United States

For traditionally in-person teaching environments, COVID-19 creates challenges to student use of academic support structures and organic growth of peer-to-peer learning communities. Simultaneously, collaboration, communication, and problem solving skills are important for success in higher education and beyond. To address this, a digital Collaborative Problem Solving Space (CPSS) and problem presentation assignment were implemented during class time in an introductory physics course. The CPSS gives students the time, space, and peer tutor and instructor support for working together on assignments, while the presentation component asks students to work through more difficult physics problems together. In this talk, I will discuss the implementation of the&amp;nbsp; CPSS, and the results from course observation, student surveys, and student interviews assessing the CPSS in the context of the course learning goals. Perceived strengths and future revisions for better results will also be discussed.

AAPT WM 21

Developing a Digital Collaborative Problem Solving Space

undergraduate

online

Join us in exploring emergent themes in PER as a scholarly endeavor and as a research community!  Since its inception, PER has served as a confluence of discipline, theory, research methodology, practice, and application.  How have these facets and the interplays among them been fruitful for physics education globally, regionally, locally, or otherwise?  And, how have our successes and interactions influenced the very nature of PER itself?
Following the lead of AAPT for the summer meeting, PERC 20/20 was virtual. Enjoy browsing the content.

PERC SM 20

Since its inception, PER has served as a confluence of discipline, theory, research methodology, practice, and application.  How have these facets and the interplays among them been fruitful for physics education globally, regionally, locally, or otherwise?  And, how have our successes and interactions influenced the very nature of PER itself?

For traditionally in-person teaching environments, COVID-19 creates challenges to student use of academic support structures and organic growth of peer-to-peer learning communities. Simultaneously, collaboration, communication, and problem solving skills are important for success in higher education and beyond. To address this, a digital Collaborative Problem Solving Space (CPSS) and problem presentation assignment were implemented during class time in an introductory physics course. The CPSS gives students the time, space, and peer tutor and instructor support for working together on assignments, while the presentation component asks students to work through more difficult physics problems together. In this talk, I will discuss the implementation of the&nbsp; CPSS, and the results from course observation, student surveys, and student interviews assessing the CPSS in the context of the course learning goals. Perceived strengths and future revisions for better results will also be discussed.

technical paper

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These National Meetings, held each winter and summer, are opportunities for members, colleagues, and future physicists from around the world to:

- participate in physics workshops
- meet and greet other physics educators
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- engage exhibitors and learn about the latest physics resources
- discuss innovations in teaching methods
- share the results of research about teaching and learning.

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Despite their introduction in beginning physics courses, many students often struggle with the concept of reference frames when they begin their studies on relativity. To address this issue, I have focused my undergraduate research on creating an educational simulation that can be used as a teaching aide in lessons on inertial reference frames. The simulation uses an adjustable animation of a box falling off the back of a pickup truck from the perspective of two different reference frames. I have also prepared a teacher's manual and student worksheet which can be used&nbsp;with the simulation for a short, hands-on lesson in a classroom environment. In this presentation I will cover the simulation’s feature set, how it can be implemented into high school and first year undergraduate physics courses, and how the simulation can be improved to better supplement lessons.

Teaching Inertial Reference Frames Using Simulations

We analyze models of decaying dark matter, searching for shifts in $H_0$ and $\sigma_8$ to resolve the tensions between linear and astrophysical measurements. While previous searches have focused on dark matter with lifetimes on the order of the current Hubble time, we instead consider dark matter that decays between the time of last scattering and the era of large scale structure. We find that while decaying dark matter pushes parameter likelihoods in the right direction to resolve the Hubble Tension, the bounds ($\Omega$ = 0 to 10^-2 for lifetimes a tenth of the Hubble Time) on decaying dark matter are too strong to resolve the tension completely, a conclusion unchanged even when spatial curvature is allowed to vary. In addition, these bounds can be used to constrain theoretical models such as coupled axions from string compactifications.

