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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.

AAPT SM 20

Video Analysis of Variation in Computational Thinking Practices in Physics

computational thinking

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.


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

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.

Resonance. Peer group mentoring for first-year, undergraduate physics majors

Generating mathematical models of phenomena is central to the practice of physics. Since there is typically no physics in the introductory sequence for which a model doesn't already exist, most laboratory experiences are structured as hypothesis-testing experiments in which students are given a model to verify. As a part of the introductory lab transformation project at the University of Washington (UW) - informed by the Investigative Science Learning Environment learning system - the Physics Education Group has created an authentic model-generating learning opportunity. Using a virtual reality environment, students explore physical phenomena that do not exist in the real world (or Wikipedia). Students generate mathematical models describing these phenomena from scratch, applying reasoning skills similar to those used by research scientists. This talk will describe the development of the "artificial" phenomena, their implementation in UW introductory electromagnetism labs, and the labs' impact on students' learning and development of scientific reasoning.

Modeling novel physics using virtual reality in introductory physics laboratories

In our Advanced Laboratory course students develop practical data analysis skills working through two simple experiments early in the semester that we then revisit throughout the course. For most of the semester, students rotate through different experiments. Having these two common experiments enables all students to practice specific data analysis and error analysis techniques on their own measured data at appropriate times during the semester. For example, students calculate the wavelength of a laser from the glancing incidence diffraction pattern from a machinist’s ruler. They gradually refine the estimates of the wavelength and the corresponding uncertainty. In this talk, I will describe the two experiments and how we use them to teach data analysis and error analysis throughout the semester.

Developing Data Analysis Skills with Simple, Common Experiments

Statistical analysis is one of the technical skills we are targeting in a newly developed project-based lab course. Students are asked to measure the smallest possible force using a strain gauge and to provide convincing evidence that the force has been detected. This goal extends over several class periods as students make revisions to improve their measurements and complete pre-lab readings and activities on statistical analysis methods. At the culmination of the module, students design and conduct an experiment that requires the measurement of a small force. They must use the statistical methods they have learned to support their findings.

Small force project for teaching statistical analysis in the lab

What helps students transfer ideas between labs, lectures, non-school projects? Why are students in my electronics lab so angry that there is no clear border between “conductor” and “insulator”? I’m experimenting with creating connections between ideas by making play-dough circuits, teaching metrology, and analyzing assumptions about borders. Borders as binary and absolute took hold ~500 years ago, alongside the scientific revolution. So did the rise of the nation-state, narrowing of gender roles, criminalization of same-gender sex, invention of race and white supremacy, creation of policing and prisons, and of course colonialism. Science, along with many other disciplines, suddenly became more centrally controlled and rigid in its borders. What can each of these borders teach us about the others? What could non-binary borders look like, and how do they affect lab learning and teaching? Please join us if you are interested in informal science, laboratory assessment, gender fluidity, colonialism, or of course non-binary robots.

Even My Robots Are Non-Binary: Questioning Borders of Ideas and Land

We examined variations in Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation (FMCE) pre-class scores according to self-reports of students' high school physics courses. Most students in our unusual sample population had taken an AP physics course, allowing us to calculate the correlation between FMCE scores and AP exam scores. We also carried out regression analyses to determine how FMCE scores and course final exam scores depend on taking an AP course and AP exam scores when math SAT score is included as a proxy of students’ general level of college preparation. The results of our analysis suggest that taking AP physics and even scoring well on the AP physics exam may be a rather weak measure of conceptual understanding of physics or the mastery of physics one would expect students to achieve from an introductory university physics course.

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Video Analysis of Variation in Computational Thinking Practices in Physics

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Integrating Laboratory and Computation: An Adjustable Physical Pendulum

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