Session T37: Physics Education Research and Resources

Strength of Student Models of Force and Motion

With a three-year FIPSE grant, it has been possible to develop and implement activity-based algebra level introductory physics. The Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation (FMCE) has been given as a pretest and a posttest to both the traditional lecture/lab classes and the activity-based classes. The responses are analyzed to determine the models that students use. The questions are separated into eight groups. Responses are divided into expert model, student model, and null model. Students are categorized as being in an expert state, a mixed state, or a student state. Previous work assumed a particular model if the answers to 70 percent (or more) of the questions in a group fit that model. To determine the strength of the models, the analysis is repeated assuming 85 percent and then 100 percent. The results are analyzed to determine if there is a significant difference from 70 percent to 85 percent to 100 percent. This will indicate the strength of the models in each group of questions.   

Project-Based Learning Courses: The Relationship Between Faculty-Intended Course Implementation and Students' Perceptions

Project-based learning (PjBL) has been shown to improve students' performance and satisfaction with their coursework, particularly in science and engineering courses. Specific aspects of PjBL that contribute to this improvement are student autonomy, course scaffolding, and instructor support. This study investigates two PjBL courses required for engineering majors at a small technical school, \textit{Introductory Mechanics Laboratory} and \textit{Introductory Engineering Design}. The three data sources used in this work are classroom observations (one laboratory and four design sessions) and semi-structured in-depth interviews with twelve students and six faculty. Grounded theory approach is used in a two-step fashion by (1) analyzing each data set individually and (2) performing full triangulation of all three data sets. In this talk, we demonstrate the relationship between faculty intentions and student perceptions regarding the three PjBL aspects -- student autonomy, course scaffolding, and instructor support -- within the context of these two courses. We further discuss implications for the course design and professional development of faculty.   

Combining Wikis and JiTT to enhance critical thinking abilities

I report the combine use of Just in Time Teaching (\textbf{JiTT}) and \textbf{W}ikispaces (\textbf{Wikis}) in introductory level, calculus based, physics classes. Over the years, JiTT had been effectively used in teaching physics and some uses on Wikis were also reported in the recent years.\footnote{H. Mohottala The Physics Teacher -- September 2011 -- Vol. 49, Issue 6} Wiki helps students, instructors and technology to interact with one another and JiTT boosts the self-confidence of students to tackle physics problems. Thus, the combine use of Wiki-JiTT is going to be a new experience for both instructors and students. In this experiment, I used Wikis as a platform for JiTT, and conventional JiTT was slightly altered to best fit the combination and to focus on enhancing critical thinking abilities in my students.   

Student Self-Efficacy in Introductory Project-Based Learning Courses

This study investigates first-year engineering students' self-efficacy in two introductory Project-Based Learning (PjBL) courses -- \textit{Physics} (\textit{Mechanics) Laboratory} and \textit{Engineering Design} -- taught at a small technical institution. Twelve students participated in semi-structured open-ended interviews about their experiences in both courses. Analysis was performed using grounded theory$.$ Results indicate that students had lower self-efficacy in \textit{Physics Lab} than in \textit{Engineering Design}. In \textit{Physics Lab}, students reported high levels of faculty-supported scaffolding related to final project deliverables, which in turn established perceptions of an outcome-based course emphasis. Conversely, in \textit{Engineering Design}, students observed high levels of scaffolding related to the intermediate project deliverables, highlighting process-centered aspects of the course. Our analyses indicate that this difference in student perceptions of course emphases -- resulting from the differences in scaffolding -- is a primary factor for the discrepancy in self-efficacy between \textit{Physics Lab }and \textit{Engineering Design}. Future work will examine how other variables (e.g., academic background, perception of community, gender) affect students' self-efficacy and perception of scaffolding in these PjBL courses.   

The IPAD as a Pedagogical Tool in an Algebra-Based Introductory Physics Class

We report our experience in using the IPAD as a pedagogical tool for enhancing physics learning in an introductory algebra-based physics laboratory course for primarily pre-med students. We used several applications including (1) video analysis for experiments in accelerated motion (2) virtual oscilloscope for studying wave motion and circuit response to low frequency driving voltages; (3) applications for visualization of electric fields and magnetic fields. We compare student responses to this platform versus more traditional experiments. Using student surveys and polls. We also evaluate the IPAD as a new and familiar interface versus traditional interfaces like the standard oscilloscope. We report on the advantages and disadvantages of using this mobile, popular platform in delivering experimental physics content and promoting student engagement.   

