Narrated animated solution videos were implemented in a clinical study that compared a mastery setting that employed repeated cycles of testing with instructional support to a group that had a single opportunity to experience the materials. The mastery setting students attempted sequential questions sets on a topic, with animated solutions between each set, until mastery was achieved, combining formative assessment with worked examples. Students showed significant improvement from their first to second tries on similar sets of problems, attributable to the feedback and solutions they were given after the first try. These improvements were shown in two topics, superposition and electric potential. The single try group was given one version of the questions and solutions, and while they were not required to watch the solutions to move forward, they chose to. On a post-test including near and far transfer questions, no significant difference was seen between the mastery group and the single try group, but both significantly outperformed a control group that received no instructional support, indicating that students successfully transferred the skills from the solutions to the post-test.

This paper is part of a series of studies to improve the efficacy of online physics homework activities by integrating narrated animated solutions with mastery inspired exercises. In a clinical study using first-and second-year university students, the mastery group attempted question sets in four levels, with animated solutions between each attempt, until mastery was achieved on each level. This combined elements of formative assessment, the worked example effect, and mastery learning. The homework group attempted questions with immediate feedback and unlimited tries. The two groups took a similar amount of time to complete the activity. The mastery group significantly outperformed the homework group on a free response post-test that required students to show their work in solving near and far transfer problems.

Encouraged by positive clinical results at the University of Illinois, mastery-style homework was integrated into a large semester-long preparatory physics course via an online homework system that used narrated animated video solutions as correctives. This paper discusses the impact and evolution of the homework in its first two years. The first iteration revealed that students were frustrated and did not engage with the system in an effective way. Intending to reduce that frustration and quell negative behavior, the mastery requirement was relaxed, transfer between versions was reduced, and the addition of a direct discussion with students about the homework were implemented in its second year. The results showed that details of implementation can substantially affect students' behavior; large and statistically significant effects were observed as a reduction in frustration (with self-identified "frustrated" students dropping from 60% in 2014 to 30% in 2015) and improvement in performance (average student mastery rate of 59% to 69%).

The Access Network The Access Network consists of nine university-based sites from across the United States working to increase access, equity, and inclusion in the physical science community. While each site differs in their implementations, they share a commitment to five core principles: 1) fostering supportive learning communities, 2) engaging students in authentic science, 3) developing students' professional skills, 4) empowering students to take ownership of their education, and 5) increasing diversity and equity in the physical sciences. The Access Network enhances the efforts of the sites in the network by cultivating intersite communication, especially facilitating the documenting and sharing of ideas across sites through a variety of network-level activities. In this paper, we articulate our network's goals and activities, share evidence of some positive outcomes, and reflect on areas for future improvement.

Physics has greatly impacted society, both in solving problems and perpetuating harm. Yet we rarely train physics students to grapple with their responsibilities to society by facilitating conversations about ethical issues. We developed and collected classroom video of a unit on the development of the atomic bomb. Here, we analyze a set of students' small group interactions to reveal factors that enable and limit their engagement. Enabling factors include: (a) curricular materials that elicit students' opinions, (b) opportunities for students to push each other to engage with the content, and (c) instructor facilitation that further pushes and validates student reasoning. Limiting factors include: (a) students' discomfort around inexperience with ethical reasoning in physics, (b) students' anticipation of their lack of agency in the physics community, and (c) students' projections of their lack of agency in a historical context due to their race and gender. We consider the implications of these factors for instruction.