Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2016 PhysTEC Conference
Volume 61, Number 1
Friday–Sunday, March 11–13, 2016; Baltimore, Maryland
Session POSTER: CONTRIBUTED POSTER SESSION |
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Room: WHITEHALL BALLROOM |
Friday, March 11, 2016 7:00PM - 7:12PM |
POSTER.00001: Incorporating Various Levels of Action Research into Learning Assistant Seminars Bruce Palmquist Learning Assistants (LAs) in the LA seminar at Central Washington University write a case study about an interaction they have had with students in an introductory physics course. The LA summarizes the interaction, including the dialogue, and describes how they helped resolve the issue. This assignment introduces LAs to action research, which is a way for instructors to gather and interpret data about student learning. Experienced LAs are expected to do a more involved action research project. They still observe and diagnose a learning issue. But instead of just summarizing the issue with a short dialogue and reporting on their response; experienced LAs need to develop a formal means of remediating the learning issue, create an assessment tool to determine if the remediation was successful, and fully evaluate the effects of the intervention. LAs present their action research projects during the final exam period. This presentation will share assignment templates, rubrics, and sample projects. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 11, 2016 7:12PM - 7:24PM |
POSTER.00002: Implementation and results of the Learning Assistant (LA) program at West Virginia University Paul Miller, Rachel Henderson, John Stewart Beginning after a baseline semester in the spring of 2011 and continuing to the end of spring 2015 semester, we implemented a Learning Assistants (LA) program in the calculus-based physics sequence at West Virginia University (WVU). We trained LAs to present the \textit{Tutorials in Introductory Physics} in the laboratory setting. We found an overall increase in conceptual learning gains over baseline in both courses with larger gains in the mechanics course. Linear regression is used to explore multiple factors influencing conceptual learning including student ability (measured by ACT/SAT scores), gender, and ethnicity. Our learning gains were significantly different in the spring and fall semesters. Some of this difference can be explained by variation in student ability. Gender was a statistically significant predictor of learning gains, with male students having higher gains. Overall, we report our successes, the challenges that we faced, and the path forward at WVU. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 11, 2016 7:24PM - 7:36PM |
POSTER.00003: PhysTEC Program at Rowan University Trevor Smith, Patrick Chestnut, Philip La Porta, Issam Abi-El-Mona, Karen Magee-Sauer The Department of Physics \& Astronomy at Rowan University is currently in its first year of a PhysTEC Comprehensive Site award. During this year we have grown our learning assistant program (including placing one LA in a local high school classroom), strengthened ties to our regional community by forming a Rowan Area Physics Teachers (RAPT) alliance, and worked both within our department and with Rowan's College of Education to promote careers in physics teaching and ensure that students have the information they need to know regarding pathways to certification to teach high school physics. We present the progress of our efforts in creating a ``teacher-rich'' environment and detail Rowan's current programs for certifying physics teachers. We also present our plans to further the project by conducting formal research and evaluation of the effects of our LA program (both on the LAs themselves and on the students in their classes) and by promoting stronger ties within the RAPT group. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 11, 2016 7:36PM - 7:48PM |
POSTER.00004: Assessing a Laboratory Redesign with Tutorials and Inquiry-Based Experiments Brian Thoms, Zeynep Topdemir, David Trusty, Ebru Oncul, Sumith Doluweera, Joshua Von Korff A redesign of the format and content of the laboratory portion of calculus-based physics courses at Georgia State University shows significant improvement in students' conceptual learning as well as student success and progression. However, little change is observed student attitudes about science. In this redesign, labs with traditional verification-based three-hour experiments were converted into one-hour tutorials led by undergraduate learning assistants and two-hour inquiry-based experiments led by graduate teaching assistants. In the first hour, University of Washington tutorials are led by undergraduate Learning Assistants who were trained in the tutorials and are taking a physics pedagogy course. For the remaining two hours, inquiry-based experiments are guided by graduate teaching assistants with a main goal of improved conceptual understanding. This study compares the results before and after the redesign for student success and withdrawal rates, student conceptual learning as measured by the Force Concept Inventory (FCI), and student attitudes as measured by Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS). [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 11, 2016 7:48PM - 8:00PM |
