal a clear trend of growing enrolment in STEM disciplines, with the increase in female students continuing their STEM education significantly outpacing males in almost all courses. However, these results also demonstrate the significant disparities that persist across STEM disciplines. The existing gender gap in physics remains large--in 2018, the median grade 12 Physics class was only 36.5[plus or minus]0.05% female--with virtually no progress having been made to close this gap. By tracking individual student cohorts, we also demonstrate a newly discovered result showing the continuation rate of male students in biology stream courses has experienced a precipitous drop-off. The proportion of male students continuing from grade 10 Science to grade 12 Biology 2 years later has seen an average yearly decline of -0.44[plus or minus]0.08 percentage points, potentially foreshadowing the emergence of another significant gender gap in STEM. We suggest that researchers and educators cease treating STEM as a monolith when addressing gender disparities, as doing so obscures significant differences between disciplines. Future efforts, particularly those aimed to support women in STEM, must instead adopt a more targeted approach to ensure that they solve existing problems without creating new ones.

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Qualitative Methods in PER: A Critical Examination.] This article details methodologies employed to enable sharing and coconstructing the stories of three women's lives in physics. The first case explores the usefulness of timeline interviewing, where participants narrate episodes that are coconstructed with the researcher as meaningful over time. We illustrate this method in the case of a mature student in Sweden from a working-class background who shared moments that added up to a life outside of physics and then a sharp turn into physics later in life. The second case explores life-history interviewing using a narrative-inquiry approach and deep relationship building which enabled the coconstruction of stories of experiences over time. These moments are coconstructed with the researcher and analyzed using an intersectionality lens to yield a story depicting the transnational experiences of a woman of color moving across various European contexts into the North American physics context. The final case is of a first-generation Canadian woman of color who shared her navigations of in and out of school physics via a method known as the "Rivers of Life." Using this method, the participant narrates their experiences with physics as a river, using metaphorical tools like rafts, rocks, rapids, tributaries to discuss various moments described as twists and turns over time that together amount to a life in physics. We discuss the value of different approaches to coconstructing narratives with participants and, in particular, the need for this kind of research in physics contexts.

There is a long history of philosophical inquiry into the concept of explanation in science, and this work has some implications for the ways in which science teachers, particularly in the physical sciences (physics and chemistry), explain ideas to students. Recent work has outlined a constructivist approach to developing, delivering, and refining explanations focused on enhancing student's understanding of the powerful concepts of science. This paper reviews the history of concepts of explanation in science and in science teaching, and reports research findings that describe some ways in which science teachers have been observed to explain ideas in Year 11 Physics classrooms in Australia and Canada.

Numerous studies have been published about instruments intended to quantitatively measure students' epistemic beliefs about science; however, as this researcher would discover, developing an instrument to accurately measure epistemic beliefs about physics knowledge is not always as straightforward as the literature would make it seem. Given a lack of instruments intended to measure teachers' epistemic beliefs, this researcher endeavored to develop a valid, reliable, and theoretically grounded quantitative instrument which could measure teachers' epistemic beliefs about physics knowledge. 224 preservice and in-service teachers involved in science education completed a 29-item electronic survey developed using a literature informed framework of epistemic beliefs about physics knowledge. Results were used to quantitatively analyze the reliability and validity of this developed instrument. Additionally, as part of a parallel study, 14 of these teachers were interviewed regarding their epistemic beliefs about physics knowledge using semi-structured interviews. Using exploratory factor analysis, a mathematically valid solution was found for a 14-item version of this survey; however, the factors of this solution did not align with those commonly included in epistemic beliefs literature nor was this factor solution supported by interview results. Evidence from attempts to validate this instrument, along with a lack of alignment between survey-determined epistemic profiles and interview-determined epistemic profiles for 14 teachers, showcase the problematic nature of using standardized, quantitative approaches to measure teachers' beliefs. Findings from this study suggest that educational researchers deeply consider the nuance needed for their study prior to choosing a methodological approach to measure epistemic beliefs.

