Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2005 APS April Meeting
Saturday–Tuesday, April 16–19, 2005; Tampa, FL
Session R11: Physics Education |
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Sponsoring Units: FEd Chair: Wolfgang Christian, Davidson College Room: Marriott Tampa Waterside Room 7 |
Monday, April 18, 2005 10:45AM - 10:57AM |
R11.00001: Gravitational Wave Outreach Michelle B. Larson Science outreach tied to an active research field is rich in possibilities and fraught with danger as one strives to find a balance between content and comprehension. I will discuss outreach programs at the NSF Center for Gravitational Wave Physics that inspire interest in science, enhance traditional education efforts, and support young scientists and established researchers to develop varied communication skills, and adopt education and public outreach as part of their professional culture. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 18, 2005 10:57AM - 11:09AM |
R11.00002: LIGO: Creating enhancements to the undergraduate physics experience S.C. McGuire Over the past four years we have initiated a program of research and educational outreach between the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) and the Department of Physics at Southern University-Baton Rouge that has enabled undergraduate physics majors to participate in a broad array of research based activities. Our emphasis has been on the integration of research into the educational experience of our physics majors. Specifically, students participate in research at the LIGO Livingston Observatory during the summers with LIGO scientists in addition to year round faculty-supervised research on campus. In continuing their research on campus students may also obtain academic credit toward graduation by enrolling in a research course, receiving Honors College Credit and/or incorporating the research into undergraduate theses. Through the LIGO Science Education Center (SEC) Outreach Project, we are revamping parts of our undergraduate curriculum to emphasize LIGO science particularly as relates to K-12 teacher preparation. Examples of activities will be presented. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 18, 2005 11:09AM - 11:21AM |
R11.00003: The LIGO Science Education Center: Partnering Labs, Universities, Education Agencies and Informal Learning Centers John Thacker A program is described for a seamless approach to informal and formal science teaching and learning built around a Science Education Center to be located at LIGO, Livingston, Louisiana. Under an NSF collaborative grant, four institutions are partnering to create an exemplary educational resource to promote science learning and understanding. The Science Education Center will feature approximately 40 interactive exhibits developed by The Exploratorium of San Francisco illustrating science concepts underlying the LIGO program. Southern University, a principal producer of teachers in Louisiana, leads pre-service teacher training. LA GEAR UP, a statewide educational reform agency, guides in-service teacher Professional Development. Our goals: (1) communicate LIGO-related science concepts to the public; (2) strengthen pre-service and in-service science teaching; (3) reach a broad audience of students in the Louisiana region; and (4) create a national model for ways scientists, educators, state education programs, and informal learning centers can collaborate to support science education. This work supported by NSF grants PHY-0107417 and PHY-0355454. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 18, 2005 11:21AM - 11:33AM |
R11.00004: A Conceptual Physics Course in General Relativity and Cosmology Michael Zeilik, M. Jennifer Markus We have designed, implemented, assessed, and revised a new conceptual physics course at the University of New Mexico. Using the NRC/NAS report ``Connecting Quarks with the Cosmos'' (2003) as a guide, we pared down the 11 questions to six based on a student poll. The instructor (MZ) reconceptualized these six into a one- semester course focused on general relativity and cosmology, while taking into account known misconceptions research. The full implementation of an active- learning version took place in Spring 2003. The classes contained about 2/3 males and 1/3 females, about 60\% ``freshmen.'' Some 50% took the course to meet a requirement. Students entered with a wide variety of math backgrounds, with the men reporting more advanced courses. We report on assessments to probe the success of the course based on our learning outcomes. In math and science aptitude, females and males ranked themselves the same at the start of the course; men felt more confident at the end. Using a conceptual diagnostic test as a pre- and post assessment, we found that males outscored the females pre- and post, but the normalized gains were the same. The normalized gains on Force Concept Inventory items was 0.2; for general relativity and cosmology ones, 0.5. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 18, 2005 11:33AM - 11:45AM |
