Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2006 8th Annual APS Northwest Section Meeting
Friday–Saturday, May 19–20, 2006; Tacoma, Washington
Session G4: Education |
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Chair: Lillian McDermott, University of Washington Room: Wyatt 109 |
Saturday, May 20, 2006 2:00PM - 2:30PM |
G4.00001: New insights into student understanding of electric circuits Invited Speaker: New insights into student understanding of electric circuits have emerged from an ongoing investigation by the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington. The investigation is part of a larger effort to develop and refine research-based instructional materials on electric circuits for several different student populations.\footnote{{\it Physics by Inquiry}, L.C. McDermott and the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington, Wiley (1996).}$^{,}$\footnote{{\it Tutorials in Introductory Physics}, L.C. McDermott, P.S. Shaffer and the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington, Prentice Hall (2002).} The insights gained from this research have strong implications for instruction in a variety of contexts, including introductory physics courses and special physics courses for preservice and inservice teachers. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, May 20, 2006 2:30PM - 3:00PM |
G4.00002: Identifying student difficulties with basic scientific reasoning skills: An example from control of variables Invited Speaker: Current national and local standards for the science learning of K-12 students emphasize both basic concepts (such as density) and fundamental reasoning skills (such as proportional reasoning, the interpretation of graphs, and the use of control of variables).~~At Western Washington University (WWU) and the University of Washington (UW), an effort is underway to examine the ability of university students to apply these same concepts and skills.~Populations include students in liberal arts physics courses, introductory calculus-based physics courses, and special courses for the preparation of teachers. ~One focus of the research has been on the idea of control of variables. This topic~is studied by students at all levels, from the primary grades, in which the notion of a ``fair test,'' is sometimes used, to university courses.~ This talk will discuss research tasks in which students are expected to infer from experimental data whether a particular variable influences ($i.e.,$ affects) or by itself determines ($i.e.,$ predicts) a given result.~ Student responses will be presented to identify specific difficulties. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, May 20, 2006 3:00PM - 3:12PM |
G4.00003: Do You Know if You Know? Amanda Brighton, Steven Gardner Two typical introductory Physical Science classes were asked to give answers to five questions about motion. An additional question was associated with each of these five questions to ascertain how confident each student was in their answer. The student's metacognitive ability to determine correctly what they know or do not know was evaluated. The student's inability to self-assess understanding was as common as the converse. When the data was analyzed by gender, attempting to identify differences between males and females in terms of this metacognitive skill, no statistically significant difference was found. Additionally, we identified widespread alternate conceptions when large numbers of students were very confident in the same incorrect answer. These findings confirm previous studies regarding misconceptions in this area.[1] \newline [1] A. Arons, Teaching Introductory Physics, Wiley (1997) p.37 [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, May 20, 2006 3:12PM - 3:30PM |
G4.00004: BREAK
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Saturday, May 20, 2006 3:30PM - 4:00PM |
G4.00005: Physics Teaching in Times of Change Invited Speaker: Powerful political forces have been at play in building a mandate to change the schools. The latest, on-going manifestation is in the No Child Left Behind Act, but the mandate for change was being formulated in the early 1980s in the A Nation at Risk report. As physicists we may feel somewhat removed from such goings on, but our children attend school and their teachers come through our classrooms. Physics education research offers extensive, carefully collected data on the consequences of standard physics teaching. The data challenges conventional beliefs about physics learning. It is said that times of crisis represent both opportunity and danger. Because the mandates to change are up to the individual states, each of us in our own state has the opportunity to shift the focus in physics/science teaching toward something better. We also face the danger that existing physics/science teaching will be even more deeply entrenched than it already is. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, May 20, 2006 4:00PM - 4:12PM |
G4.00006: Helping students relate work and changes in energy Beth A. Lindsey, Paula R.L. Heron, Peter S. Shaffer, Lillian C. McDermott The first law of thermodynamics states that doing work on an otherwise isolated system will cause its energy to change. Student performance in introductory mechanics on pretest and post-test questions suggests that traditional instruction is insufficient to develop a functional understanding of this principle. At the University of Washington, the Physics Education Group has been developing research-based materials\footnote{{\it Tutorials in Introductory Physics,} L.C. McDermott, P.S. Shaffer and the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington, Prentice Hall (2002).} on these topics. We will discuss common student difficulties in applying the relationship between work and energy, and implications these have for instruction on energy conservation. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, May 20, 2006 4:12PM - 4:24PM |