A narrative inquiry approach was adapted to study teacher's experiences of planning and teaching force and motion topics. Oral narrative data were collected through interview conversations between the researcher and the teachers about their experiences of planning and teaching force and motion concepts. "Narrative analysis" technique suggested by Polkinghorne, was employed to develop stories of teaching force and motion--that acceded access to their pPCK. and comprised of small entities of knowledge--pedagogical constructions, which are narrative fragments. Each pedagogical construction was placed on a four-level PCK continuum to assess the breadth and depth of each teacher's pPCK. A mapping technique was devised to illustrate pPCK of each participant teacher, and a comparative analysis of these illustrations reveals fascinating similarities and differences apparently grounded in individual teacher's subject area background and their specific teaching experiences. Implications for pre-service science teacher education are discussed.

One of the key steps when developing pathways between baccalaureate and diploma programs is comparing learning goals between the programs. This paper presents application of a seven-dimensional framework (cognitive process, transferability, depth of analysis, interdependence, question novelty, scaffolding and communication) to analyze the implicit learning outcomes in 11 of Ontario's post-secondary programs in engineering and engineering technology. We collected 319 calculus questions (179 from six technology programs and 140 from five engineering programs) and 205 physics questions (122 from two technology programs and 83 from four engineering programs). Content specialists assessed each question in the first four of these dimensions, and instructors from the participating institutions scored random questions from their own disclosed questions on the remaining dimensions. Analysis of scaffolding in physics questions showed that engineering questions mostly required the students to choose from or synthetize a range of approaches while technology questions often required the students to use a specific approach. The study found that technology programs focused more on discipline-specific physics concepts and their applications than physics courses in engineering. Calculus questions from both sectors mostly required application of mathematical concepts in non-contextualized scenarios or a general engineering context, with no significant difference in question novelty, scaffolding and level of communication. From a credits perspective, these results suggest that direct credit for bidirectional transfers may be warranted, and that small bridging learning modules targeting missing outcomes may be able to support efficient transfer pathways.

The following report addresses the impact of preparatory education on first year science grades at two Ontario-based universities. Specifically, the impact of high school and university level preparatory courses on their respective first year university grades will be addressed. A variety of analytic and visualization-based strategies will be employed to outline a narrative about who is taking such courses, and the impact of these courses on student learning. Overall, conclusions point to the usefulness of preparatory education, and for institutions to continue to provide supplementary courses as scaffolding for undergraduate students.

In this article, we examine whether an inquiry-based, hands-on physics lab can be delivered effectively as a distance lab. In science and engineering, hands-on distance labs are rare and open-ended project labs in physics have not been reported in the literature. Our introductory physics lab at a large Canadian research university features hands-on experiments that can be performed at home with common materials and online support, as well as a capstone project that serves as the main assessment of the lab. After transitioning the lab from face-to-face instruction to a distance format, we compared the capstone project scores of the two lab formats by conducting an analysis of variance, which showed no significant differences in the overall scores. However, our study revealed two areas that need improvements in instruction, namely data analysis and formulating a clear goal or research question. Focus group interviews showed that students in the distance lab did not perceive the capstone project as authentic science and that they would have preferred a campus lab format. Overall our results suggest that the distance project lab discussed here might be an acceptable substitute for a campus lab and might also be suitable for other distance courses in science.

This paper presents the assessment items that were developed by science and technology teachers in Québec to explore their students' alternative ideas about engineering design technology and technological systems. These assessment items were administered to Secondary Cycle One students in Francophone and Anglophone schools in Québec to elicit their ideas about the foundational technology concepts included in the science and technology curriculum. Students' responses are presented to share their alternative and scientific explanations. In addition, various approaches to facilitate a deeper understanding of scientific models and mechanistic reasoning in students are also discussed.

The second article (Part 2) builds on the theoretical and contextual foundation developed in paper one by exploring in more depth how to teach tennis based on the use of USTA modified equipment and Tennis Canada's play-practice-play program. Drawing on the enactivist cognitive approach to teaching tennis, this paper shows how tennis players, through participatory sense making processes and non-conscious behavioral mimicry, self-organize their action spaces in relation to affordances in the game environment, including their opponent. Using modification by adaptation games this paper highlights specific examples associated with common tactical concepts of time, space, risk and force that can be used to maximize players' game-based learning. [For part 1, see EJ1370956.]

This study aimed to compare the objectives of environmental education topics in various countries. The present study is a qualitative study and content analysis was used to analyze the data. The results revealed that the categories of the objectives regarding the environment topic in the primary education were found to be higher in Turkey compared to other countries. The concept of the ozone layer in chemistry curricula and the concept of biodiversity in biology curricula were intensively included. No country had objectives regarding all subcategories in primary education. There are no objectives regarding field trip in physics subject in all countries. Objectives regarding the category of identifying issues and research question were included only in Australia. However, the activities for environmental education were determined to be at a low level in all the countries.

