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In Spring 2018, I was approached by the Art/Communications/Theater instructors about the unhappiness of their students with the science course options at our school. After talking with them, I applied for release time at our school and was allowed time to build some lab activities that better connected Art, Theater, Music to topics studied in our conceptual physics course. The new lab activities were implemented, and we coordinated the offering of this course with the program chairs in the arts and saw a dramatic increase in enrollment numbers (enrollment increased by 220% in this course). I will present some lessons learned from this experience in building a successful general science course focused on interesting Art/Theater/Communication/Music students.

AAPT WM 22

Building a Physical Science of the Arts Course

blending physics and arts

PERC 2022 is focused on "queering physics education" through an intersectional lens. By "queering," we are centering queer theory which breaks down social constructions and hierarchies to unpack normalized assumptions. In the context of physics education, we want to apply the theory to unpack who has power in physics to control the production of future physicists, how physics policies and practices are sometimes built on ideas of punishment and power, and how PER embeds binaries in both its content and sociological research. Further, we want to encourage a dialogue that is both a critique and an imagining of a queer future for PER.

Explicit attention will be given to constructions of race, (dis)ability, gender, sexuality and how they interact and impact lived experiences.

We have had such a fun time organizing this year’s PERC. You might be aware that we were committed to transparency and documenting our processes and decision making which we outlined here. This year has also been challenging to be a queer or otherwise marginalized person in the US. And we continue to seek and provide support for those individuals.

As such, we recommend that folks visiting Grand Rapids who have the means consider giving to some local organizations who are working to advocate for those impacted by historic and ongoing marginalization and violence.


PERC SM 22

PERC 2022 focused on "queering physics education" through an intersectional lens. By "queering," we centered queer theory which breaks down social constructions and hierarchies to unpack normalized assumptions. In the context of physics education, we apply the theory to unpack who has power in physics to control the production of future physicists, how physics policies and practices are sometimes built on ideas of punishment and power, and how PER embeds binaries in both its content and sociological research. Further, we wanted to encourage a dialogue that is both a critique and an imagining of a queer future for PER. Explicit attention was given to constructions of race, (dis)ability, gender, sexuality and how they interact and impact lived experiences.

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.

Did you know? Half of STEM majors are interested in teaching as a profession, and STEM students of color are more interested in teaching as a profession than their White counterparts. If we want these students to consider majoring in a STEM field, it is important to include teaching as one of their career options when entering the major.&nbsp; In this presentation we will share updates on the Get the Facts Out Project including data to support the above claims, new handouts with salary and cost-of-living information for teachers in hundreds of school districts, a new professionally made short video series, and new single-slide conversation starters. We will also share what we learned from a GFO half-day mini-conference where we heard from faculty in physics, chemistry, and mathematics about what they would like to see from GFO in the future.

Increasing the Number and Diversity of Majors by Advertising Teaching

Kudu.com is a web-based online platform that provides customizable textbook content, engaging videos, and auto-graded online homework questions. Homework questions can be used to conduct live clicker sessions where students use phones, tablets or laptops to respond as instructors see instant results. Instructors can add their own questions and access questions uploaded by others. They can edit the content, sequence, and structure of the text and embed additional videos and links. Up to now Kudu courses were used only by universities like UCLA and UC San Diego. A new AP Physics 1 course was added this year and is free for high school instructors and students to use. Skeptical? Kudu.com guarantees the AP Physics 1 course will remain free in perpetuity. This presentation will go into detail about the AP Physics 1 course's features and how to access and use them.

The Free AP Physics 1 Course on Kudu.com

This session will show how cell phones can be used in active learning for students in physics and engineering. We will discuss some of the common apps which can be used and show examples of models which can be developed through active learning (POGIL) styled experinces for students. These cell phone sensors allow students to record, analyze and develop mathematical relationships which help to build core conceptual models in physics students at all levels.

Using Cell Phones to Develop Core Physics Models in Students

Research suggests that students in introductory courses struggle to understand an operational definition of electric field based on the expression E=F/q. To investigate factors that impact student reasoning, we developed sequences of questions that ask students to predict how (if at all) variables in the expression are affected when specific changes are made to experimental setups. (For example, when a new test charge is used, or a new source charge is used.)We have also explored the extent to which reasoning approaches identified in this context persist in other contexts involving multi-variable expressions. Dual process theories of reasoning (DPToR) have been used as a theoretical framework in this investigation. The talk will discuss how DPToR served to guide the design of the questions and as a framework to interpret student responses.

