Session Q07: MIAAPT/Physics Education 2

Creating a Short Textbook with Accompanying Jupyter Notebooks for a Non-Calculus-Based Astrophysics Course

“Stellar and Galactic Astrophysics” is the culminating course in Marietta College’s astronomy minor. The class does not have a calculus prerequisite because such a requirement would make the astronomy minor inaccessible to non-science majors with a significant interest in astronomy.

Not using calculus in class creates challenges in finding a suitable textbook.  Although numerous astronomy/astrophysics texts exist at both the introductory and the intermediate/advanced level, I have not found a good option for the class as I teach it.  Some of the more-math-intensive introductory books come close, but they do not delve deeply into the aspects of stellar astrophysics that form a sizable portion of the course.  Intermediate/advanced books rely heavily on calculus and are dense, encyclopedic, and unreadable for this student population. 

During a recent sabbatical, I created a draft of a short textbook covering stellar atmospheres, stellar energy production, and stellar interiors utilizing math at a level appropriate for the course.  Furthermore, I created a series of roughly two dozen jupyter notebooks to accompany the text.  The notebooks are scaffolded so that students learn to read and understand the code at the same time they are learning astrophysics. In my presentation, I will describe these materials in more detail and discuss my experiences using them earlier this semester.   

Beyond Retention: The Design of a New Peer Mentor Program for Transfer Students

We present the design of the Transfer Experience Mentoring Program (TEMPO) at Michigan State University, which was piloted in the Fall of 2023. TEMPO is designed to support transfer students through the transition between community college and a university such as MSU. Students who first enroll at community colleges are historically undersupported especially through the transition into the bachelor’s granting institution. TEMPO is designed to utilize resources from MSU to support a student’s transition in their final semester of community college and into their first semester at MSU. This program draws from the skills of experienced MSU transfer students as mentors to provide a direct role model and connection to MSU’s transfer student body. The design and implementation of this program are supported by efforts from the Transfer Student Success Center, the College of Natural Science, and financial support from a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute under the Science Education Program.

In addition to the design, we present early analyses of data collected on the program in Fall 2023. This research aims to uncover how relationships between mentors and mentees act as a path for resources and navigational information to support students’ transition. This presentation will explore the development of a framework to support the understanding of this resource translation through relationships. The larger goal is to address how TEMPO supports students in the transition between community college and a university and how students’ experiences are impacted through their participation in the program.   

Analysis of Rumble Strip Generated Sound

Rumble strips are parallel, evenly spaced grooves that have been ground into pavement, often with a trough-to-trough spacing of 12 inches. They are typically found along the shoulders of limited access highways and are designed to produce steering wheel vibrations to warn drivers that they have drifted off the road. One model for sound production by cars moving across rumble strips is that the fundamental frequency is determined by the number of troughs driven over each second. Assuming 12-inch spacing, the sound produced would have a frequency, in hertz, that has the same numerical value as the speed of the vehicle, measured in feet per second. This project set out to verify the proposed model and provide guidance on how undergraduate activities can be developed to explore sound production by measuring the speed-dependent pitch heard when driving over a rumble strip. Sound was recorded using a smartphone in a car driving at a range of speeds over rumble strips. The audio files were then loaded onto a computer for spectral analysis. Two freely available spectral analyzers were put through a calibration check and then used to analyze the recordings. We found good, easily reproducible agreement with the model. Possible applications for undergraduate activities will be discussed.   

Partnership Profile Template: Fostering Reflection about Partnerships among Associate and Bachelor-Granting Institutions

In this presentation, we share a template, Partnership Profile Template, designed to facilitate reflection on partnerships among associate and bachelor-granting institutions. The Partnership Profile Template serves as a bridge between researchers and the researched – those individuals sustaining partnerships among associate's and bachelor's degree-granting institutions. During this presentation, we will discuss how theories that center the maintenance of partnerships or communities as well as the individuals in the partnerships involved influence the design of the Partnership Profile Template. We will also share the Partnership Profile Template as a potential tool for those interested in supporting a collaborative reflection on partnerships among associate's and bachelor's degree-granting institutions.