POSTER.00005: A Targeted PhysTEC Project: Physics Learning Assistants at NC State University Colleen Countryman, David Haase, Patricia Simmons, Robert Beichner, John Blondin, Karen Daniels, Robert Riehn The NCSU "Targeted" PhysTEC Project focuses on a Learning Assistant Program but does not include features such as a Teacher-in-Residence. The LA's take a Seminar on Teaching Physics and are employed in the introductory Physics for Engineers course and in the Physics Tutorial Center. Although it is a small project, NCSU PhysTEC has increased the visibility and interest in teaching among the undergraduates and has enhanced our large introductory physics teaching program. The training of Physics graduate TA's has also been upgraded and extended by partnering with PhysTEC. Unfortunately, the physics teacher production from NCSU has not increased during the five semesters of the project. We will discuss the internal challenges (e.g. degree requirements) and external obstacles (low salaries and turmoil in public education) and how we might seek to overcome them. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 11, 2016 8:00PM - 8:12PM |
POSTER.00006: A new NOYCE teacher preparation program at Randolph-Macon College: Training physics teachers at a liberal arts institution Rachele Dominguez, Diana Yesbeck, April Marchetti, Traci Stevens The new Randolph-Macon Noyce Teacher-Scholar Program (funded by NSF) prepares students~for a career teaching chemistry, biology, or physics at the secondary level. Focusing on the challenges and advantages for physics teacher preparation at a four-year liberal arts institution, we introduce the program's collaborative training across these fields in conjunction with the Education department. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 11, 2016 8:12PM - 8:24PM |
POSTER.00007: Lettece\textasciiacute s Physics SUBENIA MEDEIROS, SAMMYA FREITAS, LAZARO SOUSA This work has as purpose to contribute effectively with the learning of the discipline of Physics through an interdisciplinary approach, which aims to add theoretical knowledge to practical experiences in a regular and vocational high school. The public involved in the project was composed by students of the Technical Course in Fruit Culture and of the Technical Course in Computing from the State School of Professional Education Osmira Eduardo de Castro, located in Morada Nova - Cear\'{a}, Brazil. In the first phase, the students received theoretical and practical substantiation on thermometry and calorimetry, through workshops with low cost materials. In the second phase of the work, students developed their autonomy by associating the theory studied in the first stage of workshops, with its applications within their respective technical courses. The students used luminosity sensors, temperature and soil moisture, connected to an Arduino board to monitor lettuce seedlings of curly type for summer, in five distinct areas of the school. The importance of interdisciplinary projects was evidenced within the school environment and was observed one improvement quantitatively and qualitatively the incomes of the students in the \newline discipline of Physics. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 11, 2016 8:24PM - 8:36PM |
POSTER.00008: Physics Teacher Preparation at the University of Arkansas John Stewart, Gay Stewart The University of Arkansas implemented changes in its undergraduate physics program beginning in 1994 that dramatically increased the number of students graduating with a physics major from one to two students per year for most of the years from 1990-1998 to 27 graduates in 2012. With the selection of the department as a PhysTEC program in 2001, the number of physics students entering high school teaching also began to dramatically increase. The features that led to the increase in physics graduates were important to increasing the number of teachers graduated, but each feature required refinement to support future teachers. Modifications to a thriving physics program necessary to allow students to enter the teaching profession will be discussed. With the refinements in place, the University of Arkansas has consistently averaged five or more physics teacher graduates per year since 2005 and was proudly awarded membership in the PhysTEC 5$+$ club in 2014. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 11, 2016 8:36PM - 8:48PM |