R11.00005: Understanding the Coulomb and Newton Force Laws Chris Vuille In undergraduate first-year physics courses, the Coulomb and Newton force laws are typically presented as empirically- derived, a consequence of fitting observations to a mathematical model. Here, a simple argument based on natural assumptions make plausible the fact that one charge (mass) is multipled times the other charge (mass). Further, a generic geometric argument yields the dependence on the inverse square of the distance between the two bodies. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 18, 2005 11:45AM - 11:57AM |
R11.00006: Derivation of Schrodinger and Dirac Equations Spyros Efthimiades The Schrodinger equation can be derived from first principles, contrary to the assertions offered in textbooks. To be consistent with the framework of quantum mechanics the dynamics must be based on the averaged energy relation. Accordingly, each eigenfunction is a specific superposition of plane wave states that fulfills the averaged energy relation. Alternatively, starting with the averaged energy relation, the Schrodinger equation is obtained to be the condition the particle eigenfunction must satisfy, at each space-time point, in order to fulfill the averaged energy relation. The same method is applied to derive the Dirac equation involving potential terms. We emphasize the difference between the free particle equations (which have single plane wave eigenfunctions) and the complete Schrodinger and Dirac equations, and we point out the inappropriateness of the heuristic derivations. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 18, 2005 11:57AM - 12:09PM |
R11.00007: Modifying ``Six Ideas that Shaped Physics'' for a Life-Science major audience at Hope College Catherine Mader The ``Six Ideas That Shaped Physics'' textbook has been adapted and used for use in the algebra-based introductory physics course for non-physics science majors at Hope College. The results of the first use will be presented. Comparison of FCI for pre and post test scores will be compared with results from 8 years of results from both the algebra-based course and the calculus-based course (when we first adopted ``Six Ideas that Shaped Physcs" for the Calculus-based course). In addition, comparison on quantitative tests and homework problems with prior student groups will also be made. Because a large fraction of the audience in the algebra-based course is life-science majors, a goal of this project is to make the material relevant for these students. Supplemental materials that emphasize the connection between the life sciences and the fundamental physics concepts are being be developed to accompany the new textbook. Samples of these materials and how they were used (and received) during class testing will be presented. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 18, 2005 12:09PM - 12:21PM |
R11.00008: Implementation, Analysis, and Assessment of On-Line Teaching Evaluations Jerry L. Artz, Andrew R. Rundquist This two-year project involved the introduction of a new, on-line teaching evaluation that enables students to anonymously assess their teachers and courses via computer. A pilot program, during fall 2003, involved 14 faculty volunteers. Student participation was voluntary but was strongly encouraged via both student congress and the student newspaper. Resulting in moderate to strong success, the pilot program was then extended to include the entire College of Liberal Arts of Hamline University during the spring and fall of 2004. The on-line teaching-evaluation program has since been introduced into several other colleges of the University. The evaluation instrument, student compliance, analysis of data, and assessment will be discussed. Comparisons are made (1) by grade received, (2) by class standing, (3) by ethnicity, and (4) of science versus non-science courses. In addition to common questions answered by all students, the on-line form allows instructors to add course-specific questions. Additional disciplinary-breadth assessment questions were added for the fall 2004 evaluation. Noteworthy problems that resulted from the introduction of on-line teaching evaluations will be discussed along with successes. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 18, 2005 12:21PM - 12:33PM |
R11.00009: Personal Notification Service from the ADS Abstract Service Guenther Eichhorn, Alberto Accomazzi, Carolyn S. Grant, Edwin Henneken, Michael J. Kurtz, Donna M. Thompson, Stephen S. Murray The ADS provides a search system for over 4 million records. The data are organized in 4 databases, Astronomy/Planetary Sciences, Physics/Geophysics, Instrumentation, and ArXiv Preprints. The ADS is a NASA funded project and is free to use for everybody world-wide. We have recently implemented a new version of the ADS notification system ``myADS.'' This system allows our users to specify, for each of the 4 databases, an author query and two subject matter queries. These queries are executed whenever the databases are updated, and the results are emailed to the user. This system makes it very easy to keep up-to-date with the literature in Astronomy and Physics, as well as the preprint ArXiv. We plan to offer this capability in collaboration with the preprint ArXiv to the users of the preprints, to allow for a more customized notification system for new preprints. The ADS can be accessed at \medskip \center{http://ads.harvard.edu} [Preview Abstract] |
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