Student Reasoning with Multi-variable Expressions

The focus of this project is to analyze how teachers employ writing and discussion as argumentative practices in science classrooms and how, in turn, their students learn to participate in these new practices as opportunities to learn science content. We define the teaching and learning of argumentation as a diverse set of situated ways of using spoken and written language (and related semiotic systems) for articulating a warranted perspective. This involves events such as the exploration of a topic, inquiry, advancement of knowledge, dialogue with others articulating alternative positions, the construction of social relationships both among those co-present and between authors and readers as competitive or collaborative. This paper analyzes data collected during a two-week instructional unit on Newton’s Third Law in an accelerated secondary physics classroom. Data collection methods include video recordings, in-person observations, and semi-structured interviews with the instructor and students.

Scientific Argumentation in the Secondary Physics Classroom

We report on the incorporation of computational exercises into a single semester general education and the efficacy of the inclusion. Computation is an effective tool for creating deep conceptual understanding, connecting concepts with mathematics, and introducing prediction in science. Fifteen spreadsheet-based computational exercises were introduced into the course as active learning activities and were collaboratively completed. Student learning pre to post was measured with the TOAST and LPCI, with pre to post correctness gains of 20% were measured on the TOAST and 29% on the LPCI. Qualitative data was collected in the form of free response surveys to investigate student learning, attitudes toward computational exercises, and overall perceptions of the course. Student responses toward inclusion of computational exercises were positive. In addition to the overall results from the TOAST and LPCI, student responses to individual questions were analyzed for patterns of correct and incorrect responses and correlations between questions.

Effectiveness of computational exercises in a general education astronomy course

Dual process theories of reasoning suggest that humans reason using System 1 (heuristic) and System 2 (analytic) thinking processes. The aim of this research is to develop question sequences that serve two purposes: 1) to identify physics students with relevant content knowledge who nevertheless relied on System 1 thinking on a “target” question, and 2) to help students recognize reasoning inconsistencies and activate System 2 thinking effectively to override initial incorrect responses. Screening and target questions are used to identify students making reasoning errors, and intervention questions are designed to alert students of the need to reevaluate their reasoning. Students then have an opportunity to re-answer the target question. Data from recent iterations in calculus-based physics courses at the University of Washington will be discussed.

Developing Question Sequences to Identify and Remedy Student Reasoning Inconsistencies

In a five-year multi-institutional study, we have administered a small set of pre-college mathematics problems to nearly 7000 students enrolled in introductory college physics courses. We found consistently that over 30% of students have considerable difficulty with basic algebraic, trigonometric, and graphing operations, with symbolic representations posing a particularly notable obstacle. We will present our most recent findings, including substantial evidence that student performance on even a small set of these types of problems may be able to provide early warning of probable weak course performance.

Pre-instruction math quiz may predict students’ physics course performance

Helping students develop problem solving skills is a common learning outcome in introductory physics which can be challenging to achieve, particularly in large enrollment courses. This presentation showcases one of our web-based Interactive video-enhanced tutorials (IVETs), which guides students through an expert-like problem-solving approach for a challenging problem involving a given topic, such as one dimensional motion involving two moving objects. IVETs include mini-lectures by a narrator interspersed with branching multiple choice questions that include feedback, allowing students who require less guidance to navigate the tutorials quickly, while students who struggle receive more support according to their needs. This presentation will focus on our One-Dimensional Kinematics IVET and provide details about its design features and impact on students’ problem-solving abilities.

Teaching Problem Solving in One-Dimensional Kinematics Using Interactive Video-enhanced Tutorials

Introductory physics students routinely learn about acoustical beats as a consequence of wave interference. This example is sometimes used to gesture toward heterodyning in commercial radios. Introductory physics students also learn about the overtone series as a consequence of standing waves. Overtones are then used to explain musical timbre and to hint at the importance of Fourier methods. Yet acoustical beats and the overtone series are rarely linked in introductory physics, despite the fact that musicians habitually listen for beats to tune their harmonies. Acoustical beats and harmonic overtones be can be related simply, without any extra physics background, and their relationship leads directly to the problems of musical temperament that have bedeviled musical theorists ever since Pythagoras. Such problems are outlined in this talk, along with suggestions for further reading.

Building a Physical Science of the Arts Course

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