POSTER.00009: Robotics, Technology and the Evolving Self William Karstens, Mary Beth Doyle We report on an innovative approach to teaching Physics to non-science majors. As noted by Shelia Tobias, author of ``\textit{They're Not Dumb They're Different}'' (1990), activity based approaches to the teaching of science can decrease anxiety while increasing engagement with concepts and content. In addition, the current emphasis of the Common Core State Standards is to improve science literacy for all citizens. At St. Michael's College, all students are required to take a lab science and a First Year Seminar course prior to graduation. Rather than having students fulfill these requirements with two individual, fully discrete courses, we combined them into one 8 credit course entitled: \textit{Robotics, Technology and the Evolving Self}. Activities during class meetings included: discussions, experiments to illustrate fundamental physics concepts, model making, and robotics programming. In addition, students engaged in close readings and analyses of literature on the impacts of technology on society. The semester culminated in projects in which students had to integrate concepts from physics and robotics during a public demonstration of their work. Qualitative data in the form of written responses from students before and after their experience in the course will also be presented. The next steps of this pedagogical approach include (a) refining of the pilot course, and (b) expansion of the teaching model to additional natural sciences. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 11, 2016 8:48PM - 9:00PM |
POSTER.00010: Project-oriented form of teacher professional development for pre-service and in-service physics teachers Valentin Voroshilov Questions such as ``How to determine the professionalism of a teacher?'', and ``What forms of a teacher professional development are the most efficient?'' have been a subject of vast research. The question of a particular interest is how to ensure that after attending a professional development workshop a teacher will bring into his or her practice new knowledge presented at the workshop. This poster presents a description of a professional designing: what it is and why it is an important competency every educator should have. Professional designing helps to ignite and maintain a process of transformative development of an individual or an institutional educational practice. The presentation is based on the practical and research work conducted in Russia (Perm Region) by the author (as a member of a research and consulting team). The theoretical foundation of the research can be found in publications of a prominent member of a so-called Moscow Methodological Circle/Group G.P. Shchedrovitsky (1964, 1966, 1971, 1977, 1981), and his colleagues, such as N.G. Alekseev (1992) and followers such as A.P. Zinchenko (2014). There is evidence that project-oriented form of teacher professional development significantly increases the probability of the new knowledge being applied by a participant in the future teaching practice. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 11, 2016 9:00PM - 9:12PM |
POSTER.00011: Physics Program at University of Hawai`i at Hilo - Survival in Extreme Environment John Hamilton, Marianne Takamiya, Marc Roberts, Daniel O'Connor The University of Hawai`i at Hilo is a undergraduate campus on the rural island of Hawai`i of 4,000 students. Being co-located with the premier astronomical observatories on Maunakea, the Dept. of Physics and Astronomy offers a BA in Physics and a BS in Astronomy. Over the past two decades, Astronomy has become the "tail wagging the dog" in the department. Astronomy majors outnumber Physics majors by almost 10:1. Also there are more faculty appointments in Astronomy than Physics. This asymmetry has produced a timely reassessment of the dual degree paths. The academic-financial environment has become extreme to traditional theoretical Physics program. Pressure to raise graduate rates (or eliminate programs with low rates) has mounted. At the same time, calls to provide more ``service courses'' are also increasing. Our Physics program is being re-invented to augment Astronomy with the Physics courses being more relevant for these majors. We encourage Astronomy majors to become double majors with Physics. Physics content is more applied (vs. theoretical) and includes hands-on labs in areas such as optics, electronics, and robotics. Since most secondary schools strive to host a robotics program, the lead staff should be the school's Physics teacher. This new applied Physics emphasis is better suited to support future Physics teachers. This emphasis on Applied Physics will result in attracting more students into teaching as a profession. We also hope that it will result in a rise of graduation rates in Physics. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 11, 2016 9:12PM - 9:24PM |
POSTER.00012: Building a model of smart technology integration starting in the secondary STEM classroom Ahmad Zaatari |
Friday, March 11, 2016 9:24PM - 9:36PM |
