Physics education research (PER) is broadly aimed at improving instruction and curriculum in the field of physics. It is a hybrid field consisting of education researchers as well as physicists, whose goal is to combine current research initiatives in order to improve physics education. Since this field is considered to exhibit disparities in terms of gender, class, and race, there are many current initiatives to address such disparities. Physics is considered to be a \u201chard\u201d science (i.e. featuring mathematical rigor and high degrees of objectivity\/consensus), yet this designation often makes the field minimally accessible to society-at-large. In the Physics Education Research Group at Miami University, we are studying learning patterns among students in introductory physics courses. My research focuses on investigating patterns associated with online student interaction, within the context of Perusall e-reader software. Perusall is employed for students to electronically annotate and interact with each other in the context of a textbook reading assignment. In determining meaningful metrics for measuring said interaction, I propose that further research is necessary to determine the advantages of using Perusall instead of traditional textbook reading assignments. Furthermore this investigation finds that grading algorithms employed by such software need to be studied in order to improve their accuracy.<\/p>\n
Author:<\/strong> Maxwell Gottliebson<\/p>\n Faculty Advisors:<\/strong> Dr. Jennifer Blue and Dr. Samir Bali, Department of Physics<\/p>\n