The 2004 Physics Education Research (PER) Conference brought together researchers in how we teach physics and how it is learned. Student understanding of concepts, the efficacy of different pedagogical techniques, and the importance of student attitudes toward physics and knowledge were all discussed. These Proceedings capture an important snapshot of the PER community, containing an incredibly broad collection of research papers of work in progress.

Carl Wieman's contributions have had a major impact on defining the field of atomic physics as it exists today. His ground-breaking research has included precision laser spectroscopy; using lasers and atoms to provide important table-top tests of theories of elementary particle physics; the development of techniques to cool and trap atoms using laser light, particularly in inventing much simpler, less expensive ways to do this; the understanding of how atoms interact with one another and light at ultracold temperatures; and the creation of the first Bose-Einstein condensation in a dilute gas, and the study of the properties of this condensate. In recent years, he has also turned his attention to physics education and new methods and research in that area. This indispensable volume presents his collected papers, with annotations from the author, tracing his fascinating research path and providing valuable insight about the significance of the works.

Higher education is coming under increasing scrutiny, both publically and within academia, with respect to its ability to appropriately prepare students for the careers that will make them competitive in the 21st-century workplace. At the same time, there is a growing awareness that many global issues will require creative and critical thinking deeply rooted in the technical STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines. Transforming Institutions brings together chapters from the scholars and leaders who were part of the 2011 and 2014 conferences. It provides an overview of the context and challenges in STEM higher education, contributed chapters describing programs and research in this area, and a reflection and summary of the lessons from the many authors' viewpoints, leading to suggested next steps in the path toward transformation.

Scientific concepts are abstract human constructions, invented to make sense of complex natural phenomena. Scientists use specialised languages, diagrams, and mathematical representations of various kinds to convey these abstract constructions. This book uses the perspectives of embodied cognition and conceptual metaphor to explore how learners make sense of these concepts. That is, it is assumed that human cognition – including scientific cognition – is grounded in the body and in the material and social contexts in which it is embedded. Understanding abstract concepts is therefore grounded, via metaphor, in knowledge derived from sensory and motor experiences arising from interaction with the physical world. The volume consists of nine chapters that examine a number of intertwined themes: how systematic metaphorical mappings are implicit in scientific language, diagrams, mathematical representations, and the gestures used by scientists; how scientific modelling relies fundamentally on metaphor and can be seen as a form of narrative cognition; how implicit metaphors can be the sources of learner misconceptions; how conceptual change and the acquisition of scientific expertise involve learning to coordinate the use of multiple implicit metaphors; and how effective instruction can build on recognising the embodied nature of scientific cognition and the role of metaphor in scientific thought and learning. The volume also includes three extended commentaries from leading researchers in the fields of cognitive linguistics, the learning sciences, and science education, in which they reflect on theoretical, methodological and pedagogical issues raised in the book. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Science Education.

Every day educators are presented with enlightening insights, questions, and encounters which reveal how students engage in learning, how new ideas can impact positively on student outcomes and how - when challenges are uncovered - there can be a sense of puzzlement where rethinking of pedagogical approaches is critical for student success. In this volume of Voices from the Classroom, "Contemporary Challenges in Education - Paradoxes and Illuminations", an international team of authors explores paradoxes, shares illuminations and invites you to reflect on educational practices to enhance pedagogy, scaffold learning and keep pace with educational advancements. This collection written by students, teachers, researchers and higher education instructors discusses education across all phases of learning. It explores issues such as instructional scaffolding in kindergarten, understanding transition through children's voices, youth participation in curriculum development of sex education, delivering crisis assistance to university students and staff in times of conflict in Ukraine, using augmented reality for transformative learning, co-creating university practices with staff and students, and how inclusive practices can help meet the needs of international postgraduate students. This comprehensive and diverse collection will have wide appeal for teachers, headmasters, stakeholders in the area of education and all those working in different educational contexts.

This book is about mathematics in physics education, the difficulties students have in learning physics, and the way in which mathematization can help to improve physics teaching and learning. The book brings together different teaching and learning perspectives, and addresses both fundamental considerations and practical aspects. Divided into four parts, the book starts out with theoretical viewpoints that enlighten the interplay of physics and mathematics also including historical developments. The second part delves into the learners’ perspective. It addresses aspects of the learning by secondary school students as well as by students just entering university, or teacher students. Topics discussed range from problem solving over the role of graphs to integrated mathematics and physics learning. The third part includes a broad range of subjects from teachers’ views and knowledge, the analysis of classroom discourse and an evaluated teaching proposal. The last part describes approaches that take up mathematization in a broader interpretation, and includes the presentation of a model for physics teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) specific to the role of mathematics in physics.

While there are certainly numerous influences on individuals’ learning and performance, cognitive strategies are the processes most directly related to making meaningful progress on a learning task or problem. Written by a leading expert on strategic processing, this book situates the topic within the broader context of educational psychology research and theory and brings it to a wider audience. With chapters on the fundamentals of domain-general and domain-specific strategies, connections to other constructs, and advice for instructing students, this concise volume is designed for any education course that includes learning or study strategies in the curriculum. It will be indispensable for student researchers and both pre- and in-service teachers.

This book aims to serve as a multidisciplinary forum covering technical, pedagogical, organizational, instructional, as well as policy aspects of ICT in Education and e-Learning. Special emphasis is given to applied research relevant to educational practice guided by the educational realities in schools, colleges, universities and informal learning organizations. In a more generic scope, the volume aims to encompass current trends and issues determining ICT integration in practice, including learning and teaching, curriculum and instructional design, learning media and environments, teacher education and professional development, assessment and evaluation, etc.

Visual Data in Science Education builds upon previous work done by the editors to bring some definition to the meaning of visual data as it relates to education, and highlighted the breadth of types and uses of visual data across the major academic disciplines. In this book, the editors have brought this focus specifically to science education through the contributions of colleagues in the field who actively research about and engage in teaching with visual data. The book begins by examining how the brain functions with respect to processing visual data, then explores models of conceptual frameworks, which then leads into how related ideas are actuated in education settings ranging from elementary science classrooms to college environments. As a whole, this book fosters a more coherent image of the multifaceted process of science teaching and learning that is informed by current understandings of science knowledge construction, the scientific enterprise, and the millennium student as they relate to visual data.

This book describes novel approaches designed to enhance the professional training of physics teachers, and explores innovations in the teaching and learning of physics in the classroom and laboratory. It features selected contributions from the International Research Group on Physics Teaching (GIREP) and Multimedia in Physics Teaching and Learning (MPTL) Conference, held in Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain, in July 2018, which brought together two communities: researchers in physics education and physics teachers. The book covers a broad range of topics, highlighting important aspects of the relationship between research and innovation in the teaching of physics, and presenting fresh insights to help improve learning processes and instruction. Offering a contemporary vision of physics teaching and the learning process, the book is of interest to all teachers and researchers committed to teaching and learning physics on the basis of good evidence.