arXiv subjects

Noah D. Finkelstein

Publications and source records attributed to Noah D. Finkelstein.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A Workshop Series for Effective Use of AI in Uncertain Times: Building a Physics Faculty Learning Community

Generative AI tools are being widely taken up by students in their physics courses and beyond, often before instructors and institutions can develop policies and effective approaches for the use of these tools. Building on a framework for change in the era of AI, we developed and implemented a faculty learning community to help a university physics department address these challenges collectively. Over six biweekly sessions, faculty worked through course policies, classroom conversations about AI, AI-integrated coursework tasks, and assessment. Each session shared a common structure: we presented local data and department-sourced materials, tested them in small groups, and discussed them together, emphasizing durable pedagogical approaches over specific tools and platforms, and leading with evidence of students' own AI use. The series produced a shared, evolving repository of resources for faculty to draw on. This workshop provides an adaptable, theoretically informed model for a faculty learning community that departments can build on.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2026

From Prompt to Embodied Simulation: Using Generative AI to Create AR Physics Learning Tools

Spread your thumb and index finger in the air, and a virtual lamp in the room changes color. Computer simulations have a long and well-documented record of supporting physics learning. They can support the understanding of abstract physical concepts by making them interactive and by inviting students to play with parameters and explore them. In this paper, we show how a structured natural-language prompt can generate a browser-based, hand-controlled augmented-reality (AR) physics simulation, and we describe its use in an introductory physics class.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2026

A principled way to think about AI in education: guidance for educators and policy makers based on goals, models of human learning, and use of technologies

The rapid emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and related technologies has the potential to dramatically influence higher education, raising questions about the roles of institutions, educators, and students in a technology-rich future. While existing discourse often emphasizes either the promise and peril of AI or its immediate implementation, this paper advances a third path: a principled framework for guiding the use of AI in teaching and learning. Drawing on decades of scholarship in the learning sciences and uses of technology in education, I articulate a set of principles that connect broad educational goals to actionable practices. These principles clarify the respective roles of educators, learners, and technologies in shaping curricula, designing instruction, assessing learning, and cultivating community. The piece illustrates how a principled approach enables higher education to harness new tools while preserving its fundamental mission: advancing meaningful learning, supporting democratic societies, and preparing students for dynamic futures. Ultimately, this framework seeks to ensure that AI augments rather than displaces human capacities, aligning technology use with enduring educational values and goals. It is meant as a practical guide for anyone engaging in the use of new technology tools in their educational practices, or those people setting educational policies in the modern era. A new preamble (Jul 2026) and modest updates throughout the paper contextualize it since initial sharing (Jul 2025). The good news is that the arguments and principles of action posted originally appear to still be relevant one year later

cs.CY↗

arXiv2026

A Framework for institutional change in the age of AI

Generative AI is rapidly reshaping STEM higher education. Not only are our educational practices changing, but how we think about educational transformation must adapt. Existing models of institutional change in STEM, aimed at interactive engagement, have largely followed an adoption logic: relatively stable, well-researched educational practices are evaluated and then scaled. These assumptions do not hold for generative AI, which is an arrival technology -- entering classrooms before a sufficient pedagogical evidence base could form. Building on recent decades of work on STEM institutional change, we propose a framework identifying six dimensions along which prior change models must be reconsidered in light of AI: three concerning the tools at the center of reform (the tool's evidence base, rate of change, and scope), and three concerning the people involved in change (faculty, change agents, and students). For each dimension, we examine how AI-era assumptions differ from those underlying prior interactive engagement reforms and derive design implications, including: privileging humble and local inquiries; organizing reform around pedagogical approaches rather than specific tools; repositioning change agents as facilitators of collective inquiry; and engaging students as partners in reform. Collectively, the six dimensions and design implications constitute a new framework for adapting change models to support institutions under conditions of genuine uncertainty. Finally, we illustrate how the framework may be applied through a brief case-study of a faculty workshop series carried out in a university physics department to support instructors adapting to this modern AI era.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2026

From Search to GenAI Queries: Global Trends in Physics Information-Seeking Across Topics and Regions

