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In recent years, computation has emerged as a key instructional tool in physics alongside experiment and analytical problem-solving. In this evolving pedagogical practice, the ways in which instructors influence their students’ perceptions of computation is not well understood. Based in a communities of practice framework, this study aims to identify connections between students’ perceptions of computation in physics and their instructors’ perceptions. We interviewed physics majors and their instructors after they completed a set of computation-infused physics courses about their uses of computation in physics. The results will examine the degree to which these students’ perceptions of computation were influenced by their instructors. From these themes, we draw recommendations to enhance the integration of computation into undergraduate physics courses.

AAPT SM 21

Instructors’ Impact on Students’ Perceptions of Computation

communities of practice

computation

**Making Physics More Inclusive and Eliminating Exclusionary Practices in Physics**

As a gateway discipline to STEM majors and careers, physics plays a central role in deciding who does, and who doesn't, get to discover and pursue scientific careers. Technical and scientific professionals are rewarded with economic privilege and status which affords them both social and cultural power. Therefore, social justice will be realized only when the opportunity, and the choice, to excel in physics is open to all students. The culture and practices of the physics classroom reflect the culture of physics at large, which raises the question of how our professional physics communities can embrace, rather than inadvertently repel, a diverse group of academics that can help improve physics culture.  To this end, the 2021 Physics Education Research Conference will focus on defining inclusive spaces and practices. Additionally, we will explore strategies for eliminating exclusionary practices in our classrooms, research spaces, and professional organizations. We call on the community to propose sessions that will drive conversations related to these initiatives throughout PERC 2021.

Please download the full program [here. ](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TRMC_SYJ3PUqXyP7sskA7LRSA8ow0eRE/view?usp=sharing)

PERC SM 21

August 4, 2021 - August 5, 2021 in a Virtual Conference Format

Making Physics More Inclusive and Eliminating Exclusionary Practices in Physics

technical paper

Join AAPT and Physics Educators worldwide in developing and strengthening your professional connections by attending the 2021 AAPT Virtual Summer Meeting. AAPT meetings are a great way to reflect on your teaching, recommit to best practices and re-energize your career with new research, products, and techniques.

Listen to internationally known plenary speakers, attend sessions, workshops, and special activities. Attending the virtual summer meeting is an excellent opportunity to share your expertise and learn from and network with leaders in the field.

Please log in with your AAPT account or register for the event if you haven't already.

If you are registered please note that you need to be logged in with your AAPT email / credentials in order to get access.

Kinematic graphs is a popular topic for algebra-based physics, but rarely are the graphs used to solve problems. This talk will communicate experience I have gained in how to teach students to solve kinematics problems directly from the graphs.

Solving Kinematics Problems Using Kinematic Graphs

An Apparatus for the Lab of Uniform Circular Motion
Richard Guarino, Jingbo Ye
Department of Physics
Southern Methodist University

Uniform Circular Motion (UCM) is discussed in college physics. A lab that is commonly used to demonstrate the relationship between the centripetal force and the angular velocity usually involves a string. The string that connects the rotating object to a weight or a force sensor is turned 90 degrees by a pulley. This scheme has the problem that the string will twist and the pulley has friction. Utilizing the force and gyro sensors in a Pasco Force Sensor and with a custom rotor, we constructed a UCM lab with precision measurement results. A photogate is used to double check the angular velocity measured by the gyro sensor. This double measurement of the same quantity provides students with an example and training of calibration and cross-check in scientific work. We will present the design and performance of this lab, and share the lab manual with interested fellow lab instructors. 


An Apparatus for the Lab of Uniform Circular Motion

Many newly reformed introductory physics laboratory courses prioritize student engagement with scientific practices, in line with a significant body of PER research that suggests these courses often do not adequately enhance students’ conceptual knowledge. However, is it possible for introductory physics labs to focus on student engagement with scientific practices AND generation of conceptual knowledge simultaneously? In this presentation, I discuss how our Introductory Physics for Life Sciences (IPLS) lab instructional team refined existing evidence-based instructional strategies and curricular activities to elicit students’ simultaneous engagement in scientific practices and the generation and utilization of new conceptual knowledge during investigations. We show how these refinements resulted in students collaboratively generating conceptual mechanistic knowledge of complex biophysical systems and using this knowledge in open-ended experiments to build scientific models of related scientific phenomena. These examples provide evidence that physics lab courses can engage students with scientific practices and conceptual learning simultaneously.

Practices and Concepts in Physics Labs: Can We Do Both?