For research areas to advance, researchers are required to carry out studies that are in line with the inadequacies in the field and to have a grasp of the studies in the field. One of the most important means of identifying inadequacies in a field is to review studies between certain years. In this sense, it is important to analyze the publications of significant journals in physics education. The purpose of this study is to conduct a thematic review of the literature related to physics education studies in certain journals published within the scope of Social Sciences Citation Index in 2013-2015. The articles obtained from the literature were analyzed using a generated matrix. The matrix consists of general specifications (type of journal, years and demographic properties) and content sections (aims, research methods, variables, samples, physics subjects and results). According to the findings, in terms of physics concepts, the studies were conducted mostly on the concept of energy and included mostly undergraduate student participants. Regarding the results, it is suggested, both in physics and science education studies, that materials that are to be used with approaches, such as context-based learning, inquiry-based leaning, and argumentation-based learning, need to be enhanced and that additional studies that investigate the effects of these approaches on learning environments are needed.

Assigning open textbooks in college and university courses can help students save money on increasingly expensive commercial textbooks, and recent research shows that this savings can often be achieved with little to no sacrifice in textbook quality or student learning outcomes. We add to this body of research by examining the use of an open textbook in an introductory physics course at a large research university in Canada that enrols approximately 800-900 students per year. In this course, the instructors revised an open textbook and combined it with other learning resources onto a single website, whereas more than one source of learning materials was used previously. We used the COUP framework to structure our analysis, focusing on cost, outcomes, use, and perceptions in relation to the open textbook assigned in the course. Through the use of a survey of students and data about student learning outcomes in the form of final exam and course grades, and shifts on the pre-/post- Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey, we show that student savings by moving to an open textbook were accompanied by little change in learning outcomes. We also show that the vast majority of survey respondents perceived the open textbook to be of the same or better quality than commercial textbooks used in their other courses. Further, many of them appreciated the fact that the textbook was customized to this particular course-- which is made possible by the use of a textbook with an open license.

Peer feedback is a useful strategy in teaching and learning, but its effectiveness particularly in introductory courses can be limited by the relative newness of students to both the body of knowledge upon which they are being asked to provide feedback and the skill set involved in providing good feedback. This paper applies a novel approach to facilitating novice feedback: making use of students' inherent ability to compare. The ComPAIR application discussed in this article scaffolds peer feedback through comparisons, asking students to choose the "better" of two answers in a series of pairings offered in an engaging online context. In contrast to other peer-feedback approaches that seek to train novices to be able to provide expert feedback (such as calibrated peer review) or to crowdsource grading, ComPAIR focuses upon the benefits to be gained from the critical process of comparison and ranking. The tool design is based on the longstanding psychological principle of comparative judgement, by which novices who may not yet have the compass to assess others' work confidently can still rank content as "better" with accuracy. Data from 168 students in pilot studies in English, Physics and Math courses at the University of British Columbia are reviewed. Though the use of ComPAIR required little classroom time, students perceived this approach to increase their facility with course content, their ability assess their own work, and their capacity to provide feedback on the work of others in a collaborative learning environment.

Traditional, template physics labs are often associated with student dissatisfaction and superficial applications, and are known to leave students with fragmented knowledge. An alternative known as labatorials, a conceptually driven approach to labs, has been proposed. In a number of studies, labatorials have been shown to work well. However, what has been missing is a study comparing labatorials to traditional labs. In this study, labatorials are compared with traditional labs in terms of students' learning experience and the quality of their conceptual learning. Additionally, we identify the scaffolding mechanisms that impact these elements. In the context of Concordia University's introductory experimental mechanics course, we collect data spanning semistructured student and teaching assistant (TA) interviews, class observations, TA surveys, post-test and final exam scores and responses, and student writing products. Upon analysis and triangulation, we find that due to the scaffolding present in labatorials, students typically exhibit a high degree of collaboration and engagement with the material in a low-pressure environment, which allows students to focus on the learning. This is attributed to three primary forms of scaffolding inherent to the design of labatorials: peer scaffolding, instructor scaffolding, and scaffolding by the activity worksheet. In contrast, students in traditional labs have a tendency to rely on step-by-step instructions and focus on avoiding errors, which may inhibit their conceptual learning. These conclusions are supported by the students' differing performance and understanding exhibited in different types of questions; traditional lab students tend to perform better on questions involving standardized processes or simple, memorization-based calculations, while labatorial students tend to perform better on conceptual questions.