The emergence of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) marks a potential inflection point in the way academic information is accessed, raising fundamental questions about the evolving role of search in student learning. This study examines this shift by analyzing longitudinal trends in physics-related search and page-view activity, using declines in traditional search behavior as a quantitative proxy for changes in independent information-seeking practices. We analyze Google Trends data for core concepts in Classical Mechanics and Electromagnetism across three academic years (2022-2025) in more than 20 countries, and complement this analysis with Wikipedia page-view data across seven major languages to establish platform independence. The results reveal a substantial, systematic, and persistent global decline in search and page-view activity across most examined physics topics. The magnitude of this decline is domain-dependent, with Mechanics-related content exhibiting sharper and more consistent reductions than Electromagnetism-related content. Pronounced geographic and linguistic heterogeneity is observed: while English-speaking regions show relative stability or only moderate declines, non-English-speaking regions exhibit substantially larger reductions in traditional, search-based information-seeking activity. Despite the overall decrease in volume, the seasonal structure characteristic of academic activity remains robust. Taken together, these findings indicate a redistribution of physics-related information-seeking behavior in academic contexts where generative tools are increasingly available.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2025

Leveraging generative artificial intelligence for simulation-based physics experiments: A new approach to virtual learning about the real world

This study investigates the impact of a novel application of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in physics instruction: engaging students in prompting, refining, and validating AI-constructed simulations of physical phenomena. In a second-semester physics course for life science majors, we conducted a comparative study of three instructional approaches in a laboratory focused on electric potentials: (i) students using physical equipment, (ii) students using a prebuilt simulator, and (iii) students using AI to generate a simulation. We found significant group differences in performance on conceptual assessments of the laboratory content (η^2 = 0.359). Post-hoc analysis showed that students in both the AI-generated and prebuilt simulation conditions scored significantly higher on the conceptual assessments than students in the physical equipment condition. Students in these groups also reported more favorable perceptions of the learning experience. Finally, this preliminary study highlights opportunities for developing students' modeling skills through the processes of designing, refining, and validating AI-generated simulations.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2025

Global Blind Spot in Understanding Trigonometric Derivatives: A Multinational Analysis

Trigonometric derivatives are fundamental in both mathematics and physics, yet their proper application, particularly the distinction between radians and degrees, poses a significant challenge for college students globally. This study identifies a widespread "blind spot" in understanding trigonometric derivatives and their implications for physical systems, highlighting a critical gap in physics education. A multinational survey of 769 college students, primarily undergraduate and graduate STEM majors, from Israel, the United States, China, and India assessed their ability to differentiate between radians and degrees in mathematical and physical contexts, focusing on harmonic motion. Results reveal that only 26.3\% of students correctly identified that the well-known expressions for trigonometric derivatives hold exclusively in radians, while 70.7\% incorrectly assumed both radians and degrees are valid. Notably, students demonstrated improved recognition of radians in physical contexts (59.0\% correct responses) compared to mathematical ones, suggesting that students rely on familiar physical equations as cognitive reference points when applying mathematical concepts. These misunderstandings appear worldwide, suggesting a universal challenge. The findings highlight the need for curriculum reforms to better connect mathematical formalism with physical application.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2024

Leveraging AI for Rapid Generation of Physics Simulations in Education: Building Your Own Virtual Lab

Seemingly we are not so far from Star Trek's food replicator. Generative artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming an integral part of both science and education, offering not only automation of processes but also the dynamic creation of complex, personalized content for educational purposes. With such advancement, educators are now crafting exams, building tutors, creating writing partners for students, and developing an array of other powerful tools for supporting our educational practices and student learning. We share a new class of opportunities for supporting learners and educators through the development of AI-generated simulations of physical phenomena and models. While we are not at the stage of "Computer: make me a mathematical simulation depicting the quantum wave functions of electrons in the hydrogen atom", we are not far off.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2024

