United States

Physicists are likely to encounter ethical dilemmas during their careers. However, physics students are often not taught about ethics during their degrees. It is imperative that future physicists are introduced to the real-world implications of their work in order to develop their ethical reasoning skills. At Texas State University, we have developed and implemented an ethics unit for a new Observational Astrophysics course. The unit is centered on the potential construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea. We video-recorded whole class and small group discussions via Zoom from Spring 2021 to study the responses of students throughout the unit. In this talk, I will share examples of how students respond to prompts that invoke their ethical reasoning skills within physics, and consider how they navigate ethical discussions with their classmates.

AAPT WM 22

Analyzing Students’ Discussions about Ethical Dilemmas in Physics

student-discussions

physics

ethics

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.

Ordinary least squares (OLS), developed over two centuries ago, is still the most common curve-fitting method used in introductory physics labs. OLS offers best-fit parameter estimates, but best-fits may not be good fits. Moreover, OLS best fits may be biased (the outlier problem) where anomalous data is overweighted. Chi-squared minimization (CSM) provides both parameter estimation and model testing in one consistent methodology. CSM can be shown to be the optimal method of parameter estimation with Gaussian distributed uncertainties and solves the outlier problem by weighting data inversely with their uncertainties. However, more than being just a weighted least squares (WLS) method, CSM also provides two easy-to-apply criteria for model testing. CSM is a computation-intensive method whose gold-standard implementation in particle physics software is difficult for introductory physics students to use. A simplified form of CSM is implemented in an Excel spreadsheet, making this valuable tool accessible to introductory physics students.

Curve-fitting with Model Testing using Chi-Square Minimization in Excel

Entropy is taught at all levels of physics. However, many students have a poor understanding of entropy, often conflated with disorder. Understanding the quantitative definition of entropy-- a function of the accessible energy states-- provides a more functional education. This demonstration explains entropy in a macroscopic and theoretically sound manner, using hand-held containers and simple objects to model entropically-driven processes. A spontaneous entropy increase causes increased order, consistent with more available energy states, but contradicting the “entropy is disorder” paradigm. This talk describes the demo’s thermodynamic basis and simple calculations that validate viewer observations. The demo provides memorable examples on which to build a sound understanding of entropy, meanwhile exposing failures of the disorder paradigm. Students with a proper concept of entropy are better equipped not just to answer pedagogical questions, but also to discern fictitious paradoxes of the disorder paradigm from genuine implications of the second law of thermodynamics.

Investigating Entropy and Disorder with Hands-On Models

Traditional physics laboratory courses featuring pre-optimized experiments do not allow for authentic scientific experiences. There is very little space for the design and optimization of measurement procedures or the experimental apparatus. Recent efforts in the physics education research community have been targeting this particular problem in laboratory classes. We present an example of a student project in our physics laboratory course to offer such an authentic experience. In this four-day project, students form teams to design and construct a scientific apparatus capable of distinguishing different beverages using optical spectroscopy. The students need to devise a measurement strategy, design and build an optical spectrometer using 3d-printed parts to accomplish this goal. They then optimize the apparatus and measurements iteratively.In this talk, we present the results and particular structure of the project, as well as the scaffolding and rubrics we introduced to guide students during their work.

Fostering Design and Communication Skills by Building a Scientific Apparatus

Students explore Kinematics using a Pasco smart cart on an inclined track. They discover that their calculations and measurements don’t agree but can be brought into agreement by adding a small constant to the average acceleration. A later lab uses the smart cart on a level track to analyze Newton’s 1 law. Again they see that the speed is not constant but is slowing. A third lab looks at the physics of a cart in equilibrium on an inclined plane for different angles. Tension and normal force are measured and compared to calculated values. After performing these labs, the students are asked to design a lab to test Newton’s 2 law including the instruments used, the procedure and analysis. This exercise broadens the student’s physical intuition and exercises their understanding of the experimental method of having a model, predicting results and comparing to measurements to validate the model.

