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Machine Learning is becoming ubiquitous in the realms of science, business, law enforcement, and even the arts. Many people don’t realize how rooted in “physics thinking” the foundations of machine learning algorithms are, but physics teachers are well positioned to teach students to use these tools and how to understand their limitations. I have developed a three-week general education course on machine learning for non-scientists, and I adapted several activities for an introductory laboratory sequence in a course on Galaxies and Cosmology. I will report on the successes and challenges of these endeavors and make recommendations on how students can be prepared at multiple educational levels to engage with the opportunities and dangers these tools represent.

AAPT WM 22

Physics Teachers Should Teach Machine Learning

pedagogy

computation

The 2020 AAPT Virtual Summer Meeting brought together physics educators from around the globe to learn about the latest in physics theory, research methodology and education from leaders in their field. The program featured plenary speakers, sessions, workshops and many special activities.

For more information please visit the 2020 AAPT Virtual Summer Meeting page at: https://www.aapt.org/Conferences/SM2020/index.cfm.


AAPT SM 20

The 2020 AAPT Virtual Summer Meeting brought together physics educators from around the globe to learn about the latest in physics theory, research methodology and education from leaders in their field. 

technical paper

This meeting is a great opportunity to explore sessions and workshops designed with your professional development in mind. Present your research and exchange ideas on the latest in teaching and pedagogy. Participate in a wide range of events, activities, plenaries, and so much more, connecting you with peers and colleagues who share your commitment to excellence in physics education.

QuarkNet's Cosmic Ray e-Lab provides an online environment in which students experience the excitement of scientific collaboration in this series of investigations into high-energy cosmic rays. Schools with cosmic ray muon detectors upload data and use the eLab for data analysis. The format allows schools that do not have detectors to participate in research by analyzing shared data. A brief overview of different analysis tools will be presented.

Classroom Tool for High Energy Physics Analysis: QuarkNet e-Lab

Sneak peek at data we will release publicly in 2022: the physics graduation rates of women from historically excluded groups, at all US and UK institutions. US data includes institutions that are above average, average or below average for all women; all women of color; and Black, Indigenous and Latinx women. Users can also construct custom comparison groups. UK data classifies institutions by representation of Black and minority ethnic women among the student body and faculty, rate at which Black and minority ethnic women are hired upon graduating, and Athena Swan standing. This portal will allow physics departments to track their performance; will provide vital information to women who are considering joining particular institutions; and will allow researchers to identify trends among better-performing institutions. We anticipate intense interest in the portal as soon as it is made public; this is your chance to get a preview.

Graduation rates of women in the US and UK

Serpentinization highlights the intersection of habitability and geology in comparative planetology. Its significance is enhanced for Mars from orbital nuclear spectroscopy evidence for more mafic crustal chemistry compared to Earth. This may also enable serpentinization to sequester crustal water, possibly complementing phyllosilicate minerals considered recently. However, despite numerous serpentine zones across Earth’s continents, detailed analog studies are limited to a few formations such as the ophiolites in Oman. Meanwhile, autochthonous soils at Sri Lanka’s serpentine zone provide the first laboratory evidence that perchlorates, found across in situ sites on Mars, can facilitate the release of biohazardous cations from soil into brines. The presence of variably developed soils across Sri Lanka’s serpentine zone offers a planetary end-case reference for pedogenesis in serpentinites. Furthermore, several thermal springs near this zone can elucidate fluid chemistry from meteoric waters percolating through serpentinites, significant to paleo-Martian conditions when a surface hydrosphere may have existed.

Mars, Lanka and Habitability: Serpentinization as a Thread of Life

The Loyola University Chicago Department of Physics offers a B.S. in Biophysics program that consists of a balanced blend of biology, chemistry, and physics coursework. As a capstone experience, students must complete an upper-level biophysics course. Although the course has a a significant lecture component with a focus on molecular and cellular biophysics as well as biomechanics, the aim of the course is for students to engage in professional science activities. Classroom activities include interpreting results from journal articles, writing an NIH-style research proposal on an instructor-approved topic with peer reviews, and completing an experimental project. I will present an overview of the course, its activities, and challenges. Students are also encouraged to participate in faculty research, and my undergraduate-only lab has several student researchers conducting experiments in single-molecule DNA microscopy. I will also discuss how the lab recruits students, trains them for research, and mentors their progress.