Teachers' beliefs about knowledge in their subject deeply impact their classroom practice. This study analyzed the epistemic beliefs about physics knowledge held by Saskatchewan high school physics teachers using a newly designed framework of epistemic beliefs about physics knowledge. Results suggest that teachers' epistemic beliefs about physics knowledge are relatively consistent within the areas of certainty and structure of physics knowledge; most participants believed that physics knowledge was tentative and subject to change as well as coherent and connected in its structure. However, participants rarely agreed on the source and content of physics knowledge. As teachers' beliefs likely influence the way a curriculum document is interpreted and implemented, students across the province of Saskatchewan might develop very different understandings of physics knowledge due to variations in teachers' epistemic beliefs. The findings of this study provide insights into areas of professional development for teachers and pre-service teacher instruction. The article concludes with suggestions for educating teachers to better understand their own epistemic beliefs about knowledge in the subjects they teach as well as the impact these beliefs may have on their classroom.

Physics- and computer-related disciplines are strongly male dominated in Western higher education. Feminist research has demonstrated how this can be understood as reflecting a strong privileging of mind and rationality (over body/nature/emotions) in these disciplines, which harmonises with broader notions of masculinity as transcendental and disembodied. However, as we demonstrate in this paper, being recognised as legitimate in these fields is also tightly connected to embodiment. Drawing on post-structural gender theory, we explore how notions of corporeality, style and aesthetics are articulated within computer engineering and physics settings at two higher education institutions, one in Canada, one in Sweden. Using empirical data from two case studies, we demonstrate that these disciplines are usually understood as 'gender neutral' by students but that interest and competence in these fields are simultaneously understood as embodied through neglect for style and corporeal aesthetics, in ways that contribute to the masculinisation of these fields.

We investigated physics students' behavior in a second-year laboratory by analyzing transcribed audio recordings of laboratory sessions. One student group was given both a problem and procedure and asked to analyze and explain their results. Another was provided with only the problem and asked to design and execute the experiment, interpret the data, and draw conclusions. These two approaches involved different levels of student inquiry and they have been described as guided and open inquiry, respectively. The latter gave students more opportunities to practice "designing experiments," one of the six major learning outcomes in the recommendations for the undergraduate physics laboratory curriculum by the American Association of Physics Teachers. Qualitative analysis was performed of the audio transcripts to identify emergent themes and it was augmented by quantitative analysis for a richer understanding of student behavior. An important finding is that significant improvements can be made to undergraduate laboratories impacting student behavior by increasing the level of inquiry in laboratory experiments. This is most easily achieved by requiring students to design their own experimental procedures.

In this paper, I engage with arguments put forth by Anna Günther-Hanssen in her article "A swing and a child: How scientific phenomena can come to matter for preschool children's emergent science identities." Günther-Hanssen argues that new materialism can help us see how scientific phenomena can create affordances in becoming scientific and can also help us to better understand what "becoming scientific" means. Drawing on my own research with doctoral students in physics, I explore how the theoretical concepts presented in Günther-Hanssen's paper, can be useful to investigate identity work at the doctoral level. I draw on empirical data from research conducted in Canada, to investigate the material-discursive entanglements that emerge in doctoral work, and the role that recognition plays in relation to these. [For Anna Günther-Hanssen's "A Swing and a Child: How Scientific Phenomena Can Come to Matter for Preschool Children's Emergent Science Identities," see EJ1277950.]

Introduction: We report an investigation on collaboration practices in research papers published in the most prestigious English-medium astrophysics journals. Method: We propose an evaluation method based on three numerical indicators to study and compare, in absolute terms, three different types of collaboration (international, national and local) and authors' mobility on the basis of co-authorship. Analysis: We analysed 300 randomly selected research papers in three different time periods and used the student's t-test to determine whether the paired two-sample differences observed were statistically significant or not. Results: International collaboration is more common than national and local collaboration. International, national and local authors' mobility and intra-national collaboration do not seriously affect the indicators of the principal levels of collaboration. International collaboration and authors' mobility are more relevant for authors publishing in European journals, whereas national and intra-national collaboration and national mobility are more important for authors publishing in US journals. Conclusions: We explain the observed differences and patterns in terms of the specific scope of each journal and the socio-economic and political situation in both geographic contexts (Europe and the USA). Our study provides a global picture of collaboration practices in astrophysics and its possible application to many other sciences and fields would undoubtedly help bring into focus the really big issues for overall research management and policy.