Physics: A student's guide through the great texts

Although memorizing formulae and learning how to perform calculations is crucial for acquiring a working knowledge of physical theories, the standard pedagogical method employed by many textbooks does not prepare the student to become a practicing scientist precisely because it tends to mask the actual scientific method: the science is presented as an accomplished fact; the prescribed questions revolve largely around technological applications of accepted laws. In this talk, I will describe a two-year general physics curriculum which I have developed and taught for the past decade to undergraduate students at Wisconsin Lutheran College. The curriculum is unique in that it provides students of the natural and mathematical sciences with a comprehensive introduction to physics based on the careful reading and analysis of selections from foundational texts in physics and astronomy. The curriculum is designed to encourage a critical and circumspect approach to the study of natural science, while at the same time developing a suitable foundation for advanced coursework in physics. Through the careful reading and analysis of foundational scientific texts, students learn skills which are essential when considering the practical and philosophical implications of scientific theories.   

A student's guide to searching the literature using online databases

A method is described to empower students to efficiently perform general and specific literature searches using online resources [Miller et al., Am. J. Phys. 77, 1112 (2009)]. The method was tested on multiple groups, including undergraduate and graduate students with varying backgrounds in scientific literature searches. Students involved in this study showed marked improvement in their awareness of how and where to find scientific information. Repeated exposure to literature searching methods appears worthwhile, starting early in the undergraduate career, and even in graduate school orientation.   

A jumping cylinder in an incline

The problem of a cylinder of mass m and radius r, with its center of mass out of the cylinder axis, rolling in an incline that makes an angle $\alpha $ respect to the horizontal is analyzed. The equation of motion is solved to obtain the site where the cylinder loses contact with the incline (jumps). Several simplifications are made: the analyzed system consists of an homogeneous disc with a one dimensional straight line of mass parallel to the disc axis at a distance d $<$ r of the center of the cylinder. To compare our results with experimental data, we use a Styrofoam cylinder of radius r = 10.0 $\pm $ 0.05 cm, high h = 5.55 $\pm $ 0.05 cm and a mass m$_{1}$ = 24.45 $\pm $ 0.05 g, to which a 9.50 $\pm $ 0.01 mm diameter and 5.10 $\pm $ 0.001 cm long brass road of mass m$_{2}$ = 30.75 $\pm $ 0.05 g was imbibed parallel to the disc axis at a distance of 5.40 $\pm $ 0.05 cm from it. Then the disc rolls on a 3.20 m long wooden ramp inclined at 30\r{ } and 45\r{ } respect to the horizontal. To determine the jumping site, the movements were recorded with a high-speed video camera (Casio EX ZR100) at 400 frames per second. The experimental results agree well with the theoretical predictions.   

Design and operation of an inexpensive far-field laser scanning microscope suitable for use in an undergraduate laboratory course

Scanning microscope applications span the science disciplines yet their costs limit their use at educational institutions. The basic concepts of scanning microscopy are simple. The microscope probe - whether it produces a photon, electron or ion beam - moves relative to the surface of the sample object. The beam interacts with the sample to produce a detected signal that depends on the desired property to be measured at the probe location on the sample. The microscope transforms the signal for output in a form desired by the user. Undergraduate students can easily construct a far-field laser scanning microscope that illustrates each of these principles from parts available at local electronics and hardware stores and use the microscope to explore properties of devices such as light dependent resistors and biological samples such as leaves. Students can record, analyze and interpret results using a computer and free software.   

Variational Calculations for Hydrogen in Introductory Solid State

Molecular hydrogen is very important in the introductory solid state physics course because it is used as one of the simplest molecular realistic models where bonding and anti-bonding takes place. This system is one of the first examples in which interactions among the ions and the electrons is incorporated realistically. To this end, we approach the system starting from the hydrogen atom. Here we introduce a numerical approach that reproduces the known analytic result for the ground state. The idea is to expand the hydrogenic wavefunction in terms of Gaussians (four of them) with variational parameters. As the parameters are varied the numerical approach stops when the energy is a minimum. The scheme is consistently extended through the ionized hydrogen molecule and the reproduction of its analytically known ground state energy result. We finally culminate with the hydrogen molecule using a variational wavefunction, a la Hartree, and proceed to repeat the process with a particular flavor of a Hartree-Fock wavefunction [1] and finally obtaining a hydrogen molecule total ground state energy of -31.10 eV with a bond length of 1.37 Bohr radius.\\[4pt] [1] ``Atomic and Electronic Structure of Solids,'' Efthimios Kaxiras (Cambridge UP, Cambridge UK, 2003).