Outcomes from a Workshop on a National Center for Quantum Education

In response to numerous programs seeking to advance quantum education and workforce development in the United States, experts from academia, industry, government, and professional societies convened for a National Science Foundation-sponsored workshop in February 2024 to explore the benefits and challenges of establishing a national center for quantum education. Broadly, such a center would foster collaboration and build the infrastructure required to develop a diverse and quantum-ready workforce. The workshop discussions centered around how a center could uniquely address gaps in public, K-12, and undergraduate quantum information science and engineering (QISE) education. Specifically, the community identified activities that, through a center, could lead to an increase in student awareness of quantum careers, boost the number of educators trained in quantum-related subjects, strengthen pathways into quantum careers, enhance the understanding of the U.S. quantum workforce, and elevate public engagement with QISE. Core proposed activities for the center include professional development for educators, coordinated curriculum development and curation, expanded access to educational laboratory equipment, robust evaluation and assessment practices, network building, and enhanced public engagement with quantum science.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2024

Investigating Student Participation in Quantum Workforce Initiatives

As the focus of quantum science shifts from basic research to development and implementation of applied quantum technology, calls for a robust, diverse quantum workforce have increased. However, little research has been done on the design and impact on participants of workforce preparation efforts outside of R1 contexts. In order to begin to answer the question of how program design can or should attend to the needs and interests of diverse groups of students, we performed interviews with students from two Colorado-based quantum education/workforce development programs, one in an undergraduate R1 setting and one in a distributed community setting and serving students largely from two-year colleges. Through analysis of these interviews, we were able to highlight differences between the student populations in the two programs in terms of participation goals, prior and general awareness of quantum science, and career interest and framing of career trajectories. While both groups of students reported benefits from program participation, we highlight the ways in which students' different needs and contexts have informed divergent development of the two programs, framing contextual design of quantum education and workforce efforts as an issue of equity and representation for the burgeoning quantum workforce.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2020

Epistemic stances toward group work in learning physics: Interactions between epistemology and social dynamics in a collaborative problem solving context

As educators we often ask our physics students to work in groups---on tutorials, during in-class discussions, and on homework, projects, or exams. Researchers have documented the benefits of group work for students' conceptual mastery and problem solving skills, and have worked to optimize the productivity of group work by assigning roles and composing groups based on performance levels or gender. However, it is less common for us as a physics education research community to attend to the social dynamics and interactions among students within a collaborative setting, or to address students' views about group work. In this paper, we define \textit{epistemic stances toward group work}: stances towards what it means to generate and apply knowledge in a group. Through a case study analysis of a collaborative problem solving session among four physics students, we investigate how epistemic stances toward group work interact with social dynamics. We find that misalignment of stances between students can inform, and be informed by, the social positioning of group members. Understanding these fine-grained interactions is one way to begin to understand how to support students in engaging in productive and equitable group work.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2015

Teaching Quantum Interpretations: Revisiting the goals and practices of introductory quantum physics courses

Most introductory quantum physics instructors would agree that transitioning students from classical to quantum thinking is an important learning goal, but may disagree on whether or how this can be accomplished. Although (and perhaps because) physicists have long debated the physical interpretation of quantum theory, many instructors choose to avoid emphasizing interpretive themes; or they discuss the views of scientists in their classrooms, but do not adequately attend to student interpretations. In this synthesis and extension of prior work, we demonstrate: (1) instructors vary in their approaches to teaching interpretive themes; (2) different instructional approaches have differential impacts on student thinking; and (3) when student interpretations go unattended, they often develop their own (sometimes scientifically undesirable) views. We introduce here a new modern physics curriculum that explicitly attends to student interpretations, and provide evidence-based arguments that doing so helps them to develop more consistent interpretations of quantum phenomena, more sophisticated views of uncertainty, and greater interest in quantum physics.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2014

Ontological Flexibility and the Learning of Quantum Mechanics

One area of physics education research has focused on the nature of ontologies (mental categorizations of concepts, substances and processes), and how they might be used to gain insight into student thinking when learning classical physics. There has been some debate about whether student and expert ontologies in classical contexts should be thought of as stable cognitive structures or dynamic cognitive processes, and what implications these different perspectives have for instruction. We extend this discussion of ontologies and their role in learning and cognition to the context of quantum physics, by first considering various types of epistemological and ontological commitments exhibited by experts in their descriptions of quantum phenomena. Excerpts from student interviews and responses to survey questions are used to demonstrate the contextual nature of students' quantum ontologies, which can be best understood within a resources framework. Instructional implications are discussed, including a brief description of a modern physics curriculum designed to explicitly attend to student ontologies.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2012

