Bulletin of the American Physical Society
Spring 2017 Joint Meeting of the Texas Section of AAPT, Texas Section of APS, and Zone 13 of the Society of Physics Students
Volume 62, Number 3
Thursday–Saturday, March 9–11, 2017; San Antonio, Texas
Session C1: General Session I |
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Sponsoring Units: AAPT Chair: Beverly Trina Cannon, Eastfield College Room: Oppenheimer OC 108 |
Friday, March 10, 2017 1:15PM - 1:27PM |
C1.00001: AAPT Board Update Invited Speaker: Gordon Ramsey The American Association of Physics Teachers is participating in numerous projects that affect physics teaching at all levels. From teacher training to curriculum development to outreach programs for students and the general public, there is a tremendous involvement of the Board, staff and membership to conduct these activities. We are holding workshops at national meetings for grades 9-12 and two-year and four-year colleges. The plan is to extend this to outreach programs for grades 5-8 teachers. Our publications continue to be of high quality and of great use to physics educators around the world. Richard Price (MIT) has assumed the position of Editor of AJP, replacing David Jackson. Our challenge is to keep the journals' high quality, while generating appropriate revenue to keep them healthy. We plan to increase communication and exchanges with other worldwide physics education organizations. AAPT staff are updating our Web site to make the contents even more useful to the world of physics educators. We are continually adding material to COMPadre on the site, which has materials and information that are used by physics educators worldwide. I will outline some of the key projects in progress and some being proposed to affect physics education worldwide. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 10, 2017 1:27PM - 1:39PM |
C1.00002: UTeach Maker Physics Jill Marshall, Jason Harron The Maker Movement, publicized by Make Magazine and Maker Faires now happening across the US, has begun to make inroads into STEM education. Maker Spaces, where students have access to technological tools and a safe environment in which to create, are appearing in many public schools and other locations accessible to teachers. A recent Noyce teacher preparation grant to the UTeach program at the University of Texas at Austin aims to investigate the effect of incorporating Making into pre-service teacher education. I will report on the incorporation of a Maker strand into a class using the University of Washington Physics by Inquiry curriculum (McDermott et al., 1996). I used a project-developed framework and rubric to evaluate the Maker projects and will present a first look at the effect on student learning of optics and circuits. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 10, 2017 1:39PM - 1:51PM |
C1.00003: Introductory Physics Students' Epistemological Resources - Group Differences Erin Scanlon A qualitative investigation was conducted to determine the epistemological resources (Hammer & Elby, 2001) employed by introductory physics students while solving mathematics and physics problems. Students enrolled in introductory, algebra-based physics were observed solving problems during the laboratory portion of the course as well as during one-on-one office hour sessions. The epistemological resources used and their associated usage patterns were investigated by analyzing transcripts of the students' discussions. The epistemological resources were identified using emergent coding and by implementing an operationalized coding scheme from Jones (2015). Differences between students disaggregated by their mathematics and science prior experience were identified. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 10, 2017 1:51PM - 2:03PM |
C1.00004: Statistical Correlations between Introductory Physics and Performance in Engineering Courses Jonathan Perry, William Bassichis, Tatiana Erukhimova Introductory physics forms part of the foundation of knowledge for all engineering majors, independent of field, or institution. Instruction of introductory physics courses can vary greatly due to professor, textbook, and overall course design. Using academic records for more than 50,000 engineering majors over the past two decades, this work seeks to build an understanding of the statistical correlations between performance in introductory courses, specifically physics, and the follow-on engineering courses, overall GPA, retention, and matriculation rates. This work specifically focus on variations in student performance based on whether their introductory physics credits were earns through high school credit, transfer credit from another institution, or completion of either of the two types of introductory physics offered at Texas A{\&}M University. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 10, 2017 2:03PM - 2:15PM |
C1.00005: Longitudinal Visualizations of Testing Data Sarah Stephens Due to the substantial amount of standardized testing data collected, there is a need for accurate and coherent data visualization to determine longitudinal patterns in the data and the effectiveness of academic policy changes. Specifically, we would like to develop new methods to analyze the data set collected by the Texas Education Research Center. Building on the visualization techniques of Bendinelli, et al.~\footnotemark, we have developed a new visualization method, ``modified streamlines", that minimizes the effects of regression to the mean and can accurately predict student outcomes with only three years of data. The ability to anticipate the future performance of a group of students in just a few years will allow policy makers to infer the long-term outcomes of new policies in a reasonable time-frame. \footnotetext{Bendinelli, Anthony J., Michael Marder. “Visualization of Longitudinal Student Data.” Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 8, 020119 (2012).} [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 10, 2017 2:15PM - 2:27PM |
C1.00006: New Video Resource for Calculus-based Introductory Physics at TAMU Jonathan Perry, William Bassichis, Tatiana Erukhimova Use of videos as an additional component of education has been on a continual rise in recent years. Video engagement as an instructional technique can be beneficial if the material is designed at an appropriate level, and presented in an accessible manner. Many existing, popular resources have content designed for algebra based courses, which are not suitable for STEM majors in calculus based introductory physics. This work consists of the development of a new set of online video resources being developed at Texas A{\&}M University to exhibit the fundamental physical concepts, laws, and equations in a manner appropriate for calculus based physics courses at any institution, independent of textbook. Information about the development, deployment, and early analysis on the effectiveness of these videos modules will be presented for modules deployed during the fall term of 2016, and those modules deployed so far during the spring 2017 term. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 10, 2017 2:27PM - 2:39PM |
C1.00007: Teaching Teachers Evan Richards Physical Science is a course that education majors at Lee College can take toward satisfying their required science electives. Recently, I decided to augment the course by integrating in elements of a survey on Physics Education Research reforms. After making such changes, interest in the course dramatically increased. In this talk, I'll discuss these changes to the course. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 10, 2017 2:39PM - 2:51PM |
C1.00008: Lessons Learned from the Last 200 Planetarium Education Research Dissertations Timothy Slater The synthesis-oriented literature review is a ubiquitous component of any comprehensive science research program. Few scholars would argue against the notion that discipline-based astronomy education research studies need be firmly situated within the existing scholarly landscape in order to establish relevance and theoretical underpinnings. Yet, some well-meaning journal reviewers have proposed all references and citations should focus first on recent papers published within the last five years. Such a constraint is often welcomed by nascent researchers, as it dramatically limits the scope of literature that must be surveyed. At the same time, some reviewers admonish writers to focus only on peer-reviewed journal articles at the expense of looking at unpublished dissertations. Through the $i$STAR \underline {i}nternational \underline {ST}udy of \underline {A}stronomy education \underline {R}esearch project at istardatabase.org, we have found more than 200 dissertations on planetarium education research from the last 100-years, which yield results largely unpublished in journals providing insight into longstanding planetarium education efforts. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 10, 2017 2:51PM - 3:03PM |
C1.00009: Studio Physics at a State University Kausar Yasmin Studio Physics at a State University. Studio format of introductory Physics course for non-Physics majors will be presented. The effect of interactive format with hands on experience on students’ participation and learning in large enrollment classes will be discussed. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 10, 2017 3:03PM - 3:15PM |
C1.00010: Physics Program Enrollment in MS Physics Programs Samina Masood We discuss enrollment issues in Physics programs and discuss the role of administration to make it more challenging to keep growing the Physics program. We also discuss a few successful moves which helped to increase enrollment regardless of all dips in the enrollment and other budget cuts. [Preview Abstract] |
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