Physics

Developing a Responsive Professional Development (RPD) Survey for High School Physics Teachers

Cadre-Admin — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 19:49:06 +0000

Developing a Responsive Professional Development (RPD) Survey for High School Physics Teachers

By taking a responsive approach to the design and enactment of teacher professional development (PD), PD instruction can be tailored to teachers' needs, interests, and concerns. This is of considerable importance in the high school physics teacher PD space, wherein teacher needs turn out to be particularly complex and diverse due to differences in teacher preparation within the discipline. More generally, understanding the degree to which PD programs are responsive to their teachers' needs can support increased responsiveness. To this end, having a validated survey can assist in measuring the criteria for this responsiveness. This study presents the initial development of a responsive professional development (RPD) survey based on interviews with 13 high school physics teachers. Nine responsive codes were identified through thematic analysis of teacher interviews, and the resulting survey has been administered to 33 teachers for piloting purposes. In this work, the initial survey development process is presented.

Talafian, H., Shaffer, D., Mahmood, M., Kuo, E., Stelzer, T., & Lundsgaard, M. (2024). Developing a responsive professional development (RPD) survey for high school physics teachers. In Proceedings of the Physics Education Research Conference (PERC). https://doi.org/10.1119/perc.2024.pr.Talafian

Cadre-Admin Mon, 02/02/2026 - 14:49

https://doi.org/10.1119/perc.2024.pr.Talafian

Teachers Experiences with Taking an Open-ended Approach in Teaching Labs in High School Physics Classes

Cadre-Admin — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 19:41:24 +0000

Teachers Experiences with Taking an Open-ended Approach in Teaching Labs in High School Physics Classes

Although most teachers recognize the importance of taking investigative, open-ended approaches to students’ learning experiences, implementing them in high school classes can be challenging for teachers. In this work, we analyzed data from multiple sources from a teaching Community of Practice (CoP) to investigate (a) barriers to taking an open-ended approach in teaching labs in physics classes, (b) shifts in teachers’ beliefs about taking an open-ended approach during their engagement in a physics teaching CoP in a partnership program, and (c) a case study of one teacher whose shifts in perceptions about taking an open-ended approach in teaching labs led to her successful implementation in her class. The findings confirm the existence of well-known psychological and structural barriers that can prevent teachers from adopting investigative approaches in teaching physics labs. Moreover, we learned how the interaction of these barriers further complicates the adoption of open-ended approaches in physics classes. The study also revealed a significant gap between teachers’ current practices and their desired methods of conducting labs, particularly in terms of structured versus open-ended approaches. The case study offered deeper insights into how shifts in teaching practices occur through changes in perceptions within a supportive CoP.

Talafian, H., Lundsgaard, M., Mahmood, M., Kuo, E & Stelzer, T. J. (2025). Teachers’ experiences with taking an open-ended approach in teaching labs in high school physics classes. Physical Review Physics Education Research, 21(1), 010140. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.21.010140

Cadre-Admin Mon, 02/02/2026 - 14:41

https://journals.aps.org/prper/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.21.010140

Identity and Power in Physics Teachers’ Discourse About Equity

Cadre-Admin — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 20:56:16 +0000

Identity and Power in Physics Teachers’ Discourse About Equity

Gutiérrez’s equity framework, derived from mathematics education research, defines equity in terms of four dimensions: access, achievement, identity, and power. Access and achievement yield outcomes that reify the status quo while identity and power transform schooling to redistribute power. We use Gutiérrez’s equity framework to study discourse about equity from 36 high school physics teachers who participated in an equity-focused professional development workshop. We found that the teachers’ equity discourse often includes aspects of the identity dimension, yet teachers tend to frame identity using what we call a deficit lens. That is, although teachers agree that student identity matters in equity work, they often treat student identity as a way to support access and achievement and as a reflection of why students are not “successful.” In Gutiérrez’s words, this means centering equity work on teaching students to “play the game.” We also found that the power dimension, which supports students in “changing the game,” tends to be rare in teachers’ discourse about equity and is often presented with varied interpretations. Our findings then suggest that teachers’ equity framings of identity and power reflect physics education scholarship and dominant narratives, which leads to the call for a collective effort to challenge and reframe identity in physics in relation to power.