For the past 40 years, there has been apprehension in North American society, and particularly in the scientific community, concerning the decline of interest and enrollment in science degree programs at the post-secondary level. This trend has proven very difficult to reverse. The purpose of this study was to explore why students at an Atlantic Canadian university pursue a major in physics, and why other eligible students make different choices. Both the students themselves and their physics professors were consulted in the course of this investigation. With a post structural, constructivist theoretical framework, an instrumental case study of this university is presented using a qualitative online survey for students and semi-structured interviews with their professors. Data from this study supports the theory of physics identity proposed by Hazari et al. (2010). The themes reflected the four dimensions of physics identity, namely, interest, recognition, performance, and competence, with interest appearing as the most important of the four. One additional dimension, the "career prospects problem," was reflected within the themes of this study. This research begins to address the concern of low enrollments by examining the decision-making process of first-year physics students to stay-the-course or to pursue other options with a clear indication that as physics educationalists, we need to clearly articulate viable career options available to those who hold an undergraduate physics degree. Else, students will choose degrees whose career paths have been clearly labeled by society.

Research has suggested that achievement is not solely based on the cognitive abilities of the learner, but rather on the combination of cognitive ability and personality traits. This paper explores how grit affects student academic performance and success in first-year college physics students in the context of a Quebec Collège d'enseignement général et professionnel (CEGEP). Two hierarchical linear regressions were performed using scores on a 12-item 5- point Likert scale survey measure of Grit on student cumulative GPA and on final exam mark for a gateway physics course, controlling for gender and high school GPA. Prior academic performance was found to be a significant predictor of college performance, as well as success in the gateway physics course. Grit was not found to be a significant predictor of student academic achievement or course success.

There is recent evidence suggesting that formal and informal support networks for minoritized students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) can contribute to their persistence in the field. These counterspaces can serve as "safe spaces" where deficit notions of minoritized students can be challenged and where a positive collegiate climate can be established. Generally, counterspaces are found outside of STEM departments: with mentors, in campus student groups, or in conferences focused on diversity in STEM. However, two participants in a study by Johnson and colleagues reported evidence suggesting that physics departments themselves can act as counterspaces. We are inspired by this finding to investigate the role that a network of support for minoritized students in a physics department of an Eastern Canadian university has on female students' experiences in their physics program. In this paper, we present data suggesting that participation in this network can promote forms of participation that may be especially beneficial for minoritized students in physics. We argue that this network acts as a counterspace built into the structure of a university physics department. Furthermore, we suggest that access to counterspaces such as this one may be able to provide identity resources that minoritized students draw on to position themselves as insiders when entering physics programs.

Students in first-year physics courses generally focus on hunting for suitable equations and formulas when tackling a variety of physical situations and physics problems. There is a need for a framework that can guide them to disciplinary ways of thinking and help them begin to think like physicists. To serve this end, in this study, a framework of disciplinary thinking in physics was presented to the students and incorporated in the delivery of a first-year course on electricity and magnetism for engineering students. The framework consisted of three types of thinking: principle-based thinking (PBT), case-based thinking (CBT), and experiential-intuitive thinking (EIT). The students' experiences of learning this framework were tracked through weekly reflection reports, which were analyzed using a coding scheme comprised of the following four categories of increasing cognitive complexity for each type of thinking: mentioning the type of thinking learned without elaboration (code A), mentioning the type of thinking learned with elaboration (code B), applying the type of thinking learned (code C) and making meaning of the type of thinking learned (code D). Examples of students' reflections for these codes for each type of thinking are included. The students most predominantly reflected on PBT followed by CBT with a very few reflections on EIT. Within both PBT and CBT, most reflections fell under the code B. Overall, the results are encouraging and point to a students' shift from formula hunting to the thinking framework based strategies.

