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, University of Maine
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Projects
- 3 Finished
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Quantifying Understanding Hidden in Wrong Answers
National Science Foundation (NSF)
10/1/18 → 8/31/21
Project: Other project
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Collaborative Research: PIMS: Physics Inventory of Mathematical Sensemaking
10/1/18 → 5/31/20
Project: Other project
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Motivations for using the item response theory nominal response model to rank responses to multiple-choice items
Smith, T. & Bendjilali, N., Jun 2022, In: Physical Review Physics Education Research. 18, 1, 010133.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Comparing pre/post item response curves to identify changes in misconceptions
Walter, P. J. & Smith, T. I., 2021, Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings. Bennett, M. B., Frank, B. W. & Vieyra, R. E. (eds.). American Association of Physics Teachers, p. 426-431 6 p. (Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution
Open Access -
Physics Inventory of Quantitative Literacy: A tool for assessing mathematical reasoning in introductory physics
White Brahmia, S., Olsho, A., Smith, T. I., Boudreaux, A., Eaton, P. & Zimmerman, C., Dec 2021, In: Physical Review Physics Education Research. 17, 2, 020129.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access1 Scopus citations -
Replicating analyses of item response curves using data from the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation
Richardson, C. J., Smith, T. I. & Walter, P. J., Dec 2021, In: Physical Review Physics Education Research. 17, 2, 020127.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
When Negative Is Not "less than Zero": Electric Charge as a Signed Quantity
Olsho, A., Brahmia, S. W., Smith, T. & Boudreaux, A., Apr 1 2021, In: Physics Teacher. 59, 4, p. 253-256 4 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
3 Scopus citations