Thesis Title: Investigating and Improving Student Understanding in Upper-Level Electrostatics and Quantum Mechanics at Different Levels, and Student Identity and Recognition in Introductory Physics

Abstract: One research strand in this thesis focuses on advanced student sensemaking in upper-level electrostatics, while solving problems involving the electrostatic potential using Laplace’s equation or the method of images. Individual interviews were conducted and student sensemaking was analyzed using the epistemic game framework proposed by Tuminaro and Redish. Findings highlight the nested epistemic games played by students and shed light on the sensemaking of students while solving problems in advanced contexts.  

To support students in solving electrostatic boundary value problems, guided inquiry-based tutorials were developed and validated for problems that can be solved appropriately and effectively using Laplace’s equation or the method of images. These tutorials were implemented across three instructors’ classes, along with unscaffolded and scaffolded pre and posttest. Think-aloud interviews with advanced students were also conducted. Although students showed gains in the scaffolded tests, greater learning gains were observed on unscaffolded versions of tests for Laplace’s equation. Findings also suggest that how instructors frame the instructional value of the tutorials may have impacted student engagement and their performance on associated assessments. 

Another investigation addresses the widespread misinformation surrounding recent advances in quantum information science and technology (QIST). Interviews with college-level educators who are also quantum researchers identified challenges in QIST that lead to misinformation and strategies for helping students, especially early learners at pre-college and college levels, develop good understanding of QIST concepts so that they can avoid being misinformed. 

Perception of recognition by others and identity in physics can be shaped by various forms of feedback and experiences. We discuss how course grades are related to changes in identity and perceived recognition from the beginning to the end of the course across three years for students enrolled in a calculus-based physics 1 course. Regression models predicted pre survey and post survey means and final course grades, including effects of gender and interactions between grade and gender. All student groups, on average, showed declines in identity and perceived recognition after receiving lower grades. However, women exhibited larger declines compared to men for lower grades.