Front Matter Free

As a young science education researcher at Penn State in the mid-1990s with a background in pure physics (condensed matter—high temperature superconductivity), I was totally perplexed and worried about the future of my doctoral studies. I was new to the field and did not know where to turn for research ideas and, if I found one, how to validate the rationale. When I progressed further into my coursework, we were introduced to the handbooks that existed at the time: the Handbook of Research on Science Teaching and Learning (Gabel, 1994) and the International Handbook of Science Education (IHSE) (Fraser and Tobin, 1998). I was amazed by the breadth and depth of the chapters written by experts on each topic deemed to be of concern and be attractive to science education researchers. The sections and chapters outline the major research areas and a respective synthesis of research. Later, other handbooks followed, both those covering science education broadly [e.g., the Handbook of Research on Science Education (HRSE) by Abell and Lederman, 2007 and 2014] and the Second International Handbook of Science Education (Fraser, Tobin, McRobbie, 2012), and others that that covered specific topics in depth (e.g., the International Handbook of Research on Conceptual Change, Vosniadou, 2008; and the International Handbook of Research in History, Philosophy and Science Teaching, Matthews, 2014).

While IHSE did not have chapters on specific science content areas (i.e., physics, chemistry, and biology), HRSE included such chapters in its “Science Teaching” section. Reinders Duit has been compiling a bibliography of science education for some decades and reporting percentages of published studies for each content area. In HRSE's “Teaching Physics” section, the authors (Duit et al.) reported that “… according to the bibliography on constructivist-oriented research on teaching and learning science by Duit (2009), about 53% of the studies documented were carried out in the domain of physics, 18% in the domain of biology, and 28% in the domain of chemistry.” To cut the long story short, having known the obvious advantages of handbooks and the fact that the field of physics education research has a high number of published studies, I envisioned editing a handbook dedicated to physics education research (PER). But, the timing was also crucial, and I was thinking that it was ripening already in 2018.

Scholarly contributions to PER come from two types of researchers: those coming from a background of physics teaching and science education research studies in a college/faculty of education—and those coming from a background of college/university level physics teaching and PER in a department of physics. I mostly represent the former and I thought I needed a co-editor from the background of the latter. Although I had my doctoral degree from an American university, since 2001 I had resided in Turkiye and had become very active in European science education and physics education circles. Moreover, as an educator, I valued and practiced actions favoring inclusion and diversity throughout my professional life. I have cherished international collaborations and connections from around the world and always kept in mind that education and educational research is about enhancing human capacities.

With all these thoughts in my mind, and given the fact that American contributions to PER have been immense, I wanted to have a colleague from the USA co-edit the handbook with me. Thus, I decided to approach Paula Heron, who has a Ph.D. in physics and is in a physics department. We had already known each other for quite some time, and I very much respected and admired her contributions to PER, just like everyone else did in our field. I emailed Paula in early March of 2019. She was a keynote speaker at the GIREP conference that was going to be held in Budapest in early July of that year. Paula carefully considered my invitation to co-edit the The International Handbook of Physics Education Research and within a few days responded, as she promised, with a positive answer. Committing oneself to a long-term project like this is indeed courageous and for that reason I am forever grateful to Paula for teaming up with me in this extremely important endeavor, the value of which I am confident will be appreciated in the years to come.

Paula and I could be a successful team of co-editors once we set clear goals and plans, show strong leadership to achieve those goals, fulfill our own tasks, and also help each other communicate openly, resolve emerging conflicts constructively, and feel that each one of us is directly contributing to the handbook's success. All of these became true over the course of the creation of The International Handbook of Physics Education Research. I am forever grateful to Paula for being such a wonderful colleague and co-editor.

In Budapest, we met and talked about some of the details of the project. Also, since many PER people were already there, it was a precious opportunity for us to open the project to potential contributors, collect their ideas, and seek ways to involve them in The International Handbook of Physics Education Research. The next steps were to form a structure and organization for The International Handbook of Physics Education Research and find a publisher. Later, we formed an international advisory board to share the idea of The International Handbook of Physics Education Research and their views about the draft structure and organization. As a result, we received much praise and positive feedback. Among our efforts to find a publisher for The International Handbook of Physics Education Research, we finally contacted the AAPT Committee on Publications, who had an agreement with the American Institute of Physics to publish books. AIPP reviewed our proposal for The International Handbook of Physics Education Research and in July 2020, we signed a contract.

For The International Handbook of Physics Education Research to deserve the “international” character in its name, we wanted to include colleagues with extensive experience in PER from around the world. Another aspect was to have diverse teams of co-authors, such as relatively new and relatively experienced ones, and ones from different countries (or better, whenever possible, from different continents). In addition, we wanted to share not only the responsibility and workload but also the joy and pride of creating The International Handbook of Physics Education Research with respected PER colleagues. Therefore, we decided to have section editors collaborate with us in identifying chapter authors and tracking progress. To a large degree, our scheme worked.

