Session S01: Physics Education II

Strategies for STEM Inclusiveness

Of all STEM fields, physics is severely lacking in diversity and representation of STEM minority students, including women. A few strategies can be used to increase the interest of these students in K-12 schooling to show them the possibilities of a physics career and steer them towards pursuing an undergraduate physics degree. While these strategies are geared for physics, they can be reworked to increase the interest in all STEM fields.   

Culturally Responsive Teaching in Physics

The successes attained in Physics at Godby can be attributed to culturally responsive teaching. Culturally responsive teaching starts with getting to know my students and building relationships with them. Factors such as socioeconomic status, educational expectations, student interests and experiences have played a key role in enhancing the teacher-student relationship. Building such relationships has allowed me to better personalize the learning experience and have better equipped me with meeting the students’ needs.   

Creating interesting computer simulations with Excel

I will describe a student project that involved creating computer simulations using Excel for some fairly complex physical situations. These include falling through the Earth using an accurate model for the density of the earth (since the density of the Earth actually varies a lot as a function of depth); and falling from the top of the stratosphere using an accurate model of the atmosphere (since the density of the atmosphere also varies a lot as a function of altitude). These simulations are based upon materials that already existed in the PICUP Collection (https://www.compadre.org/PICUP/), and these Excel implementations are being added to the PICUP Collection. The motivation for creating these Excel implementations is to allow these interesting topics to become accessible to students who might not have experience using a procedural programming language.   

Experimental Observation of Bifurcations in a Driven Damped Pendulum

To observe and study chaotic motion, the PASCO Driven Damped Harmonic Oscillations Experiment EX-5522A apparatus was used. The setup was extensively studied (see, Robert DeSerio, American Journal of Physics 71, 250 (2003)). The goal of our study was to experimentally observe bifurcations using available PASCO apparatus which was upgraded using Rotary Motion Sensor CI-6538, which measures angles to a resolution of 0.09 degrees. Using obtained experimental data, bifurcations were analyzed to observe a clearer image of the patterns of periodicity and chaos within the system.