Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2018 Annual Meeting of the APS Four Corners Section
Volume 63, Number 16
Friday–Saturday, October 12–13, 2018; University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Session L08: Physics Education |
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Chair: Claudia DeGrandi, University of Utah Room: CSC 13 |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 11:20AM - 11:44AM |
L08.00001: Unpacking science identity through the lens of the listening subject: Implications for language, race, and gender-based equity in physics education. Invited Speaker: Sarah K. Braden In recognition of inextricable links between content learning and social identification, over the past decade STEM education researchers with interests in promoting equity have taken up science identity and identity construction processes as fruitful areas of research. However, much work focuses on identities as held or performed by individuals with less attention given to examining how those individuals are perceived by others and interact with others while learning science. This paper examines the identities-in-practice (Varelas, Martin & Kane, 2013) of three Spanish-English bilingual Latina high school students as they engaged in physics labs over the course of one academic year. Analysis draws on 8 months of ethnographic field work with data sources including classroom artifacts, student interviews, and audio and video recordings of classroom interactions. Inoue’s (2006) notion of the “listening subject” is applied here to reveal the ways in which students co-construct identities related to science expertise and to demonstrate how adolescents interweave their language-based, racial, and gender identities with their construction of disciplinary or science-based identities. Findings suggest peer group interactions can lead to the marginalization of students who are traditionally underrepresented in science professions. Implications for promoting equity in physics education will be discussed. |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 11:44AM - 12:08PM |
L08.00002: Incorporating Materials Research into Undergraduate Education Invited Speaker: Kristin Rabosky Materials research is an interdisciplinary field with a wide range of applications of interest to undergraduate physics students. When employed in an undergraduate program, it can be a useful tool to transition students from undergraduate work to graduate level or industry opportunities. Two pathways exist for incorporating materials research into an undergraduate education: through courses and through independent undergraduate research. At Weber State University (WSU), we are employing course based undergraduate research experiences into both our lower division and upper division laboratories. In our lower division laboratory, we have incorporated a thin film materials lab in place of our traditional diffraction and interference laboratory. While we retain pieces of the traditional lab, students are able to use thin films to explore topics in modern technology like anti-reflection coatings (ARC), transistors, and smartphone touchscreens. SiO2 films sputtered in-house at WSU are used as the basis for the ARC. At the upper division level, we employ a full materials characterization laboratory course, giving students the opportunity to study and perform a variety of characterization techniques, sputter thin films, and create a final project. In addition to course work, independent undergraduate research can be a vehicle for providing data analysis, management, and handling experience vital to a variety of career pathways. We have a selective absorber for solar water heating project involving multiple undergraduate students. In this project, Mo/SiO2 thin films are co-deposited through RF sputtering and analyzed using scanning electron microscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, and emissivity measurements. The films are incorporated into a solar water heating system for device testing. We will be discussing the preliminary results from this project. |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 12:08PM - 12:20PM |
L08.00003: Adding Value to the Advanced Lab Rudi Michalak The advanced lab is a staple in many physics curricula. Nonetheless it is in many places under constant threat of extinction because college administration does not see the value, costs are high, and external funding is difficult to obtain. Thus, adding value to the advanced lab is desirable. At the University of Wyoming I have developed our advanced lab into an assessment machine – a fact that is valued by our administration – and into a course that allows for modern forms of teaching and learning, an area into which our university has been investing massively. In addition, I have made the advanced lab part of our University Studies Program course sequence (USP), opening possibilities for new lines of internal funding and shifting departmental funding priorities. The assessment in the course is done through a Bloom's Taxonomy based extensive rubric which is fed by data from oral prelabs, oral examinations, lab reports, and interactive lectures. The USP criteria involve the development of oral communication and writing in the profession skills. An English department PhD project uses the lab to investigate contemporary questions of writing in the professions. |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 12:20PM - 12:32PM |
L08.00004: Laboratory Experiments for an Introductory Nanotechnology Curriculum Scott Alexander Kaiser, Paul Weber We are developing several laboratory experiments for an associate level nanotechnology course at Utah Valley University. The purpose of these experiments is to further the students understanding of the techniques and processes used in industry to create nanotechnology devices. These experiments will be performed by students in both virtual reality and in a laboratory setting without the use of a clean room. The student will learn about size and scale at the micro and nanometer levels, scanning electron microscopy and optical profiler techniques, electron beam lithography, photolithography, soft-lithography with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), and microfluidic devices. These exercises will provide the student with measurement experience at the micro/nanoscale level, as well as experience creating micro-sized devices with simple methods, while introducing the student to working in cleanroom environments. Together, these laboratory experiments and virtual reality exercises introduce students to techniques used in nanotechnology that will help pique their interests toward potential STEM careers where they can innovate and create new and useful devices and applications. |
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