It is important to note that the development of The International Handbook of Physics Education Research took place during a time of tremendous upheaval and uncertainty. The global Covid-19 pandemic presented editors, authors, and reviewers with unanticipated challenges in maintaining high standards while meeting publisher deadlines. While schools and businesses were closed and lockdowns were ordered, we all experienced difficult times. But, the work had to go on. Paula and I held weekly online video meetings and had meetings with section editors. It was a big challenge to organize it since we were spread out around the world. Nevertheless, things worked out well. Afterwards, we communicated frequently with the section editors to respond to their questions, to provide initial editorial reviews for submitted first drafts of chapters, to recruit reviewers, and anything else that came along.

Initially, I was in Turkiye and Paula was in the U.S. During the last year, we switched continents. She came to Europe for a sabbatical, while I moved to the U.S. We still had several hours of time difference, but it did not stop us from working together in accordance with our determination to successfully complete The International Handbook of Physics Education Research. That was our great responsibility to so many who vested trust in us and have been devoting their time and efforts as section editors, authors, and reviewers with diligence, motivation, and ambition.

Now we have the final manuscript, which consists of three volumes organized into 12 sections, with a total of 69 chapters. Nineteen section editors and 170 authors contributed and benefited from the expertise of many external reviewers. Section editors, contributors and reviewers represent countries from Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Australia. As general editors, we are greatly thankful to all.

M. Fatih Taşar

Georgia State University

Atlanta, GA, USA

Coming from a physics background with a Ph.D. in theoretical physics, and entering the field of PER as a postdoc, handbooks were not a significant part of my early professional development. In the mid-1990s, when I joined the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington (then under the leadership of Lillian C. McDermott), the field seemed small enough that everyone knew everyone else (at least in the USA) and you could pick up the phone or send an email to inquire about what they were up to. The literature was relatively sparse, especially concerning university-level teaching, and most researchers were intimately familiar with a small set of seminal papers. Since then, the field has grown enormously and I have come to appreciate the value of review articles, such as those found in handbooks. In my role as an Associate Editor of Physical Review—PER, it has frequently been the case that I have needed a quick overview of a particular area of research. This, more than anything else, convinced me that a handbook for PER would be an invaluable resource for our field. I am grateful that Fatih approached me about this project, which seemed ambitious at first, but has grown into something even bigger than I think either of us imagined. I am also deeply appreciative of all of the effort that has gone into it, especially by the Section Editors, without whom the project would not have been possible.

Paula R. L. Heron

University of Washington

Seattle, WA, USA

This handbook would not be possible without the support, suggestions, critiques, and contributions of a large number of people. First and foremost, we are grateful for the work of the section editors who recruited and supported authors, reviewed chapters, and wrote section overviews: Marisa Michelini, Italy; Shulamit Kapon, Israel; Olivia Levrini, Italy; Edit Yerushalmi, Israel; Bat Sheva Eyon, Israel; Sarantos Psycharis, Greece; Eugenia Etkina, USA; Eric Brewe, USA; Eilish McLoughlin, Ireland; Feral Ogan Bekiroglu, Turkiye; Geraldine Cochran, USA; Don Metz, Canada; Peter Heering, Germany; Cibelle Celestino Silva, Brazil; Marika Kapanadze, Georgia; Gabriela Jonas-Ahrend, Germany; Gesche Pospiech, Germany; and David Meltzer, USA. The results are a credit to their efforts. Early in the process we received invaluable suggestions from a small group of advisors: Richard Gunstone, Australia; David Hestenes, USA; the late Norman G. Lederman, USA; Marcia Linn, USA; Robin Millar, UK; E. F. (Joe) Redish, USA; the late Laurence Viennot, France; and the late Lillian C. McDermott, USA. Blane Baker (then AAPT Secretary) and Laura McCullough (then Chair of the AAPT Books Advisory Committee) were instrumental in securing the sponsorship of the AAPT. Martine Felton, Michael Lynch, and Dina Rabie at AIP Publishing worked with us to prepare the manuscript.

