Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2015
Volume 60, Number 4
Saturday–Tuesday, April 11–14, 2015; Baltimore, Maryland
Session K6: Supporting Minorities in Science, Exploring Learning Environments, and Developing Conceptual Inventories |
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Sponsoring Units: GPER FEd Chair: Mary Bridget Kustusch, DePaul University Room: Key 2 |
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K6.00001: Topics in Current Science Research: Closing the Achievement Gap for Under Resourced Students of Color Alvaro Loya Villalpando, Miguel Daal, Arran Phipps, Danielle Speller, Bernard Sadoulet, Rachel Winheld Topics in Current Science Research (TCSR) is a five-week summer course offered at the University of California, Berkeley through a collaboration between the Level Playing Field Institute's Summer Math and Science Honors Academy (SMASH) Program and the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) group at UC Berkeley. SMASH is an academic enrichment program geared towards under-resourced, high school students of color. The goals of the course are to expand the students' conception of STEM, to teach the students that science is a method of inquiry and not just a collection of facts that are taught in school, and to expose the scholars to critical thinking within a scientific setting. The course's curriculum engages the scholars in hands-on scientific research, project proposal writing, and presentation of their scientific work to their peers as well as to a panel of UC Berkeley scientists. In this talk, we describe the course and the impact it has had on previous scholars, we discuss how the course's pedagogy has evolved over the past 10 years to enhance students' perception and understanding of science, and we present previous participants' reflections and feedback about the course and its success in providing high school students a genuine research experience at the university level. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 12, 2015 1:42PM - 1:54PM |
K6.00002: Warwick and Uppsala Programmes to encourage girls toward scientific careers Suzy Lidstr\"{o}m, Ally Caldecote, Maja Hallsing, Tom Hase, Bj\"{o}rgvin Hj\"{o}rvarsson, Kayleigh Lampard We report on two European programmes intended to encourage girls in England and Sweden to embark on studies in physics and other areas of science at university, with the hope that, eventually, they will decide to pursue scientific careers. Although different in substance, and in terms of their aims, both programmes select 16 and 17 year-old girls with a view to taking them on a life-changing experience to visit large scientific facilities (ESRF and ILL) in Grenoble, France from which they should benefit at many levels. Physicists at the University of Warwick are already well underway with their programme, having used an essay based competition to determine who will participate. In contrast, the University of Uppsala will use broader selection criteria in the hope of identifying those who will be most likely to impart their enthusiasm to their contemporaries and to younger peers on their return. The girls will be visiting the XMaS beamline at the ESRF and the SuperADAM experiment at the ILL during the week preceding the April APS meeting, and we will report on the outcome of their experience, with supporting media and documentation. Numerous occasions to meet and interact with female scientists will be ensured. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 12, 2015 1:54PM - 2:06PM |
K6.00003: Enhancing physics demonstration shows: where physics and the arts meet to achieve success Donna Hammer, Tim Uher Physics demonstrations are widely used by universities in undergraduate education and public outreach to engage students and teach physics concepts. At the University of Maryland, the Physics is Phun public demonstration programs are a vehicle for public outreach with longstanding success (dating back to 1982). A recent program, ``Out of the Dark,'' presented the evolution of the fields of electricity and magnetism by merging physics demonstrations with history and performing arts. In this session, we will discuss methods by which these outside fields can be utilized in a demonstration program. We will also discuss the outcomes of these methods in enhancing engagement of audience members and undergraduate majors alike. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 12, 2015 2:06PM - 2:18PM |
K6.00004: Quantitative Analysis of the Physics/Calculcus Themed Learning Communiy at Northern Illinois University Daniel Stange This talk will describe the evaluation of the introductory (mechanics based) physics and calculus courses within the Themed Learning Community (TLC) at Northern Illinois University. The TLC is a program that requires interested first-year undergraduate students to enroll in identical courses and sections: course lecture periods, recitation, and laboratory sections. The implementation of this program is to ease a student's transition into collegiate life and provide better opportunities to form peer groups which allows a better environment and opportunity for each students' ability to comprehend and retain cross-curricular content. The aim of this study is to evaluate the instructional effectiveness of the TLC courses of introductory physics and calculus. Analysis of instructional effectiveness will be completed by administration of standard physics concept inventories on both TLC and non-TLC enrolled students. In addition, examination of qualitative methods will be completed to provide a detailed understanding of the students' opinions on the physics/calculus TLC courses. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 12, 2015 2:18PM - 2:30PM |
