Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2610.22154

Integrative Thinking in Computational Physics Design Essays

Sibatmika Babu·Ravishankar Chatta Subramaniam·Carina M. Rebello·Jason W. Morphew·N. Sanjay Rebello
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

This study investigates integrative thinking in undergraduate computational physics design essays (CPDEs) within an engineering design-based introductory physics laboratory. Integrative thinking refers to the interaction of science, mathematics, computation, design, and metacognitive reflection during problem solving. Using the Ways of Thinking for Engineering Design-based Physics (WoT4EDP) framework, we examine how levels of integrative thinking can be characterized and manifested across teams with different levels of academic performance. We analyzed CPDEs from 14 student teams in a first-semester calculus-based physics course. Teams were grouped into high-, middle-, and low-performing categories based on members' final examination performance, enabling comparison of integrative thinking across academic performance levels. CPDEs were analyzed using thick description and an analytic rubric characterizing three levels of integrative thinking: superficial, intermediate, and substantial. Findings illustrate variation in how students coordinate multiple ways of thinking within engineering design-based physics tasks and provide a structured lens for examining integrative thinking across levels of academic performance.

Explore related subjects

physics.ed-ph

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Sibatmika Babu, Ravishankar Chatta Subramaniam, Carina M. Rebello, Jason W. Morphew, N. Sanjay Rebello. 2026-10-15. Integrative Thinking in Computational Physics Design Essays. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.22154

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Characterizing adopters of named active learning methods in physics: An interview study

Active learning has been shown to be more beneficial for student learning than lecturing. Consequently, researchers have developed named active learning strategies for use in physics instruction. To increase adoption and support implementation of these named methods, it is important to understand the backgrounds and experiences of instructors who use them. In this study, we interviewed 20 introductory physics and astronomy instructors who use one of Student-Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-Down Pedagogies (SCALE-UP), Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE), Tutorials in Introductory Physics and Astronomy, or Peer Instruction to gain insight into their teaching experiences, professional development, pathways to learning about their method, and supports for and difficulties in implementation. We find for our sample that all implementers are involved with the discipline-based education research community, but there is variation in the extent of engagement. While instructors identify a variety of supports for their implementation, such as from the broader education community and departmental administration, the difficulties they experience are representative of both long-standing issues associated with active learning adoption (e.g., timing constraints) and new issues related to emergent technologies (e.g., Artificial Intelligence). Finally, we uncover differences in implementers across the four named methods, particularly related to their training for the method and the supports they received for implementation. Together, these findings underscore the importance of supporting multiple dissemination avenues for named active learning methods, point to a possible need for more training opportunities for SCALE-UP and ISLE in particular, and identify nascent issues in the contemporary active learning classroom that future work may further characterize and address.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2026

Measuring the Speed of Light with a Time-of-Flight Setup: An Authentic Experiment for High School

Students often perceive scientific experiments as clean, straightforward procedures with predictable outcomes. Students' beliefs about the nature of experimental physics typically remain inconsistent through the initial stages of undergraduate education. In reality, experimental work in physics involves hands-on activities such as soldering circuits, assembling provisional setups, and building functional mock-ups from simple materials before reliable measurements can be achieved. To address this gap, we designed a laboratory activity in which students were completely involved in the experiment design, construction and operation with the final goal of measuring the speed of light with a low-cost and compact setup. The educational objective of this activity was double: firstly, to make students aware of the importance of experimental choices and constraints in the setup design and secondly, to discover the potentiality of semiconductor technologies. As far back as the 1990s, with the spread of compact disk players, laser diodes and photodiodes capable of fast timing performance in the order of nanoseconds became largely available. In the last decades, consumer electronic devices made high performance technologies ubiquitous. Nevertheless, the idea of measuring ultrashort time intervals and the relevance of such measurements in science and technology remain unknown to most students. Nowadays, digital instruments with significant performance such as waveform generators and oscilloscopes are affordable for high school physics labs, paving the way to a closer contact with the world of experimental physics.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2026

Using Learning Analytics to Study Novice Learners' Work on Quantum Circuit Simulator Tasks

Interactive quantum circuit simulators are increasingly used to support introductory quantum computing education for learners from varied disciplinary backgrounds. These environments can also generate detailed response logs of submitted circuits, but such data are rarely transformed into evidence that instructors can use for course redesign and development. We present a learning analytics framework for quantum circuit simulator tasks and report its task-level branch on anonymised logs from an introductory quantum computing course delivered in the TIM learning environment. The task branch characterises exercises through participation, completion, first-attempt accuracy, valid-attempt counts, sessionised active time, and observed answer-space reporting of common correct and incorrect constructions. The dataset covers the 2024-2025 cohort of 492 learners, 47,533 valid submissions, and 21 obligatory quantum circuit exercises. The framework identifies bottleneck tasks, broad solution spaces, and recurring wrong-answer patterns that are not visible from final scores alone. Its most distinctive output is a plain-text representation of the observed answer space, designed to make open-ended circuit submissions directly interpretable to instructors. We show how response logs can reveal actionable task-design issues and support concrete course redesign. A learner-level branch is retained only as an ongoing research extension and is not a central empirical contribution of the present paper.

physics.ed-ph↗