The Effects of Decaying Dark Matter on The Hubble Constant

As a part of our larger research on students’ conceptions on fluids, our group has been developing a taxonomy categorizing alternate conceptions about buoyancy and giving assessments in various introductory courses to determine the prevalence of selected taxonomy items.&nbsp; Along with this, we are analyzing student understanding of the constructs, or core ideas, that are necessary for understanding buoyancy. &nbsp;In this poster, we describe a few selected assessment questions focusing on the volume of fluid displaced and the relationship between buoyant force and pressure and the constructs they probe, and we compare the most prevalent distractors to their corresponding alternate conception.

Probing Understanding of Buoyant Force and Volume of Fluid Displaced

QuarkNet has created workshops for its member teachers based on actual particle physics data. One great source of that data is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. In an LHC Data Workshop, teachers build up to an authentic LHC data analysis experience by trying out and reflecting on activities from the QuarkNet Data Activities Portfolio, which themselves often involve LHC data. All of these can be shared with their students. We will examine LHC Data Workshops, how teachers can get involved, and how the model can be used in teacher professional development.

QuarkNet LHC Data Workshops

QuarkNet High School students and teachers have collected data on cosmic ray muons. Their data is available to all on the i2u2.org site and enable measurements of fundamental particle properties.&nbsp;&nbsp;High school and university users can also request groups to modify detector setups in order to collect customized data. Some QuarkNet high school groups have also carried out several more complex projects, e.g. Solar Eclipse 2017, MUSE at Fermilab, and storm tracking, that required assembling an entire particle physics collaboration.

QuarkNet High School Cosmic Ray Projects

Positive attitude is&nbsp;important in learning physics. Students and teachers can have fun together inside and outside classrooms.&nbsp;

Improving Positive Attitude in Learning Physics

This presentation will provide an overview of presentations that will be available to those attending for use with their classes.The presentations are intended for use with students in grades 6-9, 10-12, and introductory college classes. Climate science challenges are presented in terms of entropy changes that occur due to procuring and burning fossil fuels to produce electricity. Infromation about the Climate Reality Project is also included.

A Thermodynamic approach to Climate Science

What is science?&nbsp; What are the psychological, economic, and political factors that shape people's decisions about truth or fact?&nbsp; Do truth, facts, or opinions guide science and technology policies?&nbsp; These are the questions we address in a one credit seminar for first-year students.&nbsp; The seminars were developed as part of Spelman College’s Big Questions Colloquia, and they cover many different areas. &nbsp;In this seminar, students learn about how people reason and what science is. Eventually, students build skills to help them critique policies and differentiate between science and pseudoscience.&nbsp; We explore controversial topics like big tobacco, and look at some conspiracy theories, such as the Apollo hoax. From the seminar, students gain experience critiquing, evaluating, and thinking about science and related policies.&nbsp; I will present my experiences with developing the seminar, and some strategies for building an interdisciplinary approach to communicating about science.

An Interdisciplinary Seminar on Knowledge, Science, and Policy

Galileo’s trial in 1633 was not the cultural myth of rational science versus irrational religion but rather a notable flashpoint in possibly the most significant cultural paradigm shift in western history.&nbsp; Galileo, colleagues and opponents clashed over metaphysics, epistemology, theology, tradition and even experimental science against a backdrop of armed conflict, religious battles, globalization, nationalism, economic change, information revolution and a reoccurring pandemic—not so different from today.&nbsp; In many respects the geocentric versus heliocentric battle was the premiere socio-scientific conflict which helped shape the emergence of modern science, making it a valuable and (no longer controversial!) case study to help better understand contemporary ones.&nbsp; This talk will describe a new course in which we first study Galileo to understand the nature of science and the many facets of socio-scientific conflicts— history, social identity, foundational assumptions, cognitive biases, conflict theory, rhetoric and argumentation—then apply that understanding to contemporary ones.

Studying the Past to Understand the Present

The air we breathe is constantly changing. The dynamic nature of outdoor and indoor air makes it interesting to measure. There are many natural opportunities in an intro electromagnetism course for students and professors to observe how quantities like carbon dioxide, methane, and particulate matter change over time. We will look at a few sensors that measure various gases and particles in the air. Then we will discuss ideas for integrating them into the intro physics classroom. Understanding what influences the air gives students an interest in the atmosphere around them and offers them a chance to change it with their actions.

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Teaching Inertial Reference Frames Using Simulations

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