A Student Designed Lab to Test Newton’s 2nd Law

Women and Minorities in the Physical Sciences (WaMPS) is a graduate student organization housed in the department of physics and astronomy at Michigan State University. WaMPS is a student-led organization encouraging women and minorities to pursue the physical sciences and supporting those who are already members of the physical science community. WaMPS outreach and public engagement includes school visits, public presentations, podcasting, and collaborations with community partners and members in other academic fields. By volunteering and participating in public engagement activities, students can build connections with peers and faculty, connect their formal learning to the real world, feel more connected to their field, and have opportunities to share their own experiences with others. In this talk, we focus on the experiences of graduate students who have participated and contributed in the WaMPS public engagement activities and the intersections with their career goals and aspirations.

Supporting graduate students through opportunities in physics public engagement activities

Xavier University of Louisiana, in collaboration with the Institute of Earth Science Research and Education (IESRE) run the ECoSTEM project. This project aims to improve the quality of undergraduate STEM education by introducing a computational, community-oriented component into STEM programs at Xavier University. Specifically, undergraduate students develop microcontroller-based systems for collecting airborne particulate data. They work with public school teachers (and their students) and Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) officers to deploy the sensors at locations around New Orleans and to analyze the resulting data. Airborne particulates are often the pollutant of greatest concern in minority and other underserved communities. This project provide undergraduates at Xavier and the local teachers (and their students) with learning experiences that are relevant to them and their communities. ECoSTEM uses a tiered mentoring system in which the project team members mentor undergraduates, who in turn work with public school teachers and their students.

Environmental Computing and Community Engagement in STEM education: Sustainable Relationships

With the introduction of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS State Lead, 2013), physics and engineering are taking on a more prominent role in K-12 science instruction. To help teachers bring physics and engineering into their classrooms we partnered with a local hands-on science museum to create a series of activities that combine classroom learning with a fieldtrip experience to the museum. These activities aim to meet the NGSS physics standards in a way that is both fun and accessible for students of all grade levels. One such activity involves students building a structure designed to hover in a wind column at the museum. In this study we examine how 3 grade students predict the forces acting in the wind column will affect the motion of their structure using both written words and pictorial models.

Floating and Falling: 3rd-grader’s Depictions of Forces in Wind Columns

The dependance of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI)&nbsp;on student gender has been investigated in many research articles. For example, the factor structure of the FCI has been examined by separating male and female data, applying exploratory factor analysis and/or network analysis, and comparing the results. Unfortunately, both techniques are exploratory in nature and as a result are distinctly sample dependent. In this presentation the results of a measurement invariance analysis using confirmatory factor analysis will be presented. For the sample used, this analysis found male and female separated data (only self-identified binary genders were used due to limited data) fit the Eaton and Willoughby Modified 5-factor model of the FCI with strict measurement invariance. This suggests observed differences in performance between the genders are likely not a result of the gender groups interacting with different factor structures of the FCI. Similar analyses should be done to corroborate these results.

Force Concept Inventory: Factor structure measurement invariance across genders

We report on the development of a Likert-style assessment instrument designed to analyze pedagogical content knowledge of learning assistants (LAs) in the context of questioning (PCK-Q). After a rigorous process of analyzing and coding classroom videos and writing, testing and validating a free-response (FR) written assessment instrument, we focused on developing a Likert-style version of the instrument. The Likert-style version assesses an LAs ability to evaluate other LA’s PCK-Q and has the advantage of machine scoring. We are still in the process of validating the Likert-style questions. Both instruments, FR or Likert-style, could be used as a pre- and a post-test at the beginning and end of the semester to assess LA’s PCK-Q or parts of either instrument (individual questions) could be used to help with weekly lab (LA training) preparation. We report on the development of the Likert-style instrument. Funded by NSF IUSE grant 1838339.

Development of a Likert-style assessment to assess learning assistants PCK-Q

It is important for physics students to develop ethics knowledge, yet this is rarely taught in undergraduate physics classes. We are addressing this limitation in an ethics unit for an observational astrophysics class at Texas State University. The unit encompassess an introduction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), a local perspective in San Marcos, a history of Hawaii, perspectives about the TMT, and formal ethical frameworks. I will present our preliminary analysis of data from Spring 2020 and 2021, with an emphasis on the students’ written work at the end of the unit. Our analysis indicates that students experienced an increased understanding of the complexity of the issue, increased empathy to both sides, and a desire for a compromise. In order to support the physics educator community in teaching about ethics in physics classes, I will highlight what worked well in our design and what could have been improved.

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