Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2014
Volume 59, Number 5
Saturday–Tuesday, April 5–8, 2014; Savannah, Georgia
Session S10: Education - Practice and Research II |
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Room: 204 |
Monday, April 7, 2014 1:30PM - 1:42PM |
S10.00001: A Summer at the University: A twenty five years experience with High School Students Nelson Zamorano After running a summer school for enthusiastic high school students for 25 years, we reached the point where three of my colleagues at the physics department, are exstudents from two physics courses offered (more than ten years ago) within our program. There are also graduates in some others Faculties in different universities. Here we would like to describe the evolution of this project since its beginning, with 60 students in an introductory physics class to the 3000 now attending (January 2014) the around 60 courses offered in almost all areas of knowledge, from theater to Biotechnology. Lately, as we became aware of the relevance of teaching sciences to young kids in elementary school, we started a winter section addressing this group of students. The courses are mainly a hands on experience. In this talk we will comment about our learning experience working on this kind of projects and our projections for the future. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 7, 2014 1:42PM - 1:54PM |
S10.00002: The Compleat Undergraduate Physics Student Recruiter Robert Mitchell Successful undergraduate physics majors will usually rank in the top 2\% of their college class. Such students finishing high school probably have never had a teacher that has a physics degree or a teacher that is as bright as them. Thus they have not considered physics as a field of further study. In a high school that is graduating 200 students I have usually found 2 or 3 such students with no firm college plans. We will discuss when, where and how to recruit these excellent students to your program. Efforts that were tried and do not work will be mentioned. The successful approach has worked at both Jackson State University and Florida Southern College. In a typical year 16 hours devoted to recruiting has yielded about 10 entering freshmen physics majors of which 8 graduate four years later. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 7, 2014 1:54PM - 2:06PM |
S10.00003: Ideas for Use of an IPad in Introductory Physics Education Tarlok S. Aurora Mobile devices such as an IPad, tablet computers and smartphones offer an opportunity to collect information to facilitate physics teaching and learning. The data collected with built-in sensors, such as a video camera, may be analyzed on the mobile device itself or on a desktop computer. In this work, first, the circular motion of a steel ball rolling in a cereal bowl was analyzed to show that it consisted of two simple harmonic motions, in perpendicular directions. Secondly, motion of two balls - one dropped vertically down, and the other one launched as a projectile -- was analyzed. Data was analyzed with Logger Pro software, and value of g was determined graphically. Details of the work, its limitations and additional examples will be described. The material so obtained may be used as a demonstration, in a classroom, to clarify physics concepts. In a school, where students are required to have such portable devices, one may assign such activities as homework, to enhance student engagement in learning physics. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 7, 2014 2:06PM - 2:18PM |
S10.00004: A project-based approach to Conceptual Physics Franz Rueckert Conceptual Physics at Wentworth Institute of Technology presents a survey of physics topics to an audience of interior and industrial design majors. The goal of the course is to improve the ability of students to evaluate form and function by enhancing their understanding of general scientific principles. In the past, student engagement has suffered as students struggled to relate class topics to the design fields. To better complement the practical and applied nature of these disciplines, I have recently redesigned this course to focus on class projects and case studies rather than traditional problem solving and calculations. In this talk, I will outline the new structure of the course and detail the effect of the changes on student comprehension, retention, and engagement. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 7, 2014 2:18PM - 2:30PM |
S10.00005: Teaching Quantum Mechanics through Project-based Learning Gintaras Duda, Kristina Ward Project/Problem-based learning (PBL) is an active area of research within the physics education research (PER) community, however, work done to date has focused on introductory courses. This talk will explore research on upper division quantum mechanics, a junior/senior level course at Creighton University, which was taught using PBL pedagogy with no in-class lectures. Course time was primarily spent on lecture tutorials and projects, which included alpha decay of Uranium, neutrino oscillations, and FTIR spectroscopy of HCl. This talk will explore: 1. student learning in light of the new pedagogy and embedded meta-cognitive self-monitoring exercises, 2. the effect of the PBL curriculum on student attitudes, motivation, and students' epistemologies, and 3. the use of explicit written reflections within a physics course to probe student understanding. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 7, 2014 2:30PM - 2:42PM |
S10.00006: Novel approaches for inspiring students and electrifying the public Suzy Lidstr\"{o}m, Alex Read, Stephen Parke, Roland Allen, Steven Goldfarb, Sascha Mehlhase, Tord Ekel\"{o}f, Alan Walker We will briefly summarize a wide variety of innovative approaches for inspiring students and stimulating broad public interest in fundamental physics research, as exemplified by recent activities related to the Higgs boson discovery and Higgs-Englert Nobel Prize on behalf of the Swedish Academy, CERN, Fermilab, and the Niels Bohr Institute. Personal interactions with the scientists themselves can be particularly electrifying, and these were encouraged by the wearing of ``Higgs Boson? Ask Me!'' badges, which will be made available to those attending this talk. At CERN, activities include Virtual Visits, (Google) Hangout with CERN, initiatives to grab attention (LEGO models, music videos, art programs, pins, etc.), substantive communication (lab visits and events, museum exhibits, traveling exhibits, local visits, Masterclasses, etc.), and educational activities (summer student programs, semester abroad programs, internships, graduate programs, etc.). For serious students and their teachers, or scientists in other areas, tutorial articles are appropriate. These are most effective if they also incorporate innovative approaches -- for example, attractive figures that immediately illustrate the concepts, analogies that will resonate with the reader, and a broadening of perspective. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 7, 2014 2:42PM - 2:54PM |
S10.00007: RiSA: A Science Festival for the Bilingual and Bicultural Rio Grande Valley Joey Shapiro Key, Cristina Torres, Robert Stone The Rio Grande Science and Arts (RiSA) Festival organized by the Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy (CGWA) at the University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB) will use a wide variety of artforms to bring physics and science topics to the bilingual and bicultural population of the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. The science and art faculty at UTB will partner with art and education professionals to create an annual community event celebrating science though art. Music, dance, poetry, and visual arts will headline the festival activities. Festival events and products will be produced in both English and Spanish to attract and inform the bilingual local community. The RiSA Festival is supported by the Science Festival Alliance and the Sloan Foundation. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 7, 2014 2:54PM - 3:06PM |
S10.00008: Federal STEM Educator Professional Development Programs: a discussion of funding, approaches, and implementation Aline McNaull Effective professional development is vital to training the next generation of quality science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teachers. I will discuss approaches used to improve educator professional development under the Higher Education Act and Elementary and Secondary Education Acts. I will examine how federal funding is currently being allocated and summarize some of the programs that are being implemented whose aim is to improve content knowledge and provide disciplinary specific pedagogy in professional development. The recent proposed reorganization of STEM education programs in the FY 2014 budget sparked significant debate among policy-makers; however the issue of quality K-12 instruction has remained important to the physics societies. I will provide an update on these discussions and on the status of federal STEM teacher training programs in the FY 2015 budget proposal. [Preview Abstract] |
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