Students of various levels have difficulties determining the energy of a quantum state.
Continue readingThe GRE: what is it good for?
The GRE: great at acting as a barrier to underrepresented groups, not so good as a predictor of completing graduate school.
Continue readingWhen finding nothing is a result
Null results are often not published, but can provide useful results.
Continue readingYou seem like a physicist
Explicitly and implicitly recognizing students as physicists can help them identify as physicists.
Continue readingHow far is far? Investigating students’ knowledge about distance to astronomical objects
Students are often unfamiliar with sizes and distances of astronomical objects. Today’s study compares student knowledge about this topic at different educational levels.
Continue readingNot enough variation to explain the gender gap
The men and women earn equal STEM grades but men have higher variability in those grades. This isn’t enough to explain why there are more men in STEM.
Continue readingWelcome and Updates
Welcome to the new site!
Continue readingWhat matters when applying to graduate school and how it impacts diversity
Physics is less diverse than other physical sciences. Do graduate school admission processes contribute to this?
Continue readingExtra! Extra! Physics labs might be extra
Labs have been a standard part of the physics curriculum. Today’s paper suggests that labs don’t help students develop physics knowledge beyond what is already covered in other parts of the course.
Continue readingTransitioning between tables, equations, and graphs (oh my!) in physics and math
Using multiple representations is central to the study of physics. Today we look at how well students can change between representations of linear functions.
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