Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2007 APS March Meeting
Volume 52, Number 1
Monday–Friday, March 5–9, 2007; Denver, Colorado
Session J5: Topics from the Gordon Research Conference on Teaching Electricity and Magnetism |
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Sponsoring Units: FEd Chair: Wolfgang Christian, Davidson College Room: Colorado Convention Center Korbel 1A-1B |
Tuesday, March 6, 2007 11:15AM - 11:51AM |
J5.00001: Student understanding of basic concepts in dc electric circuits Invited Speaker: After instruction on dc circuits in a typical introductory physics course, students are often able to apply the formalism they have learned to analyze relatively complicated circuits, even those containing multiple batteries and multiple loops. However, research conducted over a period of many years has shown that despite facility with the equations, students often fail to understand some very basic concepts. Results from a recent investigation involving multiple batteries reveal the surprising extent of the gap between what is taught and what students learn. The findings have strong implications for instruction. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 6, 2007 11:51AM - 12:27PM |
J5.00002: The MIT TEAL Simulations and Visualizations in Electromagnetism Invited Speaker: The Technology Enabled Active Learning (TEAL) Project at MIT has developed a broad range of 3D visualizations and simulations to foster student intuition about electromagnetic fields and phenomena (see http://web.mit.edu/8.02t/www/802TEAL3D/). In this talk we discuss the software approaches we use to create these simulations, including Macromedia Shockwave and Java 3D applets for interactive visualization, passive animations created with 3ds max, and the Dynamic Line Integral Convolution (DLIC) method for constructing time dependent representations of the electromagnetic field at close to the resolution of the computer display (Sundquist, 2003). The DLIC method, in particular, is far superior in delineating the spatial and temporal structure of fields as compared to e.g. field line displays or vector field grids. We also report on the use of these visualizations in instruction at the freshmen level. Our strong opinion is that for effective student learning, such visualizations must be embedded in a software framework for their interactive delivery. This ``guided inquiry'' framework is essential to influence and optimize what students take away from the visualizations. In our current research, we are delivering our visualizations using a commercial package, Addison Wesley's MasteringPhysics (MP), although any guided inquiry delivery system such as MP will be able to interact with our simulation software. We have released our Java 3D simulation software as open source with a liberal open source license (see http://jlearn.mit.edu/tealsim/ ), with support from the Davis Educational Foundation. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 6, 2007 12:27PM - 1:03PM |
J5.00003: A simple model for why an active learning approach works best: Experiences with a ``Jackson by Inquiry'' electromagnetism course Invited Speaker: The development of an inquiry-based group learning studio lab[1] for the teaching of electromagnetism is described, which has the goal of facilitating the transition of students from passive listeners to active investigators or practicing physicists. We summarize the course design, implementation, and results, which show improved performance by students with weaker math and physics backgrounds or who are under-represented in physics. A number of assessment tools are considered and evaluated including comparison to standard lecture formats. A general strategy for presenting technically demanding material is given and a simple model is presented which relates the success of such structured inquiry approaches to recent research in neurophysiology, cognitive science and learning, and physics education. \begin{enumerate} \item B. R. Patton, ``Group Inquiry-Based Approach to Graduate Education in Physics: Can you do Jackson in a hands-on way?'', APS/AAPT Joint Meeting, Indianapolis, IN, 2-5 May 1996; B. R. Patton, Group Learning-Based Approach to the Graduate Electrodynamics Course: ``Jackson by Inquiry,'' APS Forum on Education Newsletter, Summer 1996. \end{enumerate} [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 6, 2007 1:03PM - 1:39PM |
J5.00004: Optical Trapping and Manipulation in the Single- and Many-Body Limits Invited Speaker: Analysis of optical dipole/scattering forces can be done at a variety of levels, some of which are appropriate to the undergraduate curriculum. The addition of simple holographic techniques has extended the basic capabilities of optical tweezing, making it a more viable tool for the assembly of micro-systems and organization of specimens into user-defined structures. In 2D, we have demonstrated an approach that allows optical forces alone to assemble microparticles over macroscopic areas. 3D structures pose greater challenges, but also significant opportunities. Our early efforts at filling a 3D lattice of optical traps led to an appreciation for the dynamics of injected microparticle streams, which yield a surprisingly successful method of sorting or re- routing within microfludic environments. We will discuss the status of efforts using optical trapping to create static many-body structures (both simple and complex), as well as recent results on dynamic interactions. At the same time, some of these techniques have clear pedagogical value, as will be emphasized. [Preview Abstract] |
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