Transitioning Students from Learning Biophysics to Doing Biophysics

A new active-learning pedagogy is presented that includes computation as a central theme. The approach starts with the "marble game", a kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of diffusion. Students first learn how to play the game by hand and then implement it in Excel to discover that Fick's law of diffusion can be explained by random jumping between two boxes. In a guided-inquiry environment, students apply the same techniques to drug elimination, radioactive decay, osmosis, ligand binding, enzyme kinetics, and ion channel permeation. Students discover for themselves the consequences and significance of model assumptions by reading and interpreting graphs, and by comparing model predictions with real data using linear regression and non-linear least-squares fits. The pedagogical objective is for students to discover for themselves that science is an evidence-based endeavor with testable hypotheses that are supported by experiment.

Biophysics in the Undergraduate Curriculum

In the Paradigms in Physics curriculum at Oregon State University, we teach a series of spins-first quantum mechanics courses that incorporate various types of active-engagement pedagogies. In this talk, I will highlight the kinesthetic activities used in our junior-level Quantum Fundamentals course and their role in the broader context of our quantum mechanics courses. These kinesthetic activities include the Arms Activities where pairs of students use their left arms to embody quantum mechanical spin states and the Quantum Measurement Skit where the class acts out the measurement of quantum states. In addition to presenting the activities, I will discuss results from interviews with students about their understanding and experience with Arms.

Waving Arms and Skits in Quantum Mechanics

Currently, the majority of undergraduate education and workforce training in quantum information science and technology (QIST) is occurring at doctoral-granting institutions. To meet the anticipated quantum workforce needs and to ensure the workforce is demographically representative and inclusive to all communities, the United States must expand on these efforts and incorporate QIST into the curriculum at the nation’s predominantly undergraduate institutions (PUIs). In June 2021 roughly 90 faculty from PUIs participated in a workshop aimed at facilitating this expansion. After panels describing industry needs, current education efforts, and best practices, workshop participants identified challenges they would face when incorporating QIST into curriculum at their institutions. Discussions then focused on strategies and solutions for these challenges. This talk will summarize these discussions including programmatic approaches, gaining institutional support, course content and design, and inclusive practices. I will also discuss ongoing efforts to bring QIST into the curriculum at predominantly undergraduate institutions.

Bringing Quantum Information Science to Students at Predominately Undergraduate Institutions

We developed a board game that incorporates the rules of quantum mechanics into the game play, Quantum Party!. The goal was to create a fun and effective pedagogical instrument that could be used at the high-school or introductory college level, or even sold to the general public. We now have a professional-looking game that can be purchased online by anyone. It comes with multiple tools (dice, spinner) that replicate the science behind 4 classic quantum mechanics experiments/observations, a well as a manual that teaches both the game rules and the science behind the game, and of course, cats! Since its creation, we have run workshops with high-school teachers to brainstorm on how this can be used in the classroom. In this talk, I will give a summary of this process and where we see this going in the future.

Quantum Party! Incorporating quantum mechanics rules into a board game

In October 2016 the Joint Task Force on Undergraduate Physics Programs issued its report, Preparing Physics Students for 21 Century Careers. This effort by AAPT and APS provided guidance to physics departments that seek to foster the knowledge and skills their students need to be successful in a wide range of careers, which might include (but are not limited to) graduate education in physics and related fields. Since that time many departments have taken up the challenge to serve their students in this way, and follow-on activities of the professional societies have provided additional resources. I will describe some of these efforts, including the EPIC (Educating Physicists for Impactful Careers) report produced by the Pathways to Innovation Physics Entrepreneurship: Launching Institutional Engagement (PIPELINE) project. I hope that learning about these activities will inspire more departments to take a piece of the PIE (Physics Innovation and Entrepreneurship).

Phys21 in 2021: Progress in Implementation

This study investigates how college-level and high-school-level variables affect FMCE (Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation) pretest and post-test scores. The sample consists of students attending a large eastern land-grant university in the US who are enrolled in the introductory calculus-based mechanics class (N=1060). Variables examined include college performance, high school preparation, and non-academic variables such as sense of belonging, self-efficacy, personality, and demographics. Correlation analysis and linear regression were used to understand relations between these variables. High school physics preparation and student achievement in high school physics were consistently the most important variable in explaining pretest scores.

Physics Teachers Should Teach Machine Learning

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