Tootfinder

Becoming a physicist: Major educational transition points impact women's physics self-efficacy and sense of belonging
Sarah Lindley (University of Pittsburgh), Chandralekha Singh (University of Pittsburgh)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.12024

Becoming a physicist: Major educational transition points impact women's physics self-efficacy and sense of belonging
In this investigation, we analyzed individual interviews with six female undergraduate physics majors at a large, public, research university in the US to understand their progression at different transition points to becoming physicists. Following the frameworks of standpoint theory, Schlossberg's transition theory, and domains of power, we focused our analysis on how these women initially developed an interest in physics before coming to college and how important transition points in college …

Investigating Students' Preferences for AI Roles in Mathematical Modelling: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial
Wangda Zhu, Guang Chen, Yumeng Zhu, Lei Cai, Xiangen Hu
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.06617

Investigating Students' Preferences for AI Roles in Mathematical Modelling: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial
Mathematical modelling (MM) is a key competency for solving complex real-world problems, yet many students struggle with abstraction, representation, and iterative reasoning. Artificial intelligence (AI) has been proposed as a support for higher-order thinking, but its role in MM education is still underexplored. This study examines the relationships among students' design thinking (DT), computational thinking (CT), and mathematical modelling self-efficacy (MMSE), and investigates their prefere…