Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS March Meeting 2021
Volume 66, Number 1
Monday–Friday, March 15–19, 2021; Virtual; Time Zone: Central Daylight Time, USA
Session J01: Excellent Laboratory Education for online and in-person teaching: Jonathan F. Reichert and Barbara Wolff-Reichert Award SessionEducation Invited Live Prize/Award Undergrad Friendly
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Sponsoring Units: FED Chair: Catherine Crouch, Swarthmore College |
Tuesday, March 16, 2021 3:00PM - 3:36PM Live |
J01.00001: Jonathan F. Reichert and Barbara Wolff-Reichert Award for Excellence in Advanced Laboratory Instruction (2020): Labs to teach quantum physics: In-person and remote Invited Speaker: Enrique Galvez Advances in optical technology have brought new opportunities for offering table-top laboratories to teach quantum physics. Photon labs offer demonstrations of fundamental questions about quantum mechanics, such as superposition and entanglement. Our recent additions to this curriculum include fundamental topics such as delayed choice, where the decision to observe of the particle or wave aspect of a photon going through an interferometer is made after the photon is detected. A recent lab on a quantum-applied topic involves demonstrating quantum key distribution with entangled photons. We have also implemented these labs remotely, where the apparatus is viewed and controlled via remote desktop. This allows more students to do experiments with the same setup. We are currently investigating a wave-mechanics demonstration that uses spatial light modulation and the similarity between Helmholtz and Schrodinger equations to highlight quantum mechanics of the simple pendulum. |
Tuesday, March 16, 2021 3:36PM - 4:12PM Live |
J01.00002: Jonathan F. Reichert and Barbara Wolff-Reichert Award for Excellence in Advanced Laboratory Instruction Talk (2021): Starting From Scratch - Development of an upper level physics laboratory sequence Invited Speaker: Linda Barton It can be a daunting task to create or overhaul a departmental physics laboratory curriculum. Often, one is confronted with inadequate or non-existent budgets, antiquated or non-existent equipment, inadequate or non-existent technical support, and other obstacles. However, physics remains a quantitative description of reality. Thus, we need to teach students how to measure physical phenomena, analyze and interpret results, and present those results. Students frequently have little experience tinkering and trying to develop measurements, or pushing data to extract every bit of information. While more subtle than specific technical competencies, the attitude and the “style” of an experimentalist also needs to be developed in our students. In this talk, I will review some of the tactics we’ve used to develop a robust upper level lab curriculum, and provide some suggestions of incremental steps for programs starting from an empty room with few resources. |
Tuesday, March 16, 2021 4:12PM - 4:48PM Live |
J01.00003: Testing Bell inequalities and calculating spin correlations with IBM quantum processors Invited Speaker: Jed Brody IBM quantum processors, accessed online for free, are ideal for remote learning. Students learn to design, analyze, and run quantum circuits on real devices; to use Kronecker products, the Bloch sphere, and basis transformations to obtain testable predictions; and to test Bell inequalities and grapple with their significance. These are core skills in the burgeoning and potentially transformative field of quantum computing. |
Tuesday, March 16, 2021 4:48PM - 5:24PM Live |
J01.00004: Constraints in Physics Lab Courses: the Good, the Bad, and the Pandemic Invited Speaker: Forrest Bradbury Lab courses teach students that managing constraints is integral to scientific experimentation. For instance, while constraints on integration time, sampling rate, and measurement precision can all lead to higher measurement uncertainties, a clever experimental design can lower uncertainties by constraining environmental noise. Students must also understand the constraints that approximate mathematical models have in describing physical systems. |
Tuesday, March 16, 2021 5:24PM - 6:00PM Live |
J01.00005: Advanced Laboratory Instruction for a 21st Century Workforce Invited Speaker: Daniel Borrero Despite a slew of pedagogical and curricular innovations that have been introduced over past 20 years, the actual content of the Physics curriculum overall has remained staunchly static. In a way, this makes sense. Maxwell and Newton were Maxwell and Newton 50 years ago and will (in all likelihood) be Maxwell and Newton 50 years from now. Understanding them well is central to a good Physics education. However, as highlighted by the APS/AAPT Joint Taskforce on Undergraduate Physics Programs's (JTUPP's) Phys21 report, the grand majority of Physics majors will not go on to pursue a career in academic physics. Instead, most students end up following engineering and computer-related careers in the private sector. While a Physics education gives students broad technical training, mental flexibility, and an ability to solve problems in a variety of fields that are sought after in industry, surveys of hiring managers and recent graduates find that physics majors would benefit from increased exposure to the technologies and computational analysis tools used in industry. In this talk, I will discuss my thoughts on why the hands-on environment of advanced laboratory courses is an ideal place to introduce students to the broad array of tools and technologies used in industry and to teach students skills that do not fit neatly into other parts of the curriculum. I will also discuss the role that that industry-standard computational tools like finite-element modeling software can play in the advanced laboratory, especially in the era of remote teaching and learning. |
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