Huỳnh, T., Robertson, A. D., Bauman, L. C., & Scherr, R. E. (2025). Identity and power in physics teachers’ discourse about equity. Physical Review Physics Education Research, 21. https://doi.org/10.1103/ynfb-rbx8

Cadre-Admin Fri, 10/24/2025 - 16:56

https://journals.aps.org/prper/abstract/10.1103/ynfb-rbx8

American Association of Physics Teachers 2026 AAPT Summer Meeting; Pasadena, CA

Cadre-Admin — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 20:10:42 +0000

American Association of Physics Teachers 2026 AAPT Summer Meeting; Pasadena, CA

Event Date

Sat, 07/18/2026 - 12:00am EDT to Wed, 07/22/2026 - 12:00am EDT

Cadre-Admin Thu, 09/04/2025 - 16:10

Event Description

To learn more, visit https://aapt.org/Conferences/meetings.cfm.

Sponsoring Organization

American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT)

American Association of Physics Teachers 2026 AAPT Winter Meeting; Las Vegas, NV

Cadre-Admin — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 20:07:03 +0000

American Association of Physics Teachers 2026 AAPT Winter Meeting; Las Vegas, NV

Event Date

Sat, 01/17/2026 - 12:00am EST to Tue, 01/20/2026 - 12:00am EST

Cadre-Admin Thu, 09/04/2025 - 16:07

Event Description

To learn more, visit https://aapt.org/Conferences/WM2026/index.cfm.

Sponsoring Organization

American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT)

Values Reflected in Energy-Related Physics Concepts

Cadre-Admin — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 17:07:49 +0000

Values Reflected in Energy-Related Physics Concepts

Gray, K. E. & Scherr, R. E. (2025). Values reflected in energy-related physics concepts. The Physics Teacher, 63, 240–242. https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0137442

Cadre-Admin Sat, 06/28/2025 - 13:07

https://pubs.aip.org/aapt/pte/article/63/4/240/3340701/Values-Reflected-in-Ener…

Three-Dimensional Rural Science Lesson Plans

Cadre-Admin — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 17:47:45 +0000

Three-Dimensional Rural Science Lesson Plans

These high-quality, NGSS-aligned science lesson plans are built on phenomena meaningful to rural students. They include plans for middle school science, as well as high school biology, Earth science, chemistry, and physics.

Cadre-Admin Fri, 10/25/2024 - 13:47

https://3drst.byu.edu/lesson-plans

Energy and Equity Curricular Resources

Cadre-Admin — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 20:33:54 +0000

Energy and Equity Curricular Resources

This resource library offers curricular materials for teaching energy and equity in high school physics.

Cadre-Admin Thu, 10/24/2024 - 16:33

https://www.energyandequity.org/browse

Energy and Equity Curricular Resources

Cadre-Admin — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 20:33:54 +0000

Energy and Equity Curricular Resources

This resource library offers curricular materials for teaching energy and equity in high school physics.

Cadre-Admin Thu, 10/24/2024 - 16:33

https://www.energyandequity.org/browse

American Association of Physics Teachers 2025 AAPT Summer Meeting; Washington, DC

Cadre-Admin — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 18:03:33 +0000

American Association of Physics Teachers 2025 AAPT Summer Meeting; Washington, DC

Event Date

Sat, 08/02/2025 - 12:00am EDT to Wed, 08/06/2025 - 12:00am EDT

Cadre-Admin Fri, 10/18/2024 - 14:03

Event Description

To learn more, https://www.aapt.org/conferences/.

Sponsoring Organization

American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT)