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We have recently restructured our first semester University Physics Laboratory to emphasize comparison of experimental and modeling results throughout almost all the experiments. The students, who also use simulation to a certain degree in the lecture portion of the course with the Matter and Interactions curriculum, write vPython code at glowscript.org to describe the fundamental physics of the interactions studied in the experiments. Students are provided a starter code for each experiment that performs the heavy lifting of creating a scene that resembles the experiment and setting up graphs of important parameters. The students focus on coding the fundamental force relationships as well the equations that integrate force to obtain momentum and velocity to obtain position. They write reports that focus on comparisons between experimental results, modeling outcomes, and theoretical predictions. In this poster we will present examples of several experiments and models that are used in this laboratory.

AAPT SM 21

Integrating Simulation and Experiment in the WKU University Physics Laboratory

vpython

modeling

simulation

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poster

The abstract nature of electricity makes it a particularly difficult subject for learners to form scientific understandings of the core concepts. One possibility of making such abstract concepts more accessible is using analogical teaching methods. In light of this, a syllabus was developed focusing on the analogy between the movement of charge due to potential difference and the movement of air due to pressure difference. Trials of this syllabus in German grammar schools show a significant improvement in learning gains when compared with traditional approaches. Learners’ qualitative understanding is scaffolded using helpful language, color-coding the electric potential and links to familiar, everyday experiences. The materials used in the previous study have been translated into English and adjusted for use in public schools. Furthermore, additional materials to help structure lessons for less experienced and non-subject-specialist teaching staff are included in lesson packs. All materials will be made available free of charge.

Material Development for Teaching Electric Circuits with the Pressure Analogy

Physics by Inquiry (McDermott et al, 1996) is a hands-on, inquiry-based curriculum. Students work through the experiments and exercises in small groups, with their understanding assessed at pivotal points in the curriculum. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we taught Physics by Inquiry courses remotely, encountering the challenges of synchronous teaching and learning. This poster will illustrate our strategies and the ways we met the challenges.

Teaching Physics by Inquiry Remotely

In support of movements like Black Lives Matter, #ShutdownAcademia, and #ShutdownSTEM, I knew I needed to address social justice issues in my introductory physics classroom as well as increase my efforts to ensure a safe, equitable, and inclusive space for my undergraduate students. Due to the ongoing pandemic, these changes would need to happen in a primarily remote learning environment. This poster will explore the strategies and technology I utilized over the past academic year to create a more supportive, accessible, and inclusive remote learning environment for my calculus-based introductory physics courses. I will be sharing feedback from students and results of formal assessments looking at changes in students’ science identity responses over the course of the year. I will also share my thoughts regarding how a well-designed remote learning environment may provide even more productive discussions on tough topics such as social justice than similar in-person environments.

Exploring Ways to Make a Remote Physics Classroom More Inclusive

The formation of standing wave is accompanied by the generation of wave node and wave abdomen. Different from the transverse standing wave, the longitudinal standing wave also has the thinning part and the dense part. Previous demonstrators of longitudinal standing waves were able to demonstrate these phenomena at a slightly higher frequency (~30Hz), which made it impossible to see how the phenomena changed in density. Except with the help of a strobe or high-speed photography, it would have been a mistake to assume that the wave nodes were and wave abdomens always in the thinning part and the dense part respectively. In this paper, a new demonstrator of the longitudinal standing wave is presented, which can clearly see the periodic density change at the nodes of longitudinal standing wave, the opposite density state at the adjacent node, and the maximum amplitude at wave abdomen with a relatively low frequency (~4Hz).

