Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
Research Expertise:
Physics Education Research
I study how people think about and learn physics. My major work has focused on developing instructional strategies for advanced undergraduate thermal physics courses. My current research centers on how students use and reason about mathematics in both introductory and advanced physics courses, and the ways in which they synthesize various pieces of information to form a coherent understanding of a particular topic. I am particularly interested in using statistical analyses to measure how student understanding of a particular topic changes during a course.
Honors and Awards:
Invited Plenary Speaker at the Foundations and Frontiers of Physics Education Research Conference 2017
Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings Paper Award Finalist 2010
Member of:
American Association of Physics Teachers (www.aapt.org)
American Physical Society (www.aps.org)
Recent Academic Projects:
Measuring and representing student learning in introductory physics: A main goal of this project is to use statistical analyses to measure the relative “correctness” of various responses to common multiple-choice tests. These results may be used to show how students’ understanding of physics develops during a course, even if they do not choose the correct response.
Education/Academic qualification
Doctor of Philosophy, doctorate
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics where Trevor Smith is active. These topic labels come from the works of this person. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
students
Physics & Astronomy
physics
Social Sciences
education
Physics & Astronomy
statistical mechanics
Physics & Astronomy
Carnot cycle
Physics & Astronomy
student
Social Sciences
heat engines
Physics & Astronomy
evaluation
Physics & Astronomy
Network
Recent external collaboration on country level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots.
Projects 2017 2022
- 3 Active
Collaborative Research: PIMS: Physics Inventory of Mathematical Sensemaking
10/1/18 → 5/31/20
Project: Other project
Quantifying Understanding Hidden in Wrong Answers
National Science Foundation (NSF)
10/1/18 → 8/31/21
Project: Other project
Research Output 2007 2018
Determining a hierarchy of correctness through student transitions on the FMCE
Louis, K. J., Ricci, B. J. & Smith, T. I., Jan 1 2018, In : Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings. 2018Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article
students
hierarchies
evaluation
student
mechanic
NoNIP: Natures of negativity in introductory physics
Brahmia, S. W., Olsho, A., Smith, T. & Boudreaux, A., Jan 1 2018, In : Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings. 2018Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article
physics
education
mathematics
expert
research focus
1
Citation
(Scopus)
Representing uncertainty on model analysis plots
Smith, T. I., Jan 1 2016, In : Physical Review Physics Education Research. 12, 2, 023102.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
model analysis
plots
uncertainty
students
learning
6
Citations
(Scopus)
Identifying student difficulties with entropy, heat engines, and the Carnot cycle
Smith, T. I., Christensen, W. M., Mountcastle, D. B. & Thompson, J. R., Sep 23 2015, In : Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research. 11, 2, 020116.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Carnot cycle
heat engines
entropy
students
heat
2
Citations
(Scopus)
Student understanding of the Boltzmann factor
Smith, T. I., Mountcastle, D. B. & Thompson, J. R., Sep 23 2015, In : Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research. 11, 2, 020123.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
students
student
mechanic
statistical mechanics
education