Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2017 Annual Spring Meeting of the APS Ohio-Region Section
Volume 62, Number 6
Friday–Saturday, May 5–6, 2017; Ypsilanti, Michigan
Session B5: Contributed Posters: Physics Education |
Hide Abstracts |
Chair: Ernest Behringer, Eastern Michigan University Room: Pray-Harrold 220 |
|
B5.00001: Evaluating the impact of sophisticated lab practices in introductory physics labs. Kelsey Funkhouser, Marcos D. Caballero, Vashti Sawtelle Recently there have been calls to incorporate authentic physics practices into undergraduate curriculum, for example the AAPT Recommendations for Undergraduate Physics Laboratory Courses. At Michigan State University we have been designing new physics labs to address this call. In this study we are looking at how undergraduate students in the course talk about the lab practices and how their perspectives of lab practices change over the span of this introductory lab. We have studied the way intro lab students understand lab practices in two ways: (1) we have analyzed shifts in the responses on the Colorado Learning Attitudes About Science Survey for Experimental Physics (E-CLASS) and (2) we have examined the ways students talk about these practices in interviews. We will present results that demonstrate that these introductory students are developing an understanding of sophisticated lab practices [Preview Abstract] |
|
B5.00002: AAPT Recommendations for Computational Physics in Undergraduate Physics Curricula Ernest Behringer The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) established the Undergraduate Curriculum Task Force (UCTF) in 2013 to develop recommendations for coherent and relevant curricula for different types of physics majors. Relevant curricula facilitate the development of skills that are useful for physics majors in their post-baccalaureate careers. Computational physics skills are a prime example of skills that are ubiquitous in the practice of physics and valuable in a variety of careers. Curricula that are authentic to the discipline include opportunities to develop and practice computational physics skills in the context of constructing and testing models of physical phenomena. The AAPT UCTF developed a set of recommendations for including computational physics skills and practices in the undergraduate physics curriculum, approved in October 2016, and these recommendations will be described here. [Preview Abstract] |
|
B5.00003: A novel approach for using programming exercises in electromagnetism coursework Chris Orban, Nash Brecht While there exists a significant number of web interactives for introductory physics, students are almost never shown the computer code that generates these interactives even when the physics parts of these programs are relatively simple. Building off of a set of carefully-designed classical mechanics programming exercises that were constructed with this goal in mind, we present a series of electromagnetism programming exercises in a browser-based framework called p5.js. Importantly, this framework can be used to highlight the physics aspects of an interactive simulation code while obscuring other details. This approach allows absolute beginner programmers to gain experience in modifying and running the program without becoming overwhelmed. We plan to probe the impact on student conceptual learning using the Brief Electricity and Magnetism Assessment and other questions. We invite collaborators and teachers to adopt this framework in their high school or early undergraduate classes. [Preview Abstract] |
Follow Us |
Engage
Become an APS Member |
My APS
Renew Membership |
Information for |
About APSThe American Physical Society (APS) is a non-profit membership organization working to advance the knowledge of physics. |
© 2024 American Physical Society
| All rights reserved | Terms of Use
| Contact Us
Headquarters
1 Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844
(301) 209-3200
Editorial Office
100 Motor Pkwy, Suite 110, Hauppauge, NY 11788
(631) 591-4000
Office of Public Affairs
529 14th St NW, Suite 1050, Washington, D.C. 20045-2001
(202) 662-8700