Development of quantum perspectives in modern physics

Introductory undergraduate courses in classical physics stress a perspective that can be characterized as realist; from this perspective, all physical properties of a classical system can be simultaneously specified and thus determined at all future times. Such a perspective can be problematic for introductory quantum physics students, who must develop new perspectives in order to properly interpret what it means to have knowledge of quantum systems. We document this evolution in student thinking in part through pre- and post-instruction evaluations using the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey. We further characterize variations in student epistemic and ontological commitments by examining responses to two essay questions, coupled with responses to supplemental quantum attitude statements. We find that, after instruction in modern physics, many students are still exhibiting a realist perspective in contexts where a quantum-mechanical perspective is needed. We further find that this effect can be significantly influenced by instruction, where we observe variations for courses with differing learning goals. We also note that students generally do not employ either a realist or a quantum perspective in a consistent manner.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2012

Teaching and understanding of quantum interpretations in modern physics courses

Just as expert physicists vary in their personal stances on interpretation in quantum mechanics, instructors vary on whether and how to teach interpretations of quantum phenomena in introductory modern physics courses. In this paper, we document variations in instructional approaches with respect to interpretation in two similar modern physics courses recently taught at the University of Colorado, and examine associated impacts on student perspectives regarding quantum physics. We find students are more likely to prefer realist interpretations of quantum-mechanical systems when instructors are less explicit in addressing student ontologies. We also observe contextual variations in student beliefs about quantum systems, indicating that instructors who choose to address questions of ontology in quantum mechanics should do so explicitly across a range of topics.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2011

Refined Characterization of Student Perspectives on Quantum Physics

The perspectives of introductory classical physics students can often negatively influence how those students later interpret quantum phenomena when taking an introductory course in modern physics. A detailed exploration of student perspectives on the interpretation of quantum physics is needed, both to characterize student understanding of physics concepts, and to inform how we might teach traditional content. Our previous investigations of student perspectives on quantum physics have indicated they can be highly nuanced, and may vary both within and across contexts. In order to better understand the contextual and often seemingly contradictory stances of students on matters of interpretation, we interviewed 19 students from four introductory modern physics courses taught at the University of Colorado. We find that students have attitudes and opinions that often parallel the stances of expert physicists when arguing for their favored interpretations of quantum mechanics, allowing for more nuanced characterizations of student perspectives in terms of three key interpretive themes. We present a framework for characterizing student perspectives on quantum mechanics, and demonstrate its utility in interpreting the sometimes-contradictory nature of student responses to previous surveys. We further find that students most often vacillate in their responses when what makes intuitive sense to them is not in agreement with what they consider to be a correct response, underscoring the need to distinguish between the personal and the public perspectives of introductory modern physics students.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2011

Interpretation in Quantum Physics as Hidden Curriculum

Prior research has demonstrated how the realist perspectives of classical physics students can translate into specific beliefs about quantum phenomena when taking an introductory modern physics course. Student beliefs regarding the interpretation of quantum mechanics often vary by context, and are most often in alignment with instructional goals in topic areas where instructors are explicit in promoting a particular perspective. Moreover, students are more likely to maintain realist perspectives in topic areas where instructors are less explicit in addressing interpretive themes, thereby making such issues part of a hidden curriculum. We discuss various approaches to addressing student perspectives and interpretive themes in a modern physics course, and explore the associated impacts on student thinking.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2011

Interpretive Themes in Quantum Physics: Curriculum Development and Outcomes

A common learning goal for modern physics instructors is for students to recognize a difference between the experimental uncertainty of classical physics and the fundamental uncertainty of quantum mechanics. Our prior work has shown that student perspectives on the physical interpretation of quantum mechanics can be characterized, and are differentially influenced by the myriad ways instructors approach interpretive themes in their introductory courses. We report how a transformed modern physics curriculum (recently implemented at the University of Colorado) has positively impacted student perspectives on quantum physics, by making questions of classical and quantum reality a central theme of the course, but also by making the beliefs of students (and not just those of scientists) an explicit topic of discussion.

physics.ed-ph↗