This paper describes how future physics teachers' involvement in annual Family Math and Science Day--a public outreach event at the University of British Columbia, Canada--has a potential to transform them as physics demonstration experts and amateur video producers. These science demonstration videos serve as teaching and learning resources not only for their own coursework, practicum, and post-graduation, but also as a useful resource for their peers and other educators. The production of demonstration videos was framed around studies that support physics and general science teacher-candidates' engagement in hands-on science, science communication, and deliberate use of technology to promote active learning.

Instructional support is fundamental to successful implementation of Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) in various educational settings. Although research indicates that instructional support can lead to learning gain and achievement of inquiry strategies, it does not explain why the same level of guidance for students with relatively the same level of domain knowledge can lead to major differences in their performance and learning gain. To investigate this issue, we performed a descriptive observational study on a group of undergraduate students (N = 10) during their inquiry learning process in a physics simulation. Our results indicated that employing strategies such as setting goals, confronting misconceptions, testing prior knowledge, collecting evidence, reasoning, and inferring by examining various conditions contributed to high learning gain in students. Additionally, instructional support was found beneficial by all individuals -- with both high and low learning gains. However, low gainers tended to benefit more from explicit explanations and direct modeling. The results imply that some specific cognitive and metacognitive strategies are required as prerequisite inquiry competency for successful use of simulation tools and tutor guidance in a simulation based inquiry learning. These strategies can probably be developed through training workshops, instruction, and appropriate scaffolding during various phases of inquiry learning.

First-year undergraduate physics laboratories are important physics learning environments. However, there is a lack of empirically informed literature regarding how students perceive their overall laboratory learning experiences. Recipe formats persist as the dominant form of instructional design in these sites, and these formats do not adequately support the development of students' inquiry processes. There may be valid reasons for the lack of research into students' views of their undergraduate physics laboratory learning environments, but work should be done to address these issues so that such research can occur. This paper describes the development and validation of a 23-item instrument, the UPLLES (Undergraduate Physics Laboratory Learning Environment Survey) that was undertaken as part of a multi-year project aimed to develop guided-inquiry oriented Physics laboratories for first-year students at the University of Alberta. The UPLLES was developed and validated through factor analysis using 476 student responses. The five sub-scales of the UPLLES are, Inquiry Orientation, Integration, Material Environment, Student Community, and Instructor Support. The value of the UPLLES within a battery of measures for evaluating reform efforts in undergraduate physics laboratories is discussed.

This article describes a case study involving an assistive device that aided a student with low vision registered in the introductory physics course at Trent University in the fall of 2009. His Snellen visual acuity fluctuated significantly, with an average acuity of about 20/400. This low acuity presented obvious difficulties for him with the laboratory component of the course. To participate fully in an undergraduate experiment, he was required to see well enough to do all of the tasks while having his hands free to manipulate the equipment. An assistive device was required that would assist the student to meet the lab requirements. The student chose the Acrobat Panel and Long Arm (Enhanced Vision Systems, United States) for assessment. The student has used it for 2.5 academic years of study. The assistive device allowed the student with low vision to participate almost fully and independently in a regular, experimental physics program that is so visually complex that it has hitherto been inaccessible to such students. Not only did it enable the student to set up the laboratory apparatus himself, it enabled him to read fine measurement devices, such as gauges, micrometers, and burettes. With this device, the student could read from a chalkboard or projection screen and record data or notes from a chalkboard on a computer while viewing the camera output on the same screen.

