119 papers
Physics explores the fundamental rules governing our universe, from the tiniest subatomic particles to the vastness of distant galaxies. This category focuses on educational physics, bridging the gap between complex theoretical concepts and clear, understandable explanations for students and enthusiasts alike. It covers how we teach, learn, and visualize the laws of nature in everyday contexts.
Gist.Science monitors arXiv daily to process every new preprint in this specific field. We transform these raw scientific manuscripts into accessible plain-language overviews alongside detailed technical summaries, ensuring that cutting-edge educational research reaches a wider audience without losing its rigor. Below are the latest papers in physics education research and related studies that have recently appeared on arXiv.
This study analyzes longitudinal data from Google Trends and Wikipedia to demonstrate a significant global decline in traditional search and page-view activity for physics topics, suggesting a shift in academic information-seeking behavior toward generative AI tools, particularly in non-English-speaking regions.
This paper proposes a collaborative framework integrating the CDIO approach ("how to do") and computational thinking ("how to think") to solve complex STEM problems in system modeling and simulation, using the calculation of a mathematical pendulum's period and various methods for computing complete elliptic integrals as a practical illustration.
Through semi-structured interviews with 24 students reporting negative perceptions of introductory physics, this study uses a resources vs. demands framework to identify that while classroom structure and instructors are often perceived as challenges, peer interaction and help-seeking serve as key supportive resources.
This paper provides a tutorial designed for undergraduate students that explains the mathematical and physical foundations, theoretical construction, and numerical implementation of the HHL algorithm for solving linear systems of equations.
This paper provides a detailed examination and practical guide for using a common commercial optical pumping apparatus to assist instructors in designing physics teaching lab curricula.
This study uses the epistemic game framework to investigate how graduate students make sense of advanced electrostatics problems involving the method of images, revealing that their sensemaking primarily relies on pictorial analysis and improves through persistent reasoning, scaffolding, and successive problem-solving attempts.
This study utilized multi-modal data integration, including eye tracking and webcam monitoring, to investigate the relationship between visual attention and learning outcomes in an online physics module, finding that while students were largely on-task, there was a positive but non-significant correlation between time spent on-task and improvements in learning efficiency.
This study investigated the impact of different AI-based scaffolding types—verbal, visual, or both—within a quantum technology serious game, finding that while all conditions led to significant learning gains, the combination of verbal and visual scaffolding most effectively reduced intrinsic cognitive load.
This paper proposes a historical and pedagogical approach to teaching antimatter that traces the evolution from Dirac's original "hole theory" to Ettore Majorana's 1937 canonical quantization, arguing that emphasizing Majorana's derivation of fermionic statistics and the elimination of the Dirac sea offers a more coherent and less confusing framework for university students than standard modern presentations.