Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2016 Annual Meeting of the APS Mid-Atlantic Section
Volume 61, Number 16
Saturday–Sunday, October 15–16, 2016; Newark, Delaware
Session H2: Physics Education, Policy and Administration |
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Chair: John Shaw, University of Delaware Room: Sharp Laboratory 130 |
Sunday, October 16, 2016 3:30PM - 3:42PM |
H2.00001: Simulating errors in annual energy production from a shaded photovoltaic system David Starling, Robert Vitagliano, Mauro Notaro, Joseph Ranalli When calculating the available solar resource for a photovoltaic installation, one must consider the site latitude, the annual weather patterns as well as the local horizon. In particular, the local horizon reduces the annual irradiance via shading; however, to estimate this reduction one must first measure the horizon and then simulate its effects on photovoltaic power production throughout a typical meteorological year. Simulations are performed using Java and the software development kit for System Advisor Model (SAM) developed by NREL. In order to determine the local horizon as an input to SAM, a solar site survey must be conducted. Since these horizon measurements are imperfect, simulated annual energy production possesses a degree of uncertainty. Over the course of a one-year undergraduate research project, we simulated the effect of horizon measurement errors. Results show that modest errors in the horizon measurement ($\pm 5^\circ$ in azimuth) result in minimal errors in annual energy production (3.3\%). Therefore, the use of SAM and open source smart-phone technology should be sufficient for students to conduct a solar site survey and simulate annual energy production (as well as financial variables) in a classroom setting. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, October 16, 2016 3:42PM - 4:18PM |
H2.00002: The Development and Assessment of Particle Physics Summer Program for High School Students Invited Speaker: Brean Prefontaine A four week immersive summer program for high school students was developed and implemented to promote awareness of university level research. The program was completely directed by an undergraduate physics major and included a hands-on and student-led capstone project for the high school students. The goal was to create an adaptive and shareable curriculum in order to influence high school students' views of university level research and what it means to be a scientist. The program was assessed through various methods including a pre and post survey developed for the program, a previously vetted student attitudes toward STEM survey, weekly blog posts, and an oral exit interview. The curriculum included visits to local laboratories, an introduction to particle physics and the IceCube collaboration, an introduction to electronics and computer programming, and their capstone project: planning and building a scale model of the IceCube detector. At the conclusion of the program the high school students participated an outreach event to the general public at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and gave a formal oral presentation to the Department of Physics at Drexel University. More details concerning the curriculum and its development along with the results will be shared. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, October 16, 2016 4:18PM - 4:30PM |
H2.00003: Using Digital Cameras in the Instructional Optics Lab Everett Ramer Digital cameras, stand-alone or smartphone-based, are useful tools for measuring and recording results in the instructional optics laboratory. With USB/Wi-Fi interfaces and down-loadable application software, students can use digital cameras to conduct optical measurements using their own laptop computers. This poster gives examples of using digital cameras to explore the spectral properties of light with the Project STAR spectrometer and a homemade grating monochromator; to measure telescope and microscope magnifying power, lens aberrations, slit and interferometer fringes, and Fraunhofer and Fresnel diffraction patterns; and to characterize the polarization of light. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, October 16, 2016 4:30PM - 4:42PM |
H2.00004: xBL: Implementations of Student-Centered Learning and Data Driven Assessment of Competency. Adebanjo Oriade $x$ Based Learning ($x$BL) is our multi-domain, diversified approach to guide learners, and citizens, to improved 21st-century skills. The diversity is captured in $x\equiv \{{\bf P}roblem, {\bf E}xperiment, {\bf N}ews, {\bf C}ollaboration, {\bf I}nquiry, {\bf L}ecture\}$ components of instruction. At meetings we have, in play, combinations of two or more of the six methods of engaging active learning. $x$BL is inspired by reflective practice and literature on science, Physics, education research. During interaction with others in instructional teams and with students we engage cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains. The results presented are from iterative (over 9 semesters) reviews of who our students are (primarily as learners), the spaces students and instructors work in, the learning goals of the course, and demands to provide (quantitative) evidence of competencies. Personnel, architecture, and technology of the PBL studio we work in provides affordances that make this approach to instruction, learning and assessment possible. In this classroom, high and low technology is used, such as when after a record of predictions on the wall, with Vernier's VideoPhysics students analyze captured motion of a Yoyo. A sample $x$BL activity,"Yoyo Momentum",is presented. [Preview Abstract] |
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