Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2019 Joint Fall Meeting of the Texas Sections of APS, AAPT and Zone 13 of the SPS
Volume 64, Number 18
Friday–Saturday, October 25–26, 2019; Lubbock, Texas
Session F04: Physics Education Research and SPS II |
Hide Abstracts |
Chair: Steven Ball, LeTourneau University Room: Student Union Building Playa Room |
Friday, October 25, 2019 4:00PM - 4:12PM |
F04.00001: Impact Assessment of Active Learning in Physics and Comparison with Meta-Analyses A. Ibrahim, N. Sulieman, I. Ali We investigate the impact of a 2-year implementation of active learning in five undergraduate physics courses. The study involves 2105 students from various majors and colleges in a total of 18 course offerings, 8 in active learning and 10 in traditional teaching (as reference), taught by 14 course instructors and 37 tutorial and lab staff. The courses covered introductory, mid-, and upper-level courses, with a class size in the 50-120 range in introductory-level and 10-20 in the upper-level. All the interactive teaching is carried out using freely available technology. We find an overall enhancement in the student performance at a Hedges' g effect size of 0.48 \textpm 0.04, corresponding to a GPA enhancement of 0.37 that would shift the overall average from C to C$+$. The average failure rate is significantly reduced from 21.49{\%} under traditional teaching to 7.21{\%} under active teaching, which corresponds to an Odds Ratio of failure of 3.52. Our results on g are comparable to the meta-analysis studies by Ruiz-Primo et al (2011) and Freeman et al (2014), but our reduction of the failure rate is larger. We find a negative correlation between the Risk Ratio and the effect size with the lowest risk occurring at the highest effect size. Our study shows that while active learning benefits most students, low-performing students appear to benefit the most. The results of this study have economic and policy implications and may give impetus for implementing active learning within regional institutes. -/abstract- Freeman S et al (2014), Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics, PNAS 111 (23) 8410. Ruiz-Primo M A et al (2011) Impact of undergraduate science course innovations on learning. Science 33 [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 25, 2019 4:12PM - 4:24PM |
F04.00002: Integrated Physics Identities of Women of Color and LGBQ+ Women Physicists at MSIs Xandria Quichocho, Jessica Conn, Erin Schipull, Eleanor Close Historically, the research on identity in Physic Education Research (PER) has been conducted at Predominately White Institutions on predominately White students. Investigations on underrepresented students, traditionally defined as White women and racial/ethnic minorities, have often studied the two populations separately, largely ignoring the unique intersection experienced by women of color. The experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) women in physics have also not been explored in PER.\\ \\This presentation will focus on a singular theme shared between women of color, LGBTQ+ women, and women who embody the intersection of these identities, found from an overarching project examining their identity development. We will be presenting themes from these women’s narratives about their experiences attending conferences like the Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, and how it helped them develop their identities as researchers and physicists. After applying a critical lens and the concept of intersectionality to these narratives, the research team found that these spaces can exist in the margins of traditional physics culture and allow the attendees to develop mentor and peer relationships with each other that they will not have otherwise. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 25, 2019 4:24PM - 4:36PM |
F04.00003: Developing an Apparatus for Investigating Radiation Heat Flow Wade Cookston, Calvin Berggren Conceptually understanding radiation heat flow can often be difficult, because it is a unique type of heat flow. This difficulty in understanding calls for a means of effectively demonstrating radiation, and allowing students to explore it as well. In order to do this, I constructed an apparatus that allows for the development of experiments that explore radiation. Our first experiment that is in development focuses on testing the effectiveness of reflective insulation under various conditions. One of the primary benefits of this apparatus is the diverse number of potential experiments that the users would be able to partake in through the use of temperature sensors to map the temperature inside the simulated attic space, varying the environment in which data is taken, and taking data with other various sensors (e.g., light atmospheric pressure, etc.). There is also a large potential for datamining, which will allow for students to practice not only collecting, but also handling and analyzing large swaths of data. Going forward, conducting this experiment and developing others will be the topic of my senior thesis. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 25, 2019 4:36PM - 4:48PM |
F04.00004: AC and DC Coupling for Biopotential Amplification Mary Fox, Sarah Evans, Arthur Sweeney, Jacob Moldenhauer, Drew Stenesen Different electrophysiological studies require the retention of different information from the detector being used. For example, electrocardiogram (EKG) tests only require that the voltage amplitude and frequency of heart beats be recorded, and therefore use alternating current (AC) coupled amplifiers, as these signals represent AC signals such as sine waves. Electroretinograms (ERG) demand that the duration of stimulation of photoreceptors in the retina be retained, resulting in the need for a direct current (DC) coupled amplifier to detect sustained potential. AC and DC amplifiers were compared for their ability to make useful ERG measurements. The following amplifiers were tested: Vernier EKG detector, OpenBCI Ganglion, and Warner Instruments Intracellular Electrometer. They were tested on live fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, whose photoreceptors in the retina were excited by a flashing LED at constant frequency. The methods for testing these devices are described and the results of the tests are discussed. The Vernier EKG Detector was shown to be the least useful in the detection of Drosophila ERGs as it uses a strictly AC coupled amplifier, while the OpenBCI Ganglion was shown to make good quality ERG detections at specific frequencies. The Warner Electrometer, the standard in biology circles, proved to be the best instrument for the job, showing useable ERGs more consistently than the Ganglion. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 25, 2019 4:48PM - 5:00PM |
F04.00005: The Quality Control Test of Two ASICs For the ATLAS Liquid Argon Calorimeter Phase-I Upgrade Zhengguang Wang The goal of this research is to control the quality of two ASICs (application specific integrated circuits) for the ATLAS system upgrade. In this research the targeted chips are LOCx2 and LOCId. Both are designed and fabricated in SMU. They are specifically for the ALTAS Liquid Argon Calorimeter (Lar) Phase-I trigger upgrade, where Lar provides precision measurements of photons and electrons and played an important role in the discovery of the Higgs Boson. We made a unique setup for the quality experiment of both ASICs. For LOCId, the main focus is the current in different channel. Several issues could happen to fail the quality test, including the short current, I2C error and Eye-Mask error. We had a resultant yield of 73.9{\%}. About 5300 out of 7000 chips passed the quality control. For LOCx2, eye-mask and BER are checked during the experiment. 7000 chips are tested in total. 74{\%} of them passed the eye diagram. The one passed the eye-diagram are then being tested with BER test setup and 80{\%} of them passed the second test. The eventual yield of LOCX2 QC test is 59{\%}. In general, we have completed the QC test for 7000 LOCId and 7000 LOCx2. LOCId test has been done and the QC test for LOCx2 is still ongoing. [Preview Abstract] |
Follow Us |
Engage
Become an APS Member |
My APS
Renew Membership |
Information for |
About APSThe American Physical Society (APS) is a non-profit membership organization working to advance the knowledge of physics. |
© 2024 American Physical Society
| All rights reserved | Terms of Use
| Contact Us
Headquarters
1 Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844
(301) 209-3200
Editorial Office
100 Motor Pkwy, Suite 110, Hauppauge, NY 11788
(631) 591-4000
Office of Public Affairs
529 14th St NW, Suite 1050, Washington, D.C. 20045-2001
(202) 662-8700