Physics Education Research Section

This section of AJP includes physics education research ~PER! articles. It continues the editorial process that begun with the green PER Supplementary Issues to AJP published in July of 1999–2001. The PER section ~PERS! is a response to the tension between the long-standing policy of AJP not to publish research articles and the growing interest within the AAPT community in PER. Articles in the regular section focus on the physics that students have difficulty understanding and on pedagogical strategies for helping them learn. Articles in PERS are expected to focus on these issues as well, but to pay more attention to questions of how we know and why we believe what we think we know about student learning. Articles in PERS can be expected to address a wide range of topics from theoretical frameworks for analyzing student thinking, to developments of research instruments for the assessment of the effectiveness of instruction, to the development and comparison of different teaching methods. Manuscripts submitted for publication in the PER section should be sent directly to Edward F. Redish, PER Section Editor. For more information, see http://www.physics.umd.edu/perg/pers/.