Bulletin of the American Physical Society
83rd Annual Meeting of the APS Southeastern Section
Volume 61, Number 19
Thursday–Saturday, November 10–12, 2016; Charlottesville, Virginia
Session L4: Physics Education |
Hide Abstracts |
Chair: John Simonetti, Virginia Tech University Room: Preston Room |
Saturday, November 12, 2016 8:30AM - 9:00AM |
L4.00001: Smartphones in Labs Don't Have to Be "Black Boxes" Invited Speaker: Colleen Countryman The internal sensors within students' smartphones can be used to collect data in introductory mechanics labs. Our free "MyTech" app provides students with meaningful laboratory experiences that positively impact their attitudes about physics. Our project includes the development of a curriculum, the creation of a mobile app, and the determination of the impact of students' smartphones on their learning of physics concepts, attitudes regarding their laboratory experience and use of the devices outside of class. In addition to enhanced abilities to make "real world connections," students using the MyTech app were also more adept at describing how their laboratory equipment collected data when using the smartphone app and its corresponding curriculum. We posit the reasoning for this improved understanding of how the devices collect data. We will discuss these results and how instructors can utilize the app and curriculum in their own classroom. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, November 12, 2016 9:00AM - 9:30AM |
L4.00002: A new IPLS course: From design to dissemination. Invited Speaker: David Smith At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, we have finished the complete transformation of our large-enrollment two-course sequence of introductory physics for life science majors. Both courses are now taught in the integrated lecture/studio format and use biological phenomena to motivate the physics. Across both courses, we have created a suite of 54 active-engagement modules, each consisting of studio activities, an interactive lecture, and assessment questions, all of which have been developed using the findings and best practices from PER. This suite includes materials for many topics that are important for life science majors, but are not part of the traditional introductory physics curriculum, including stress and strain, diffusion, chemical energy, and life at low Reynolds numbers. In this talk, we will provide an overview of what these two courses now look like, how we implement our curricula, the challenges we overcame during the development process, and our plans for dissemination. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, November 12, 2016 9:30AM - 10:00AM |
L4.00003: Introductory Sequence Reform at James Madison University Invited Speaker: Scott Paulson We have implemented a ``flippe'' classroom for our calculus-based introductory physics sequence.~ The course has been delivered by 7 instructors to approximately 700 students. Prior to "flipping," different sections were in various stages of reform, though all included some degree of interactive engagement. We have seen multiple benefits to our course reform with improved student outcomes being the most notable. In our flipped courses we also have much greater uniformity across sections in terms of content coverage. Student attitudes and outcomes will be discussed in light of data from end of semester evaluations and FCI pre/post tests [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, November 12, 2016 10:00AM - 10:30AM |
L4.00004: Nanobiophysics for First-Year Non-Majors Invited Speaker: Michael Falvo The nanobiological world is rich with physics, from the polymer physics of proteins and the cytoskeleton, to the thermodynamics of molecular motors, to the highly non-linear mechanical properties of cells. How cells and proteins behave on a physical level has become the focus of an increasingly exciting and dynamic area of cutting edge research. The physics of biology is also an important context for encouraging those undergraduate students who are otherwise reluctant to engage in physics, to take a closer look. I designed and currently teach a First Year Seminar on nanoscience at UNC that is open to all students including non-science majors. One of the overarching goals of the course is to impart on the students an understanding of how the nanoscale is fundamentally different than our human scale in terms of what physical processes are dominant (e.g. thermal forces, intermolecular interactions). I will present my strategies of introducing the concepts free energy and entropy, and applications of those concepts to biopolymer dynamics (protein folding) and molecular bond stability. I have found that simple lattice model problem sets and simulations help students gain a good grounding in the basic concepts of free energy. I will present an overview of my course, the challenges I've faced, and how I've addressed them. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, November 12, 2016 10:30AM - 11:00AM |
L4.00005: Efficient Generation and Use of Power Series for Broad Application. Invited Speaker: Joseph Rudmin A brief overview of the Parker-Sockacki Method of Power Series generation is presented. This method generates power series to order $n$ in time $n^{2}$ for any system of differential equations that has a power series solution. The method is simple enough that novices to differential equations can easily learn it and immediately apply it. Maximal absolute error estimates allow one to determine the number of terms needed to reach desired accuracy. Ratios of coefficients in a solution with global convergence differ significantly from that for a solution with only local convergence. Divergence of the series prevents one from overlooking poles. The method can always be cast in polynomial form, which allows separation of variables, facilitating exploration of hidden symmetries. [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