United States

We conducted a series of multiple linear regressions to examine the predictive ability of race on introductory mechanics final exam scores when controlling for ACT math scores and physics placement test scores. When we followed a common method of categorizing students as URMs and non-URMS for our analysis, we found that students who earned comparable scores on the ACT math test and the physics placement test performed similarly on the final exam. However, when we established separate groups for Non-Hispanic White American, Asian American, African American, Hispanic, International, Multi-Race, AIAN, and NHPI students, we found that African American and Asian American students, and to a lesser extent, Hispanic students, under-performed in their physics course relative to their prior test scores. We conclude that there is still work to be done at the university level to provide a learning environment supportive of students of all backgrounds.

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URM Grouping Hides Struggles of Black and Asian American Students

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poster

As part of a larger project to develop a written instrument to evaluate pedagogical content knowledge(PCK), we are observing classroom interactions between students and student assistants. When observing student assistants, two coding schemes emerged. The first coding scheme was developed to describe the student assistant’s ability to guide students through a requested task. The second coding scheme was developed to describe the ability of the student assistant to help students work through their own thought development process. In my poster I will present the two coding schemes, go over the similarities/differences and discuss the future plans for the schemes. The two coding schemes will be used to help design the written PCK instrument.

Development of Classroom-Interaction Coding Schemes for PCK Assessment

As our lives have taken a sharp turn to the unknown, we have been forced to a stop. In this time of uncertainty, we have an opportunity to reflect on our learning goals and how we engage students for meaningful learning. We are currently extending the accumulation of research in physics education which focuses on instruction practices and the mismatch between theory and implementation. We are collecting course syllabi from undergraduate instructors who teach all levels of physics courses. Syllabi are being analyzed for aspects of learner-centered philosophy and practices to help understand how the shift in instructors’ intentions is reflected to students. Please contribute if you have taught physics in the last decade! This work will shed light on the current state of instructional practices within the US. Next we will be interviewing select instructors to gain a better understanding of the difficulties encountered while implementing research-based instructional strategies.

Lost In Translation: Reflecting on the Communication of Instructional Philosophy

Asynchronous learning has produced challenges to developing technical work of physics students. Building circuits from modules that can be utilized in remote learning is a method for which educators have mandated students to purchase. This paper utilizes a similar notion of creating modules with limiting the components to differential amplifiers, inverting amplifiers, and push-pull circuits. Specifically making components from LM741 operational amplifier or general purpose components engages students with replaceable components to create active circuits for a distributable experiment. Vacuum tubes utilize the same physical principles as Langmuir probes and are ideal for compact plasma experiments in conjunction with the active circuit modules. Developing active probe circuits is a method for which the technical aspect of physics research can be taught in an asynchronous learning environment.

Educational Approach to Active Circuits for Vacuum Tube Langmuir Probes

Developed at Oregon State University, the Partial Derivative Machine (PDM) is a mechanical analogue to a thermodynamic system that allows students to explore the mathematics of thermodynamics through the more familiar physics of a mechanical system with masses and strings. The PDM has been used to help students learn about partial derivatives, conjugate variables, state variables, collecting experimental data, processes, cycles, and more! This poster will outline uses and benefits of the PDM as well as expand on a few possibilities for using the PDM in the classroom.

The Partial Derivative Machine

External representations play a vital role in doing and learning physics. At this poster, we will discuss a new framework for describing external representations and implications for teaching. First, we identify three aspects that distinguish one representation from another: the conceptual referent, the medium of the representation, and how information is organized in the representation. We then identify structural features of representations that take into account both the form and the function of the representation. We will illustrate this framework of structural features with some examples, including plastic “surface" models of 2D functions and an “arms” representation of quantum states. Based on this framework, we suggest strategies for helping students learn to interpret and use external representations. &nbsp;

Structural Features of External Representation in Physics

The Paradigms in Physics group at Oregon State University is premiering a new dissemination website, https://paradigms.oregonstate.edu.&nbsp; This “poster” will be a guided tour of the new site which includes activities for many upper-division courses, sequences of activities, and homework problems.&nbsp; All of these components have been classroom tested over a number of years in the Paradigms Program and a number of them have been the subject of formal PER studies.&nbsp; You will also find advice about how to facilitate different styles of activities including small group problem solving, kinesthetic activities, visualization activities, and activities using dry-erasable plastic surfaces from the Raising Physics to the Surface project.&nbsp; In addition, we will demonstrate flow charts that demonstrate our learning progression of content for quantum mechanics.

New Curricular Materials Website/Quantum Learning Progression

The Paradigms @ OSU team has developed a series of activities that supports students in reasoning about complex numbers by having students act out those numbers with their arms. The Arms representation is versatile and can be expanded, by grouping students, to include complex-valued vectors. This expansion enables groups of students to represent quantum mechanical state vectors with their arms. The Arms Sequence of activities parallels the progression of OSU’s spins-first approach by starting with complex numbers, advancing through two- and three-state systems, considering time-dependence, and eventually extending to approximate wavefunctions. In this poster we will present Arms as a representation and discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages of using Arms to teach quantum mechanics. We will discuss the development of mathematical and physics ideas, cognitive and pedagogical affordances, movement logistics, and the implicit elements of the representation.

Embodying Complex Numbers and Quantum States

The Paradigms in Physics program often incorporates activities that encourage&nbsp;exploration of multiple representations simultaneously. In this poster, we discuss an electrostatics activity that occurs near the beginning of the&nbsp;Static Fields Paradigm. We detail one group's use of multiple representations, including a plastic surface model of the potential due to an electric quadrupole. Our analysis examines the features and functions of the external&nbsp;representations, as well as the order in which the representations were provided to the students. We specifically answer the question of how the representations supported inquiry during this activity.

Surface Models and Multiple External Representations in Paradigms

What makes a physics course uniquely “Classical” in the context of the growing Classical Education movement? From high school physics to liberal arts college core physics, are there particular topics, components, or pedagogies, that must be present in a physics classroom to make it uniquely “Classical”? Does physics in Classical Education require teaching from a particular view of science? Does the “Classical” aspect of the course come in the structure (Trivium cycles, classical Quadrivium framework) or is it simply “traditional” physics with classical pedagogy and classical touchstones incorporated? If so, what are the important classical touchstones? We explore and summarize what authors speaking about physics from within the Classical Education movement say concerning what might make a physics course uniquely “Classical”.

Classical Education Touchstones for the Physics Classroom

This poster describes how design tactics can be used to adapt activities developed for the Paradigms in Physics program to other settings. Design tactics provide practical guidance for&nbsp;developers in designing (and refining) curricular materials in order to meet their specific learning goals. More specific than design principles, design tactics are practical and closely guide specific development processes.&nbsp;We describe the role of design tactics in&nbsp;the context of the ring cycle, a sequence of in-class activities on upper-division electromagnetic theory developed as part of the Paradigms in Physics program. We illustrate how design tactics can be used to adapt activities to different formats and align them with available class components (e.g. small group activity, lecture, Zoom session, homework).&nbsp;By contrasting the original implementation at OSU with two secondary implementations at other universities, we illustrate how design tactics can also be used to adapt activities to different settings.&nbsp;

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