United States

I discuss the development of a two semester sequence on math methods for undergraduate physics students at Ryerson University. Effective strategies for incorporating active learning techniques in a highly theoretical course will be presented. The numerical analysis component of the course will be highlighted, and I provide some examples of context-rich computational lab activities which were employed. Student attitudes about the course, as well as general takeaways about how best physics and math courses can support each other will also be discussed.

AAPT SM20

Creating a Math Methods Course with an Integrated Computational Lab

mathematical

math methods

labs

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.


technical paper

In the Centering Project, we are studying how whiteness and masculinity show up in the physics classroom, through video of classroom interactions among students and between students and instructors, and in the content and practices of physics, including curriculum. In this talk we present results of this analysis that we think will be relevant for physics educators.

Perceiving whiteness and masculinity in physics teaching and learning

Because a “spins-first” approach is becoming a more common method of teaching quantum mechanics, we want to know how the knowledge of discrete spin systems might help student’s understanding of continuous quantum systems. Leveraging computation, where wavefunctions are necessarily discretized, is a promising strategy of exploring this. During the junior-year of Oregon State University’s physics curriculum, students take a computational lab course in parallel with the “spins-first” lecture course. In this computational lab, students solve quantum problems by pair-programming in Python. We observed three pairs of students in class while they worked on a computational task of taking inner products of wavefunctions and basis states. In this talk, we will discuss the concepts of inner products students transferred from the discrete case used in the lecture course to the continuous case used in the computational lab and how they implemented these mathematical and physical concepts into their code.

Transfer from Discrete to Continuous Inner-Products in a Computational Course

In this talk, I describe the design of a robotic kinematic apparatus and a curriculum designed to make use of its unique features to shape the inquiry process. Students program a robot by drawing kinematic graphs on a computer, and the robot precisely and reliably produces the motion, providing immediate visual feedback. Preliminary results support the hypothesis that a physics apparatus precise and reliable enough to serve as a control of error minimizes the need for teacher intervention and improves student absorption in inquiry as well as learning outcomes. The importance of optimal feedback inertia emerged from the study. The turn-around time of several minutes to analyze a mistake and test a new idea encourages students to learn from their mistakes and really think things through.

Kinematic Robots in the Physics Classroom

Careful examination of my students’ individual gains on the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) led to the realization that student pretest knowledge on certain key questions appeared to be correlated to enhanced gain during the class. Acting under the hypothesis that addressing those key questions early in the course might result in broader, test-wide gains, I developed two class activities to address one of the key questions. One of the activities is a laboratory experiment and one activity utilizes a PhET simulation. I have tested those activities over the course of four semesters and there is evidence that they significantly increased the class-wide normalized gains on the FCI.

Using FCI Data to Develop Impactful Class Activities

Computational thinking has been emphasized as a main science and engineering practice in the Next Generation Science Standards. However, learning objectives outlined by the standards are written in vague terms that complicate the implementation and assessment of this topic in the classroom. This is especially problematic for high school teachers who have limited experience with computation and are looking to integrate computational modeling in their physics or physical science classrooms. In this study, we explore the variation in computational thinking practices that physics students demonstrate when working through in-class coding activities. Video data of multiple student groups were collected in one high school teacher’s physics and physical science classrooms. The data was analyzed to create a codebook that describes the different ways students engage in computational thinking practices. Ultimately, this work will help practitioners better understand how to identify these practices in a high school physics setting.

Video Analysis of Variation in Computational Thinking Practices in Physics

Mechanics provides many opportunities for integrating computation into physics curricula. We have developed different versions of an adjustable physical pendulum that can help students learn and apply rotational motion concepts while achieving many of the learning outcomes described in the AAPT recommendations for the laboratory curriculum and for computational physics. Because these pendula undergo large amplitude oscillations, they are difficult to investigate analytically. Instead, students can computationally model the experimental data they obtain with these pendula using spreadsheets or structured language programs to better understand the underlying mechanics, and determine whether different dissipation mechanisms are active while the pendulum ‘rings down’. We describe the construction and use of these pendula and the results that can be obtained.

Integrating Laboratory and Computation: An Adjustable Physical Pendulum

Texas A&M University-Commerce has designed and developed an online Master of Science in Physics with Teaching Emphasis (MPTE) for high school teachers. As part of that, students are required to take courses and participate in the online discussion boards. We will discuss the conditions for formation of an online CoP for high school teachers, and the effect of course structure in emergent discussions. We will discuss the structural features of two of our online courses and discuss the distribution of practices within them. 


Participation in online classroom communities

In the five years since LIGO’s historic first detection of gravitational waves these detections have become almost routine with LIGO and Virgo regularly receiving new candidates. The field of gravitational wave astronomy provides an exciting and engaging opportunity to introduce students to astrophysics. In this talk I will give the background knowledge you need to discuss LIGO, gravitational waves, and these historic discoveries with your students.

What to Say When Students Ask About Astrophysics: Gravitational Waves

Many students in high schools have misconceptions about frontier science experiments. They may think that there is nothing new for them to discover or that they do not have the background necessary to understand what is happening in these experiments. Yet students can use classical physics to analyze neutrino experimental data and draw conclusions. This talk will describe my students' analysis of neutrino data through conservation of momentum. The audience can participate as students for a very brief time to get the feel of being the investigator. I will also share the reaction of my students to using this activity.

Neutrino Experiments Inspire Students

To address the challenge of involving physics majors into the department early in their career, we created a peer group mentoring program. Incoming undergraduate first-year students are assigned to a group of other incoming students and two undergraduate peer mentors. This mentoring circle meets multiple times per quarter to discuss common student concerns and success strategies. Initial outcomes include higher GPA for program participants, a difference that is not explained by demographic factors or incoming preparation.

Creating a Math Methods Course with an Integrated Computational Lab

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