Bulletin of the American Physical Society
Joint Fall 2017 Meeting of the Texas Section of the APS, Texas Section of the AAPT, and Zone 13 of the Society of Physics Students
Volume 62, Number 16
Friday–Saturday, October 20–21, 2017; The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas
Session N7: Physics Education |
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Chair: Lunjin Chen, University of Texas at Dallas Room: JSOM 1.117 |
Saturday, October 21, 2017 2:30PM - 2:42PM |
N7.00001: Development and Initial Deployment of a Graphic Editor for GlowScript VPython Hunter Close, Cody Blakeney, Michael Dube, Elliot Hauser, Brian Marks In order to decrease the slope of the learning curve for students who are beginning computational modeling in physics, education researchers in the Department of Physics at Texas State University partnered with the educational technology company Trinket to develop a block-based editor for GlowScript VPython. This editor, 'GlowScript Blocks', has now been deployed in courses for physics students at Texas State. Key features of the blocks will be demonstrated. A course of instruction was also developed using a model-emulation framework, in which students edit a program to match the output of a program with a hidden script. This free product is currently planned for public release in January 2018. GlowScript Blocks tool: https://trinket.io/glowscript-blocks Course: https://trinket.io/txst\_phys/courses/introduction-to-using-glowscript-blocks-for-mechanics [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, October 21, 2017 2:42PM - 2:54PM |
N7.00002: Initial Observations of Student Use of GlowScript Blocks in Introductory Mechanics Kushal Das, Aaron Collins, Hunter Close In Fall 2017, the Physics Department at Texas State University introduced computational modeling into Introductory Mechanics using the newly developed GlowScript Blocks platform. Students work on the tutorial during the first 30 minutes of their laboratory sessions. The overall goal of this addendum to the laboratory course is to enhance student engagement with and positive feelings about computational modeling in physics. The program is also intended to build familiarity with some concepts from computational modeling in physics and prepare physics majors and minors for more formal instruction in computation throughout the undergraduate physics curriculum. We will discuss the structure of the program and present our observations of various effects it appears to have on students. We will also present some data on student perceptions of the activities. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, October 21, 2017 2:54PM - 3:06PM |
N7.00003: A metric for measuring the constancy of item response curves Paul Walter For common assessments, such as the Force Concept Inventory (FCI), we can construct item response curves (IRCs) for each item that show the percentage of students that select each answer choice as a function of overall score. Using IRCs we can test how well items of the concept inventory are functioning in terms of whether certain answer choices are effectively serving as distractors and how many answer choices are truly being selected. We can also rank the answer choices for each item from worst to best. This was done in prior work to construct transition matrices for the FCI were instructions can observe the transitions the students are making as a result of instruction—even when they select a wrong answer on both the pre-test and post-test. One question that came from that work was whether how the answer choices were ranked would depend on the population, i.e., whether the IRCs remained constant for different populations. This work outlines a method that allows for effectively comparing the IRCs between two populations. We apply the method to a set of 12,803 responses to the 25-item Science Literacy Concept Inventory (SLCI). [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, October 21, 2017 3:06PM - 3:18PM |
N7.00004: Vertical Course Alignment between Introductory Physics and Sophomore Engineering Courses Jonathan Perry, Tatiana Erukhimova, William Bassichis Introductory physics forms a significant part of the foundation of knowledge for engineering disciplines, and as such it is vital that courses be well aligned within the progression of undergraduate curriculum. This work begins from a perceived misalignment of course content in introductory physics relative to sophomore level engineering courses. Inventories of concepts and mathematical skills used in problem solving are done by the creation of a Q-matrix for three versions of introductory physics and two follow-on engineering courses at Texas A{\&}M University (TAMU). Alignment of course content is investigated using direct comparison and principal component analysis. Using grades received in introductory physics, paired with q-matrices, this work endeavors to create a model for student scores in subsequent engineering courses using item response theory, incorporating guess and slip parameters, as an additional evaluative measure. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, October 21, 2017 3:18PM - 3:30PM |
N7.00005: Scaffolded Training Environment for Physics Programming (STEPP) Midori Kitagawa, Micheal Kesden, Paul Finshwick, Mary Urquhart, Rosanna Guadagno Scaffolded Training Environment for Physics Programming (STEPP) in which students learn physics and computational thinking (CT) synergistically through Finite State Machines (FSMs)by creating their own simulation tools. FSMs are a method for state-based modeling and have been used to design algorithms and teach programming and engineering. FSMs are effective in teaching CT because they help students to learn integral elements of CT, such as iterative thinking and conditional logic. Scaffolding and programing with FSMs will allow students to focus on aspects of programming that complement the physics learning process. Our hypothesis is that by constructing their own simulation tools, students learning with STEPP will master physics concepts and CT more successfully than students learning with pre-made simulation tools. We are creating three STEPP modules with learning content that aligns with Texas's standards and NGSS. A summer institute will be held for in-service and pre-service teachers to learn STEPP and incorporate it into their own curricula. The STEPP modules will be tested at high schools in local ISDs. Students' gain in physics knowledge will be measured by the Force Concept Inventory and their gain in CT, state-based modeling, and programming concepts will be assessed by rubrics developed in collaboration with high school teachers. [Preview Abstract] |
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