Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2015
Volume 60, Number 4
Saturday–Tuesday, April 11–14, 2015; Baltimore, Maryland
Session Y11: Invited Session: Physical Review Special Topics - PER: Focused Collection on Upper Division PER |
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Sponsoring Units: GPER Chair: Charles Henderson, Western Michigan University Room: Key 7 |
Tuesday, April 14, 2015 1:30PM - 2:06PM |
Y11.00001: Highlighting ten years of physics education research in the upper division Invited Speaker: Bradley Ambrose The field of Physics Education Research (PER) has for over thirty years provided insights into student thinking and guided the development and assessment of reformed teaching strategies and practices in introductory physics courses. In the last decade or so, researchers have expanded the domain of such investigations to upper-division courses where undergraduate majors study more advanced content and begin to see themselves as future physicists. The upcoming Focused Collection on Upper Division PER brings together work from researchers active in these new frontiers of PER. In this presentation we provide an overview of the studies in this collection, which offer to the PER and greater physics education communities: new insights about the thinking, behavior, and beliefs of students in the upper division; new tools to innovate instruction, assess student learning, and evaluate teaching effectiveness; and groundbreaking studies of identity development and ``thinking like a physicist'' among physics majors. In this session we also recognize the ten-year anniversary of Physical Review Special Topics: Physics Education Research, an occasion that we will celebrate with an informal reception immediately following the conclusion of this invited session. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, April 14, 2015 2:06PM - 2:42PM |
Y11.00002: A Framework for Understanding the Patterns of Student Difficulties in Quantum Mechanics Invited Speaker: Chandralekha Singh Compared with introductory physics, relatively little is known about the development of expertise in advanced physics courses, especially in the case of quantum mechanics. We describe a theoretical framework for understanding the patterns of student reasoning difficulties and how students develop expertise in quantum mechanics. The framework posits that the challenges many students face in developing expertise in quantum mechanics are analogous to the challenges introductory students face in developing expertise in introductory classical mechanics. This framework incorporates the effects of diversity in students' prior preparation, goals and motivation for taking upper-level physics courses in general as well as the ``paradigm shift'' from classical mechanics to quantum mechanics. The framework is based on empirical investigations demonstrating that the patterns of reasoning, problem-solving, and self-monitoring difficulties in quantum mechanics bear a striking resemblance to those found in introductory classical mechanics. Examples from research in quantum mechanics and introductory classical mechanics will be discussed to illustrate how the patterns of difficulties are analogous as students learn to unpack the respective principles and grasp the formalism in each knowledge domain during the development of expertise. Embracing such a theoretical framework and contemplating the parallels between the difficulties in these two knowledge domains can enable researchers to leverage the extensive literature for introductory physics education research to guide the design of teaching and learning tools for helping students develop expertise in quantum mechanics. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, April 14, 2015 2:42PM - 3:18PM |
Y11.00003: Student learning of upper-level thermal and statistical physics: The derivation and use of the Boltzmann factor Invited Speaker: John Thompson As the Physical Review Focused Collection demonstrates, recent frontiers in physics education research include systematic investigations at the upper division. As part of a collaborative project, we have examined student understanding of several topics in upper-division thermal and statistical physics. A fruitful context for research is the Boltzmann factor in statistical mechanics: the standard derivation involves several physically justified mathematical steps as well as the invocation of a Taylor series expansion. We have investigated student understanding of the physical significance of the Boltzmann factor as well as its utility in various circumstances, and identified various lines of student reasoning related to the use of the Boltzmann factor. Results from written data as well as teaching interviews suggest that many students do not use the Boltzmann factor when answering questions related to probability in applicable physical situations, even after lecture instruction. We designed an inquiry-based tutorial activity to guide students through a derivation of the Boltzmann factor and to encourage deep connections between the physical quantities involved and the mathematics. Observations of students working through the tutorial suggest that many students at this level can recognize and interpret Taylor series expansions, but they often lack fluency in creating and using Taylor series appropriately, despite previous exposure in both calculus and physics courses. Our findings also suggest that tutorial participation not only increases the prevalence of relevant invocation of the Boltzmann factor, but also helps students gain an appreciation of the physical implications and meaning of the mathematical formalism behind the formula. [Preview Abstract] |
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