Demonstrator of low frequency longitudinal standing wave

Real-time 3D Object Tracking for High School and Undergraduate Physics Lori Shaaban, Akash Prasad, Zane OthmanGomez,Vrushank Gunjur, Ralf Widenhorn Physics lab courses typically focus on analyzing one-dimensional data. Using two-dimensional setups can be time consuming and introduce parallax errors. While one-dimensional data collection is adequate for linear motion, it is now possible to quantitatively analyze more complex systems by setting up a 3D camera. At Portland State University we worked with a group of high school students to develop a python program that tracks and graphs objects in real-time in three dimensions using a Intel RealSense D435i camera system. We created a mix of data analysis challenges and laboratory investigations designed to synthesize student’s prior skills and concept knowledge as well as explore the nature of new situations through kinesthetic learning and optional programming. The poster will describe a set of activities analyzing projectiles as well as a ball on a string moving in a 3D space outside a single plane with a focus on momentum and rotations.

Real-time 3D Object Tracking for High School and Undergraduate Physics

To support physics instructors in improving or modifying physics activities for their courses, we investigate sixty-six research-based activities from eleven different research-based curricula by applying k-means cluster analysis. The best results were found when the program generates three design clusters. We mark these clusters as Thinking like a Scientist, Learning Concepts, and Scientific Reasoning. These three clusters indicate different design goals. In the Thinking like a Scientist cluster, activities emphasize the design of experiments by students, error analysis, reasonableness checking, and making assumptions or simplifications. The Learning Concepts cluster focuses on the prediction of results and experimental observations. The scientific reasoning cluster emphasizes answering physics or math questions that do not use collected data and finding evidence by students to support their claims.

Diverse strategies for design physics activity by investigating research-based activities

We describe a suite of experiments and computations with an adjustable “challenge level” to engage upper-division undergraduate physics and engineering students for periods ranging from two laboratory sessions to semester-long research projects. The end product is a tunable optical sensor for differentiating between fluids with even tiny variations in refractive index: e.g., 1.332 for deionized water vs. 1.334 for 0.5 wt% saline solution. It revolves around a thin gold film on a glass prism coupled to a microfluidic cell. The surface-plasmon-resonance (SPR) phenomenon excited by the incident laser at the gold-fluid interface is exquisitely sensitive to subtle changes in the near-surface environment. Crucially, it also immerses students in the rich physics of metal nano-optics and evanescent waves, in constructing precision optofluidic setups, and in developing analytical (Fresnel equations) and numerical (e.g., finite-element method) computational models to aid in their understanding and engineering optimization of the SPR sensor.

Surface-Plasmon-Resonance Sensing in the Advanced Physics Laboratory

In the switch to remote instruction at the start of the pandemic, we built off of a framework introduced by Abigail Mechtenberg at the University of Notre Dame. Students could choose whether to conduct an experiment from the lab manual used for in-person instruction or to deviate from that manual and conduct their own investigation. At the conclusion of each experiment, the students submitted a formal lab report. Instructional resources focused on supporting students on developing hypotheses, designing experiment, and on analyzing, interpreting, and communicating their results. An assessment of student attitudes, measured with the E-CLASS, showed a greater shift toward expert-like attitudes than we had previously measured for non-majors labs before the pandemic. We show the results of the assessment and their connection to agency and lab reports.

How agency and lab reports affected attitudes in remote labs

Students at Eastern Michigan University who have chosen a physics major or minor are now required to take a course introducing them to scientific computation. Nonetheless, they benefit from intentional and continued practice of newly developed computational skills. Such practice can readily occur in courses such as intermediate mechanics, where the content is more visual and less abstract. I will describe computational exercises used during Winter 2021 to provide students further experience with spreadsheets and GlowScript code. I will also discuss their implementation during virtual course meetings brought on by the global pandemic.

Computational Tasks for Intermediate Mechanics

Following the restructuring of many science classes and labs, teaching the introductory mechanics labs in hybrid mode (with a half of the students attending one lab session and other half attending next session) during Fall’20 and Spring’21 has provided valuable experience in integrating the computation into these courses. The poster will present the use of the Tracker Video Analysis and Modeling Tool for the exciting laboratory experiments in mechanics. The students had the opportunity to set-up and film some of the experiments themselves at home/dorm, and analyze the video yielding results of same or higher quality compared to those experiments done in lab (note that filming was optional as carefully set-up videos for analysis were provided).

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