Bulletin of the American Physical Society
Fall 2015 Joint Meeting of the Texas Section of the AAPT, Texas Section of the APS and Zone 13 of the Society of Physics Students
Volume 60, Number 15
Thursday–Saturday, October 29–31, 2015; Waco, Texas
Session F6: AAPT - Physics Education I |
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Chair: Jill Marshall, University of Texas at Austin Room: E.125 |
Friday, October 30, 2015 1:30PM - 2:00PM |
F6.00001: The 75th Anniversary of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse Invited Speaker: Donald Olson During a gale on November 7, 1940, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge exhibited remarkable torsional oscillations before collapsing spectacularly into Puget Sound. This talk will survey how physics classes in the following decades have viewed the collapse on a variety of formats (16mm film, 8mm film loop, videodisc, VHS tape, and DVD) and will address the following questions: When physics classes watch modern video showing the oscillations and the free fall of the bridge fragments, are these scenes sped up, slowed down, or at the correct speed, compared to what was observed by the eyewitnesses on November 7, 1940? Can we use physics to determine the frame rates of the original 16mm cameras that filmed the events? Was the wind blowing steadily at a special velocity that excited the torsional oscillations by resonance? What is the connection between the strong winds in the Tacoma Narrows on November 7, 1940, and a remarkable meteorological event four days later? [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 30, 2015 2:00PM - 2:12PM |
F6.00002: Evidence of learning progressions on mechanics concepts prompt for students in algebra-based freshman Physics course Milijana Suskavcevic, Rebecca Forrest, Milena Keller-Margulis, Wallace Dominey Could a physics conceptual question, administered as a simple writing prompt, serve as a diagnostic tool in predicting student performance on a more general, comprehensive exam in physics? In this study we describe the preliminary technical adequacy of a physics writing task and show the evidence of learning progressions in the understanding of mechanics concepts by students enrolled in algebra-based college freshman physics course. Scoring of student performance on the physics prompt focused on assessing the quantity and quality of writing that reflects students' accurate understanding of physics concepts addressed in the prompt. Data analysis included descriptive statistics to understand typical performance on the prompt as well as correlations to determine validity estimates for performance on the given physics prompt as it relates to exam performance. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 30, 2015 2:12PM - 2:24PM |
F6.00003: Developing techniques for improving functional understanding of vectors Leonardo Rodriguez Gutierrez, Karla Carmona, Jorge Dayer Carrillo, Maria Gonzalez, Sergio Flores, Roy Montalvo Many introductory physics students encounter challenges in understanding vector operations. We present data collected from more than 300 students and related to traditional instruction. This data describes students' conceptual difficulties with vector addition/subtraction. These students were organized in small groups led by student Teaching Assistants (TAs). The TAs help students understand vector operations during a hands-on 50 minute session. Analysis of the data suggests that, after traditional instruction, some students were unable to reason qualitatively about the vector operations. We describe some specific procedural and reasoning difficulties we have observed (e.g. 1. Closing the loop, 2. Tip-to-tip, 3. Use of Pythagorean Theorem, and 4. Adding as scalars) and describe modifications to laboratory instruction that we have design on the basis of our research into student's understanding. The modifications are intended to improve the student's understanding of the vector operations, and to promote the student's use of vectors when solving mechanics problems. We also describe initial measures of the effectiveness of the modified instruction approach. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 30, 2015 2:24PM - 2:36PM |
F6.00004: Improving Conceptual Understanding in Physical Science through Video Instruction. Jorge Dayer, Karla Carmona, Sergio Flores, Maria Gonzalez, Roy Montalvo, Leonardo Rodriguez The Physics Education Group from The University of Texas at El Paso has developed a hybrid instruction model to combine lab activities and a tutorial-based inquiry through the use of interactive videos. This didactical approach was designed and implemented at the physics department. Students in physical science courses were exposed to a lecture-in-lab understanding activity to construct the concept of density of solids and liquids. Students were exposed to a 30-min video of the lab activities that was available for the students throughout the entire lab session, allowing them to watch it as needed. Data was collected through a post-test, a pre-test, and a homework designed in the same context of the corresponding learning topics. These evaluation elements were administered to a treatment group and a control group. Results show that most of the treatment group students' questions related to lab procedures and conceptual content were reduced. In addition, other indicators suggest that these students developed a better understanding of the concept of density than students in the control group. Finally, we will present the corresponding learning Hake Gains of both sets of groups, treatment and control. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 30, 2015 2:36PM - 2:48PM |
F6.00005: Electromotive force and current induced by a bar magnet and a monopole lianxi ma The magnetic flux $\Phi_{\mathrm{B}}$, electromotive force, EMF, and current $I_{\mathrm{in}}$, induced by a moving magnetic bar and an imaginary magnetic monopole in a superconducting loop of one turn, are numerically calculated. The magnetic field of the bar magnet is approximated with the magnetic field along $z$ axis of a solenoid with length $l$ and radius $a$ with current $I$, while the magnetic field of the monopole is supposed to be inversely proportional to $r^{\mathrm{2}}$. Calculations show that, for a bar magnet, $\Phi_{\mathrm{B}}$ and $I_{\mathrm{in}}$ reach the maximum when the bar is at the center of the superconducting loop, but sign of EMF changes. The calculation doesn't contradict our experiment results which show that $I_{\mathrm{in}}$ switches sign as EMF does since in the laboratory the loop is not superconducting. For a magnetic monopole, $\Phi _{\mathrm{B}}$ is discontinuous (from positive maximum to negative maximum) when the bar moves through the center of the superconducting loop, so the there is a delta function in EMF in addition to EMF induced by the a moving monopole. The current $I_{\mathrm{in}}$ is continuous at this moment and continues to grow while the monopole leaves the loop. The calculations about the monopole agree with published results. [Preview Abstract] |
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