G4.00007: Research as a guide for developing curricula on waves and physical optics Mila Kryjevskaia, MacKenzie R. Stetzer, Paula R.L. Heron, Lillian C. McDermott The Physics Education Group at the University of Washington has been developing and modifying research-based instructional materials on waves and physical optics for {\it Tutorials in Introductory Physics}\footnote{{\it Tutorials in Introductory Physics}, L.C. McDermott, P.S. Shaffer and the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington, Prentice Hall (2002).}. Student performance on many types of post-test questions is very good. In order to assess the effectiveness of the current tutorials, several new research questions have been administered in the calculus-based introductory course at the University of Washington. The results suggest that students need additional help with certain concepts in order to be able to apply what they have learned in tutorials in different contexts. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, May 20, 2006 4:24PM - 4:36PM |
G4.00008: Comparing Constituent Fluxes of Students into and out of Physics Majors Shem Thompson, Brian Pyper More students leave physics for non-physics majors than visa versa. We surveyed a number of students to pin point their initial reasons to major in physics and their reasons for then leaving physics as a major. Our survey was patterned after Elaine Seymour's research in her book ``Talking about Leaving'' (1) which addresses the issue of attrition in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering majors. We have found some interesting results by comparing the answers of those students who left physics as a major, those who left a different major for physics, and those who have stayed in physics. (1) E. Seymour, N. Hewitt, ``Talking About Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences,'' Westview Press (2000) [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, May 20, 2006 4:36PM - 4:48PM |
G4.00009: Threatened Because of Gender? Candice Humpherys, Brian Pyper A good deal of research has been done on the issue of stereotype threat. [1, 2] This research proposes that if a person identifies with a group of people that is negatively stereotyped for performance, then they will not perform as well as someone from the same group of people who is not made aware of the negative stereotype. The research we conducted investigates the legitimacy of stereotype threat based on gender in the area of science in the BYU-Idaho student population. Our results have significance in the current national debate about the lack of women pursuing careers in scientific disciplines. \newline \newline [1] Quinn, Diane M.; Spencer, Steven J.. (2001). The Interference of Stereotype Threat With Women's Generation of Mathematical Problem-Solving Strategies. Journal of Social Issues. 57(1):55-71. \newline [2] Schmader, Tony, {\&} Johns, Michael. (2003). Converging Evidence That Stereotype Threat Reduces Working Memory Capacity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 85(3):440-452. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, May 20, 2006 4:48PM - 5:00PM |
G4.00010: Examining student understanding of basic topics in quantum mechanics in different populations Homeyra R. Sadaghiani, Peter S. Shaffer, Lillian C. McDermott As part of an ongoing research and curriculum development effort, the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington is examining student understanding of introductory quantum mechanics. The investigation includes data from four different classes at two large research universities. Specific research questions will be used to illustrate some common problems students have in applying and interpreting basic quantum mechanical principles. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, May 20, 2006 5:00PM - 5:12PM |
G4.00011: Examples from research on the learning and teaching of quantum mechanics Andrew D. Crouse, Peter S. Shaffer, Lillian C. McDermott For the past several years, the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington has been engaged in an investigation of the learning and teaching of quantum mechanics. This study has been conducted primarily in the junior-level undergraduate quantum mechanics class at the University of Washington. It has focused on student understanding of many topics including, but not limited to: probability, stationary states, time-dependence, angular momentum, identical particles, and perturbation theory. Results from some selected research questions will be presented. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, May 20, 2006 5:12PM - 5:24PM |
G4.00012: A Tale of Two Frames: a relativistic gedankenexperiment Achin Sen A simple thought-experiment involving the analysis in only two inertial frames will be used to derive all the standard results of the special theory of relativity. Our method identifies the roles of the zeroeth, the first, and the second postulates and requires only the use of simple geometry and algebra. The approach can also be used to underscore the simplicity associated with the use of the light cone variables. The derived results include the phenomena of time dilation, length contraction, Doppler shift, the invariance of the spacetime interval, and the Lorentz transformation formula. [Preview Abstract] |
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