Beth Thacker , Ph.D. Professor - Physics Education

Education

• Ph.D. Theoretical Physics, Cornell University (1990)
• M.S. Physics, Cornell University (1986)
• B.S. Physics, Davidson College (1980)

Research

Dr. Beth Thacker is a Professor of Physics at Texas Tech University. She has developed a laboratory-based, inquiry-based curriculum (INQ) taught using Socratic questioning pedagogy and has done significant work investigating students' qualitative and quantitative understanding of physics concepts in courses taught by traditional and non-traditional methods. She is presently working on assessing pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of Learning Assistants (LAs) in an inquiry-based physics class, assessing students' thinking skills across pedagogies,  graduate students' understanding of symmetry and conservation laws in classical mechanics, students' understanding of Quantum Computing (QC) at the undergraduate level and Educational Augmented Reality. She was a Principal Investigator on a large-scale assessment project at TTU that demonstrated the effectiveness of the use of evidence-based materials in the introductory undergraduate physics courses. She is excited about research in QC and the development and assessment of an upper level undergraduate QC course. 

Selected Publications

• Beth Thacker, “Inquiry-based experimental physics: Twenty years of an evidence-based, laboratory-based physics course for algebra-based physics students,” Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 19, 020116 (2023). https://journals.aps.org/prper/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.19.020116
• Fatema Al-Salmani, Jordan Johnson and Beth Thacker, "Assessing thinking skills in free-response exam problems: Pandemic onine and in-person," Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Rex. 19, 010131 (2023). https://journals.aps.org/prper/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.19.010131
• Jianlan Wang, Yuanhua, Kyle Wpfli, Beth Thacker and Stephanie Hart, "Measuring Learning Assistants use of questioning in online courses about introductory physics," Phys. Rev. Phys. Res. 19, 010113 (2023) https://journals.aps.org/prper/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.19.010113
• Fatema Al-Samani and Beth Thacker, “Rubric for assessing thinking skills in Free-response exam problems,” Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 17, 010135 (2021). https://journals.aps.org/prper/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010135
• Beth Thacker, Hani Dulli, Dave Pattillo, and Keith West, “Lessons from a Large-Scale Assessment: Results from Conceptual Inventories,” Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 10, 020104 (2014). (https://journals.aps.org/prstper/pdf/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.10.020104)