We are also grateful for the review efforts and invaluable feedback provided for improving the manuscripts in this volume by the following colleagues:

Section I

Yaron Lehavi, National Center for Physics Teachers in Israel and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, IsraelDimitris Psillos, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Laurence Viennot, Emeritus Professor at the Université Denis Diderot (Paris 7), France

Kizito Ndihokubwayo, University of Rwanda, Republic of Rwanda

Jenaro Guisasola, University of Basque Country, San Sebastián, Spain

Section II

Jose Mestre, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA

David Brown, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA

David Hammer, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA

Tor Ole Bigton Odden, University of Oslo, Norway

Andrew Elby, University of Maryland, MD, USA

Section III

Moshe Barak, Ben Gurion University, Israel

Danielle Harlow, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

Diane J. Grayson, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Sarah “Sam” McKagan, American Association of Physics Teachers, USA

Leon Hsu, Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA, USA

David Maloney, Purdue University, Fort Wayne, IN, USA

David Hammer, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA

Andy Buffler, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Ruth Chabay, High Point University, North Carolina, USA

Jonathan Osborn, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

Ricardo Karam, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

David Fortus, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

Stamatis Vokos, Cal Poly University, San Luis, CA, USA

Jianlan Wang, Texas Tech University, Texas, USA

Baruch Schwarz, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

David Perl-Nussbaum, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

Burkhard Priemer, Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Edward F. Redish, University of Maryland, MD, USA

Tamer G. Amin

Department of Education, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon

Leslie Atkins

Curriculum, Instruction & Foundational Studies, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho 83725, USA

Onofrio Rosario Battaglia

Dipartimento di Fisica e Chimica—Emilio Segrè, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy

Leema Berland

University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA

Andrew Boudreaux

Department of Physics, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington 98225-9164, USA

Marcos D. Caballero

Department of Physics, University of Oslo, 0316 Oslo, Norway

Department of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering, CREATE for STEM Institute, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA

Catherine H. Crouch

Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081, USA

Mieke De Cock

Department of Physics and Astronomy & LESEC, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium

Andrew Elby

Department of TLPL, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA

Sibel Erduran

Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6PY, United Kingdom

Bat Sheva Eylon

Department of Science Teaching, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel

Sergej Faletič

Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Claudio Fazio

Dipartimento di Fisica e Chimica—Emilio Segrè, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy

Benjamin Geller

Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081, USA

Claudia Haagen-Schützenhöfer

Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät, Karl Franzens Universität, Graz, Steiermark, Austria

David Hammer

Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, USA

Kenneth Heller

School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA

Patricia Heller

Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA

Natasha G. Holmes

Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA

Martin Hopf

Austrian Educational Competence Centre Physics and Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

Michael M. Hull

Department of Physics, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA

Lama Z. Jaber

Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, USA

Alexandra Jansky

Berner Fachhochschule Architektur, Holz und Bau, Biel, Switzerland

Shulamit Kapon

Education in Science and Technology, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, Israel

Eric Kuo

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA

Elon Langbeheim

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Jerusalem 9210901, Israel

Yaron Lehavi

The David Yellin Academic College of Education, Jerusalem 9330380, Israel

Mariana Levin

Department of Mathematics, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008, USA

Olivia Levrini

Department of Physics and Astronomy “A. Righi,” Alma Mater Studiorum—University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy

Michael E. Loverude

Department of Physics, California State University Fullerton, Fullerton, California 92831, USA

Alexandru Maries

Department of Physics, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45220, USA

Avraham Merzel

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9983300, Israel

Marisa Michelini

Research Institute in Physics Education, University of Udine, Via delle Scienze 206, 33100 Udine, Italy

Knut Neumann

Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN), 24118 Kiel, Germany

Jeffrey C. Nordine

University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52240, USA

Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN), 24118 Kiel, Germany

Markus Obczovsky

University of Graz, Graz, Austria

Tor Ole B. Odden

Center for Computing in Science Education, Department of Physics, University of Oslo, 0316 Oslo, Norway

Wonyong Park

University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom

Gina Quan

San José State University, San Jose, California 95192-0106, USA

Rachel E. Scherr

School of STEM, University of Washington, Bothell, Washington, USA

Thomas Schubatzky

Department of Subject-Specific Education, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, AustriaInstitute for Experimental Physics, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

Chandralekha Singh

Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA

Emily M. Smith

Department of Physics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado 80401, USA

David R. Sokoloff

University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97405, USA

Alberto Stefanel

Research Unit in Physics Education, University of Udine, Via delle Scienze 206, 33100 Udine, Italy

Enrique Suárez

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA

Giulia Termini

Dipartimento di Fisica e Chimica—Emilio Segrè, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy

Andrée Tiberghien

UMR ICAR, University of Lyon, 69110 Sainte Foy les Lyon, France

Paul van Kampen

Centre for the Advancement of STEM Teaching and Learning & School of Physical Sciences, Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland

Patrice Venturini

UMR EFTS, University of Toulouse, 31180 Lapeyrouse-Fossat, France

Stamatis Vokos

Physics Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California, USA

Edit Yerushalmi

Department of Science Teaching, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel

Tuğba Yüksel

Department of Mathematics and Science Education, College of Education, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University, Cayeli/Rize, Turkiye