POSTER.00013: Cal Poly Pomona PhysTEC Program: Impacts and Outcomes Homeyra Sadaghiani, Qing Ryan, Steven McCauley \documentstyle[11pt]{article} \pagestyle{empty} \parindent=0pt \parskip=5pt \begin{document} During the past four years, Cal Poly Pomona PhysTEC program has positively affected the department, faculty, and students in many aspects. For example, utilizing the Learning Assistant (LA) program has served as a mechanism for recruiting and preparing physics majors for careers in teaching. Not only has the LA program benefit the Learning Assistants by providing them with early teaching experiences, it also has benefited the department by accelerating the course transformation and enhancing students' engagement in physics classrooms. Finally, the LA seminar course and related outreach activities have increased the visibility of Physics Education Research (PER) in the department. We will report on the various outcomes of the PhysTEC program from the following aspects: high school physics teacher recruitment; course transformation efforts; student learning outcomes; and shifting department culture on teaching and learning physics. \end{document} [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 11, 2016 9:36PM - 9:48PM |
POSTER.00014: Methodological structuring of general physics course in technical university Andrei Tiutiaev In this paper we analyzed the reasons for the low level of the student knowledge of technical universities in physics. Students believe that physics knowledge to consist primarily of disconnected facts and formulas. However students have to view physics as an interconnected web of concepts. In these conditions modern educational technologies are important. One way to improve the efficiency of learning is the use of a deep logical structuring of educational information. In this paper, we propose a new method of structuring educational information in physics. The method is based on the concept that physics consist of phenomenological laws and experimental models of different levels, which explain the phenomenon of the process. Phenomenological method allows you to set the ratio between the most characteristic parameters of the process or phenomenon. Phenomenological laws are quite general in nature and does not take into account the atomic and molecular structure of objects study. In this case, models and hypotheses (classic-entry level, relativistic, quantum-higher level), by which explained the mechanisms of the phenomena that are of particular importance. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 11, 2016 9:48PM - 10:00PM |
POSTER.00015: Trends in physics teacher education from the perspective of research-based instruction David E. Meltzer I will review historical trends in the education of U.S. physics teachers from the perspective of key research findings on physics teacher education. Research evidence suggests that instruction focused on students' physics ideas, on physicists' practices, and on designing and teaching hands-on laboratory investigations has been relatively successful in preparing physics teachers for the classroom. However, such evidence-based instruction has been largely lacking from the background of most physics teachers in the U.S. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 11, 2016 10:00PM - 10:12PM |
POSTER.00016: Lessons Learned from the Mines-UNC STEM Teacher Preparation Program Vince Kuo, Kristine Callan, Wendy Adams, Christine Moroye, Steven DeCaluwe To help battle the shortage of highly qualified physics teachers, Colorado School of Mines and University of Northern Colorado have recently created a unique partnership that plays on each institution's strengths to produce highly qualified STEM teachers: One is a highly-selective, public applied sciences and engineering research university and the other is the state's premier teacher preparation institution. The first cohort of Mines students enrolled in the fall semester of 2015, and we are quickly learning how to adapt this innovative program to meet their needs. We have also assembled a team of Teachers in Residence (TIRs) and a Teacher Advisory Group (TAG). In this poster, we will describe our recruiting efforts and results, the experiences of our first cohort, the roles of our TIRs, goals and results of our TAG meetings, and our future plans for the administration of the program. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 11, 2016 10:12PM - 10:24PM |
POSTER.00017: Teacher Recruitment and UCF's LA Program Talat Rahman, Adam LaMee, Yuehai Yang, Jackie Chini The Learning Assistant (LA) program at University of Central Florida is exercising a formative and reflective model intended to effectively recruit talented science majors for careers in teaching and improve the quality of science education for all undergraduates. Specifically, we are including the following components in our LA program in contrast to the original model from University of Colorado, Boulder: 1) the LA pedagogical seminar is led by our Teacher-In-Residence (TIR) who coordinates with local elementary, middle, and high schools to provide field experiences for LAs to directly reflect their learning on their classroom experience. 2) Collect survey data weekly to assess LA experience in and outside of classroom and effectively communicate with LA mentors to optimize LA experiences during the semester. 3) Let returning LAs lead significant portions of the LA seminar to broaden their instructional experience. [Preview Abstract] |
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