Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2008 Spring Meeting of the Ohio-Region Section of APS
Volume 53, Number 3
Friday–Saturday, March 28–29, 2008; Youngstown, Ohio
Session C1: Physics Education |
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Chair: Ronald Tabak, Youngstown State University Room: Moser Hall 1080 |
Saturday, March 29, 2008 8:24AM - 8:36AM |
C1.00001: The Ohio Partnership for the Far East Region Science Teachers Raymond Beiersdorfer, W. Gregg Sturrus The Ohio Partnership for Far East Region Science Teachers (OPFERST) is a three-year project funded by Federal Math Science Partnership Funds through a grant to the Ohio Dept. of Education. OPFERST is a partnership (opferst.ysu.edu) of Youngstown State University science and education faculty, trained facilitators and the county and city science consultants. Every (47) school district in the region signed on and during the first year 32 districts participated. During the first two years, 198 teachers representing Ashtabula, Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull Counties, as well as Warren City and Youngstown City schools have participated. The vision of OPFERST is to improve the teaching and learning of the Ohio Science Academic Content Standards. Project goals are: 1) Increase science content knowledge of teachers; 2) Implement effective instructional practices; 3) Improve students performance in science; and 4) Develop professional learning communities which will lead to programmatic changes within districts. Goals one through three are met by modeling inquiry-based methods for teaching science content standards. Goal four is met by ongoing meetings through-out the school year, classroom visits by YSU faculty and fieldtrips to the YSU Campus by classes led by OPFERST teachers. Evaluation of OPFERST includes demographic and classroom practice data, pre- and post-tests of participants, journals, homework and the administration of evaluation instruments with some OPFERST participants' students. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, March 29, 2008 8:36AM - 8:48AM |
C1.00002: What is most difficult for students in physics by inquiry's properties of matter? Gordon Aubrecht Several techniques were developed to track what sections of physics by inquiry's properties of matter module were most difficult for students in their own view. These techniques and their analysis allows us to see what elements of the course are the most difficult. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, March 29, 2008 8:48AM - 9:00AM |
C1.00003: Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Progress Report on SCALE-UP Physics at Penn State Erie Jonathan Hall SCALE-UP (Student Centered Activities for Large Enrollment University Programs) is a ``studio'' approach to learning developed by Bob Beichner at North Carolina State University. SCALE-UP was adapted for teaching and learning in the introductory calculus-based mechanics course at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, starting in Spring 2007. We are presently doing quantitative and qualitative research on using inquiry-based learning with first year college students, in particular how it effects female students and students from groups that are traditionally under-represented in STEM fields. Using field notes of observations of the classes, focus groups, and the collection of quantitative data, the feedback generated by the research is also being used to improve the delivery of the course, and in the planning of adopting SCALE-UP to the second semester course on electromagnetism in the Fall 2008 semester. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, March 29, 2008 9:00AM - 9:12AM |
C1.00004: A Classroom Martian Rover Todd Brown, Katrina Brown Simulating actual space missions beyond computer programs is a challenge for school programs. NASA's current and highly successful Mars Exploration Rovers allows for a classroom equivalent to be made to provide an inexpensive and informative demonstration concerning the perils of extreme off road navigation by remote control. The classroom rover provides an additional opportunity for teachers to easily simulate the perils of alien terrain analysis, the need for stereo (3-D) vision as well as demonstrate the need for teamwork and advance planning. I used a mock Mars Rover in my introductory natural science course geared towards non-science majors at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. It provided a laboratory-like ending to my section about Solar System exploration. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, March 29, 2008 9:12AM - 9:24AM |
C1.00005: A linux-based lock-in amplifier Bryan O'Gorman Small signal recovery based on phase sensitive detection techniques are key to many laboratory measurements. Ideally more students in the science classroom should be exposed to the utility of this so-called `lock-in' detection method, however commercial instruments that perform this are generally expensive and not student friendly. In this talk I will describe a free-ware implementation of lock-in detection using rather generic PC soundcards on any PC running linux. Although limited to audio frequencies, we give examples of the use of this lock-in in an undergraduate laboratory, give a preliminary measurement of its typical noise floor, and describe our efforts and ideas to make the user interface student-friendly. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, March 29, 2008 9:24AM - 9:36AM |
C1.00006: Journey to the Center of the Earth Ronald G. Tabak Since at least 1898, a problem concerning the time an object would take to travel along an Earth diameter (or a chord) has been appearing in general physics and mechanics books. However, it is always assumed that the density of the Earth is constant and it is not rotating. Using an actual geophysical model of the Earth's interior and a simple spreadsheet formulation, a more reasonable figure of 38 minutes (one way) is determined, compared to 42 minutes for the homogeneous Earth. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, March 29, 2008 9:36AM - 9:48AM |
C1.00007: Does an intelligent tutor homework system encourage beneficial collaboration? Brett van de Sande, Robert Hausmann Physics instructors agree that homework assignments are an integral part of physics instruction. When students complete their assignments, we know they may work individually or in small groups. Unfortunately, most computer-based homework systems are structured for individual learners. In particular, these systems only evaluate the final answer, putting pressure on any students working in groups to engage in copying. In contrast, Andes is an intelligent tutor homework helper that requires students to show intermediate steps when solving a problem. Andes has been used successfully by instructors at several colleges and high schools. In order to investigate collaborative versus individual problem solving, we conducted a lab study where we recorded verbal self-explanations and logged solution steps as individuals and student pairs used Andes to solve a set of problems. We found that students working in pairs relied less on the tutor's hints and engaged in collaborative sense-making. Implications for instructional practices are discussed. [Preview Abstract] |
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