Background: Wizards of Motion is a program of curriculum delivery through which experts in Kinesiology introduce grade 7 students to applications of physics for human movement. The program is linked closely to Ministry of Education curriculum requirements but includes human movement applications and data analysis experiences. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate students' head safety knowledge and attitudes toward helmet use after participating in the program. Methods: Data were collected from five grade 7 classrooms. Two classrooms (n = 37) receiving the program, while three classrooms, (n = 37) formed the control group (no intervention). Results on the Knowledge Test, and the Student Helmet Use Questionnaire were compared between intervention and control students. Results: A significant pre-post change in level of knowledge scores was observed in the intervention group. Likewise, intervention group students showed a significant increase in their intention to wear a helmet in future. Discussion: The successful program delivery illustrated the usefulness of linking public health promotion to standard classroom curriculum. Translation to Health Education Practice: This program exemplified the fundamental elements of knowledge translation and knowledge development, and is therefore recommended as a positive approach to delivering the public health message of helmet use for head safety. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore students' perceptions to changes to the learning environment of their undergraduate physics laboratories, in which their scientific inquiry processes were stimulated. Design/methodology/approach: The activities students engaged in were redesigned to reflect a guided inquiry approach and to acknowledge modern-day advances in science and technology. Further, enhanced guidance was provided for laboratory instructors regarding the nature of scientific inquiry and how to structure students' inquiry experiences during laboratory sessions. Students' views were sought regarding their perceptions of the impact of the reforms on the laboratory learning environments, their thinking processes in those environments and their views regarding the reform's value and appropriateness. Findings: Analyses of quantitative and qualitative data suggested that students responded positively to the reforms implemented. Large effect sizes of between 0.70 and 1.20 suggested significant positive shifts in students' perceptions of dimensions of their laboratory learning environments. In interviews, students expressed that they had engaged in the cognitive processes of scientific inquiry and suggested that the reforms had stimulated such "inquiry" thinking. However, their perceptions of the value and appropriateness of such inquiry-oriented laboratory learning environments were mixed. Originality/value: Concerns persist in higher education in relation to the extent of students' inquiry processes in undergraduate physics laboratories. Reforms to both the activities that students engage in and to instructional strategies are necessary. Raising awareness of the views expressed by students might help inform future reforms that accommodate those views to further enhance similar reforms.

We measured the personality type of the students in a large introductory physics course of mostly life science students using the True Colors instrument. We found large correlations of personality type with performance on the precourse Force Concept Inventory (FCI), both term tests, the postcourse FCI, and the final examination. We also saw correlations with the normalized gain on the FCI. The personality profile of the students in this course is very different from the profile of the physics faculty and graduate students, and also very different from the profile of students taking the introductory physics course intended for physics majors and specialists.

The purpose of this study is to describe the development and validation of a survey that examines science students' social media learning behaviours. Inherent in critiques regarding "digital natives" is a need to better understand what the current generation of learners actually do in their social media practices for "learning". The survey can help us understand how students actually use social media for learning science. Survey development followed an inductive approach [Brinkman, 2013. "Qualitative interviewing". Oxford ebook; Mansourian, 2006. "Adoption of grounded theory in LIS research." "New Library World", 107(9/10), 386-402; Strauss & Corbin, 1998. "Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and technique (2nd ed.)". Newbury Park, CA: Sage], where survey design was informed by results of focus groups with secondary and post-secondary physics students and the survey was iteratively revised after two cycles of administration and validation interviews. The final version of the "Social Media and Science Learning Survey" can be used by educators and researchers to understand how social media tools can be leveraged in order to allow learning to emerge and to use this knowledge to frame recommendations and methods for integrating these tools into classroom-based environments.

This self-study of activities as a practicum supervisor in several secondary schools focuses on the supervisor's contribution to the quality of a teacher candidate's professional learning in the context of a familiar tension between on-campus courses and in-school practicum experiences. Data from both formal and informal supervisory experiences are taken from notes recorded in classes with those supervised formally, records of notes taken in practicum observations, and email messages exchanged with teacher candidates about their supervision experiences. Analysis of formal supervision experiences generated a series of insights into candidates' experiences of the practicum, a modest innovation in supervisory practice, and important reminders arising from a significant error in personal practice as a supervisor. Informal supervision experiences involved visits arising from invitations to observe extended by candidates in the author's physics methods course. These experiences generated opportunities to test an alternative supervisory strategy focused on candidates' perceptions of their learning from experience. Related literature includes the topics of learning from experience, reflective practice, and the potential significance of an epistemology of practice. In closing, attention is given to trustworthiness, the personal significance of the study and connections to the teacher education literature.

Developing critical thinking skills is a common goal of an undergraduate physics curriculum. How do students make sense of evidence and what do they do with it? In this study, we evaluated students' critical thinking behaviors through their written notebooks in an introductory physics laboratory course. We compared student behaviors in the Structured Quantitative Inquiry Labs (SQILabs) curriculum to a control group and evaluated the fragility of these behaviors through procedural cueing. We found that the SQILabs were generally effective at improving the quality of students' reasoning about data and making decisions from data. These improvements in reasoning and sensemaking were thwarted, however, by a procedural cue.We describe these changes in behavior through the lens of epistemological frames and task orientation, invoked by the instructional moves.