The acceleration of a falling coffee filter released from rest is always much less than the free-fall acceleration of gravity, g. This is true even near the initial release, when the part of the drag force proportional to the velocity is negligible. This small acceleration occurs because there is a part of the drag force that is proportional to the acceleration. This part is called the added mass. The added mass is a large effect for falling coffee filters. Nesting the coffee filters does not change the added mass. The measured value of the added mass from the initial acceleration agrees with the theoretical value calculated for an ideal fluid. In experiments using a motion sensor or video analysis, it is easy to measure both the added mass and the steady-state drag force.

Measuring the Added Mass of a Falling Coffee Filter

Integrating of engineering design activities in physics has been shown to be effective in improving student achievement, attitudes, and learning in K-12 settings. Prior research supports the idea that engineering design activities have the potential to bring value to a physics course and to facilitate transfer between engineering courses and physics. During the Spring 2021 semester we introduced an engineering design challenge, to design a simplified Martian lander, in the physics labs midway through the semester. Using survey methods, we examined student interest, metacognition, and transfer. Our results found that most students made connections to other classes and their majors. Students also reported using metacognitive monitoring and control strategies during the design project. However, student perceptions of the workload limited student interest. Implications for implementation of engineering design activities will be discussed.

Student Perception of Engineering Design Activities in Introductory Physics Labs

Discipline based education research often compares student outcomes (e.g., performance, affect) across treatments. These quasi-random experimental designs can entail students in section A experiencing a treatment and students in section B experiencing a control. However, if the differences between students are not accounted for, student-non-equivalence can confound results or mask true treatment effects. 
Linear regression is one way to control for student non-equivalences that arise from quasi-random designs. However, linear regression only works for continuous outcome data that meet certain assumptions. As DBER research questions have become more sophisticated and researchers begin measuring more nuanced student outcomes, statistical analyses must extend beyond linear regression. Here I will review extensions of the linear regression model – generalized linear models (glms) – and compare seven glm types. By the end of the session, participants will be able to articulate why controlling for confounding variables is critical and identify when to apply different glm methods. 


Beyond linear regression: Analyzing common data types in DBER

As DBER gains in stature, results of DBER studies are being used to make decisions. While we should celebrate the move toward evidence-based decision-making, high quality decisions require high quality data. Creating an instrument that will lead to valid and reliable inferences is a difficult task that is typically attempted only if no existing instrument is suitable; however, researchers who want to avoid the challenges of instrument creation still need a basis for making decisions regarding the quality of existing instruments. Using a framework to examine available psychometric evidence during the instrument selection process can help researchers to determine whether an instrument is likely to yield score interpretations that will support sound decisions.

Due respect: Using existing standards for instrument development

Anecdotally, it seems that many physics students are surprised when they first encounter computation in a physics curriculum, leading us to wonder how students perceive computation as a physics activity. Do they see computation as a helpful practice that is normative within the physics research community, or do they see it as a niche activity? Do they confidently look for opportunities to use computation in their coursework and research, or do they prefer to avoid engaging with computation? To what degree do they expect to use computation in their careers? We investigated these questions by interviewing 5 undergraduate physics majors in the semester after they encountered significant computational work in a set of upper-level physics courses. For most of these students, these courses presented their first encounter with computation in a physics context. These interviews revealed overall positive perceptions of computation and appreciation for a variety of computational applications.

Student Perceptions of Computation after Upper-Level Coursework

Research-validated clicker questions as instructional tools for formative assessment are relatively easy to implement and can provide effective scaffolding when developed and implemented in a sequence. We present findings from the implementation of a research-validated Clicker Question Sequence (CQS) on student understanding of the time-development of two-state quantum systems. This study was conducted in an advanced undergraduate quantum mechanics course. The effectiveness of the CQS was determined by evaluating students’ performance after traditional lecture-based instruction and comparing it to their performance after engaging with the CQS.

Using clicker question sequence to teach time-development in quantum mechanics

We present the initial validation of an assessment of calculus proficiency in the context of introductory physics (i.e., calculus transfer to physics), including how calculus proficiency and mathematics self-efficacy affect physics self-efficacy, and how these attributes intersect with student identity (e.g., gender). Although preliminary, these results nevertheless indicate how using separate instruments for assessing physics self-efficacy and calculus transfer in tandem can support data-guided curriculum modifications to improve calculus transfer to physics, improve physics self-efficacy, or both simultaneously. Due to the prevalence of physics courses in many STEM degree programs, such instructional changes have the potential to improve student performance and retention in many disciplines, including among groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM.

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Instructors’ Impact on Students’ Perceptions of Computation

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