K6.00005: Student Performance in Measuring Distance with Wavelengths in Various Settings Gary White When physics students are asked to measure the distance between two fixed locations using a pre-defined wavelength as a ruler, there is a surprising failure rate, at least partially due to the fact that the ``ruler'' to be used is not fixed in length (see ``Is a Simple Measurement Task a Roadblock to Student Understanding of Wave Phenomena?,'' by M. Kryjevskaia, M. Stetzer, and P. Heron, The Physics Teacher 51,560, (2103) and references therein). I will show some data from introductory classes (algebra- and calculus-based) that replicate this result, and also show some interesting features when comparing a setting involving slinkies with a setting involving surface waves on water. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 12, 2015 2:30PM - 2:42PM |
K6.00006: Teaching Resistance through an interactive gaming lab James G. O'Brien, Greg Sirokman, Franz Rueckert, Derek Cascio The use of gaming as an educational tool has proven to be an effective paradigm in modern pedagogy. Following the success of their previous work ``Sector Vector,'' the authors present a new interactive game-based laboratory to highlight the basic manipulation and calculation of resistors in circuits. ``Resistance is Futile'' delivers the lesson of basic resistor combinations in a game based exercise where teams build a continually evolving circuit. As the game progresses, students must develop long and short term plans to modify an ever-changing circuit and meet primary and secondary objectives. Each turn requires quick calculations of resistor combinations and the assessment of future options. Students are also exposed to the creation of a modular circuit, which may not conform to standard textbook examples. To determine a winner, the students work together to analyze and evaluate a potentially complex final circuit diagram. The dynamic atmosphere and competitive nature established by the gaming environment have been shown to increase student engagement and concept retention. In this presentation, we will discuss both the structure of the lab-based game and the pedagogical implications this implementation versus the traditional resistor combination laboratory exercise. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 12, 2015 2:42PM - 2:54PM |
K6.00007: Free Response vs. Multiple Choice CUE at Oregon State University Justyna Zwolak, Corinne Manogue Standardized assessment tests that allow researchers to compare the performance of students under various curricula are highly desirable. There are several research-based conceptual tests that serve as instruments to assess and identify students' difficulties in lower-division courses. At the upper-division level, however, assessing students' difficulties is a more challenging task. Although several research groups are currently working on such tests, their reliability and validity are still under investigation. We analyze the results of the Colorado Upper-Division Electrostatics (CUE) diagnostic from Oregon State University and compare it with data from University of Colorado. In particular, we compare students' performance on the Free Response and the Multiple Choice versions of the CUE. Our work complements and extends the previous findings from the University of Colorado by highlighting important differences in student learning that may be related to the curriculum, illuminating difficulties with the rubric for certain problems. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 12, 2015 2:54PM - 3:06PM |
K6.00008: Assessing Student's Ability to Solve Textbook Style Problems Karen Cummings Can We Really Measure Problem Solving Ability? The answer to this question may depend on how we define problem solving ability. But, if we care about students' ability to solve novel textbook style problems, the answer to this question seems to be ``yes.'' In this talk I will discuss a pre-/post- instruction assessment that was recently developed to assess students' ability to solve fairly standard textbook style problems within the domains of Newton's second law, conservation of energy and conservation of momentum. The instrument is designed for large-scale use in typical university classrooms, has already been used in a variety of institutions and appears to be both valid and robust. Data collected with this instrument can help guide curricular improvements and provide important insights relevant to most departments for program review. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 12, 2015 3:06PM - 3:18PM |
K6.00009: The Salinas Airshower Learning And Discovery Project (SALAD) Victor Hernandez, Rommel Niduaza, Daniel Ruiz Castruita, Adrian Knox, Daniel Ramos, Sewan Fan, Laura Fatuzzo The SALAD project partners community college and high school STEM students in order to develop and investigate cosmic ray detector telescopes and the physical concepts, using a new light sensor technology based on silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) detectors. Replacing the conventional photomultiplier with the SiPM, offers notable advantages in cost and facilitates more in depth, hands-on learning laboratory activities. The students in the SALAD project design, construct and extensively evaluate the SiPM detector modules. These SiPM modules, can be completed in a short time utilizing cost effective components. We describe our research to implement SiPM as read out light detectors for plastic scintillators in a cosmic ray detector telescope for use in high schools. In particular, we describe our work in the design, evaluation and the assembly of (1) a fast preamplifier, (2) a simple coincidence circuit using fast comparators, to discriminate the SiPM noise signal pulses, and (3) a monovibrator circuit to shape the singles plus the AND logic pulses for subsequent processing. To store the singles and coincidence counts data, an Arduino micro-controller with program sketches can be implemented. Results and findings from our work would be described and presented. [Preview Abstract] |
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