One of the purported benefits of teaching a spins-first approach to quantum mechanics is that it allows students to build up quantum mechanical ideas and learn postulates before moving to the more complicated mathematics used in the context of wave functions. In order to begin to explore this claim in a spins-first course, a survey was developed and administered as an extra credit activity at three different universities. All three universities teach spins-first quantum mechanics with interactive methods. This work compares students' responses to identical questions about the relationship between and difficulty of math and physics from two administrations of the survey given at the ends of the spins and wave functions portions of the course. Results offer insight into students' perspectives about the nature and difficulty of mathematics in these two paradigms of quantum mechanics.

As part of an effort to provide evidence for the reproducibility of educational studies for a variety of student bodies, we collected a year-long data set in introductory physics courses at Cal Poly Pomona (a primarily undergraduate and Hispanic-serving institution) to understand factors that affect students' performance on the FCI (force concept inventory). This study also allows us to gain insights into possible gender or racial gaps in students' performance. In this paper, we discuss background variables that predict students' FCI scores at the end of the term. Weak correlation is found between students' SAT score and FCI normalized gain, suggesting education research findings can be population dependent. Gender and racial gaps are found in students' FCI performance, both at initial preparation and overall gain. There is a gender gap of 16% FCI pre-test and 17% of FCI post-test with a strong effect size (d=0.81). Caucasian students outperform Asian and Hispanic students on FCI pre, post and gain. No significant interaction is found between gender and race/ethnicity after controlling for course grade.