Welcome to The Physics Education Research Laboratory

Our interests include

• student understanding of specific physics concepts
• curriculum development and dissemination
• models and mechanisms of human reasoning and learning
• the use of mathematics in physics learning
• teacher professional development

Recent activities

• research and curriculum development
  • upper-division thermodynamics and statistical mechanics
  • intermediate level mechanics with the Intermediate Mechanics Tutorials
  • the interface between mathematics and physics
  • a course in Intuitive Quantum Physics
• theory and theoretical framework development
  • extending the resources framework, a knowledge-in-pieces approach to describing student reasoning;
  • studying embodied cognition in physical and mathematical reasoning
  • applying conceptual blending to physics
• teacher professional development
  • research on the interplay between specialized content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge, especially knowledge of student ideas, in physics
  • developing and assessing courses on teaching and learning in physics for future secondary science teachers and university faculty

Conference Organization

• co-organizing the conferences on Transforming Research in Undergraduate STEM Education (TRUSE)
• co-organizing the Foundations and Frontiers of Physics Education Research conference
• co-organizing the annual meeting of High School Physics and Physical Science Teachers

What’s happening this week:

PERL is affiliated with:

• Department of Physics and Astronomy
• Maine Center for Research in STEM Education (Maine RiSE Center)
• College of Education and Human Development