Posters

• Astronomy Poster  

  • • A van der Waals Phase Transition in a Compact Star

    • PS-B.02
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Keith Andrew, Kristopher Andrew, David Suarez, Cody Humphrey

    • Type: Poster
    • Many students are familiar with the ideal gas law equation of state which is often treated in early chemistry courses. They are also familiar with phase transitions and phase diagrams but have not explored phase transitions with a quantitative model or the units used in physics and astrophysics applications. Here we look at an application of the van der Waals equation of state to a planetary interior and to the quark-hadron phase change in a compact stellar core using Newtonian gravity. Students used the quark phase diagram with data from accelerator experiments to estimate the van der Waals constants to construct an equation of state. The resulting equation includes the modeled phase transition with binodal and spinodal curves describing a superheated liquid state and a supercooled vapor state. Students visualized the results in Mathematica and were surprised to see core stellar temperatures near a trillion Kelvins.

  • • Disentangling student understanding of apparent motions of Sun and stars

    • PS-B.02
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Mieke De Cock, Hans Bekaert, Wim Van Dooren, An Steegen, Hans Van Winckel

    • Type: Poster
    • Understanding the apparent motion of the Sun, Moon and stars from the point of view of an observer on Earth is seen as an essential starting point for the study of many astronomical phenomena. However, research has shown that children as well as secondary school and university students and adults have difficulties with these basic concepts. In this contribution, we describe the design of the Apparent Motion of Sun and Stars test, an instrument to measure to what extent students have insight in the apparent motion of Sun and stars. We disentangled the phenomena related to these apparent motions and we propose a framework that allows comparing students’ understanding of the different aspects of these motions for the Sun and the equivalent for the stars. We present the framework, the reliability and the validity of the instrument. Moreover, we report on the results of our qualitative analysis of student reasoning.

  • • Student Perceptions of Observation

    • PS-B.02
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Jacqueline Dunn
    • Type: Poster
    • When teaching astronomy, we present many concepts and facts learned via observation alone. One problem encountered in astronomy is convincing students that astronomers know what they say they know about an object. Beyond teaching students what we can learn from light, and how we can learn from observations of light, we need to teach students that we can learn from observation alone. To gauge student beliefs about the utility of observation, an exercise was designed where students would observe people without interacting them in any way. The goal was for students to see what they could learn just through observation. A comparison was made between student attitude’s across two groups: non-science majors and science majors. Surprisingly, the science majors showed a lack of appreciation for the utility of observation alone, while the non-science majors were surprised by the conclusions they were able to form through their observations.

  • • New Information on Pulsating RR Lyrae Star DM And

    • PS-B.02
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Adanna Frazier, Thomas O'Kuma

    • Type: Poster
    • This is a study of the photometric data of the RR Lyrae star, DM And, in the B, V, sdss-i, and sdss-z filters. The light curve shapes and estimated period (.63115 days in the B-filter, .6294 days in the V-filter, .632 days in the sdss-i filter, .63225 days in the sdss-z filter, and an average period of .6312 days) represent that of a typical RRab type RR Lyrae star. However, not everything measured correlated with expected results.While qualitative spectroscopic parallax in B and the measured distance using V-Band period luminosity relationship agree with GAIA, the sdss-i and sdss-z filters did not due to the star showing significantly dimmer magnitude (a magnitude difference of .144 in the sdss-i filter and .76 in the sdss-z filter, compared to the RR Lyrae star AF Vel). There is also significant variations in the measured distances which resulted in an inconsistent average distance of 1,924.8 parsec.

  • • Reacting to the Present: A Role-Playing Game for Introductory Astronomy

    • PS-B.02
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Josh Fuchs, Margaret Gonzales

    • Type: Poster
    • The Astronomy Decadal Survey occurs once every ten years to determine priorities for the next decade in astronomy. We describe a new role-playing game designed for Introductory Astronomy courses in which students play the roles of current astronomers to decide which projects should be funded. Students must use knowledge gained from the whole class to decide how to balance scientific priorities and feasibility, funding levels, cultural sensitivities, and global cooperation to rank six telescope proposals. This game engages students in the course material by having them debate each other and provides a summative activity to assess learning outcomes. We will describe how the game is structured and implemented, learning outcomes, and make it freely available.

  • • Hands-on General Relativity Activities for Introductory Astronomy

    • PS-B.02
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by DAVID MORGAN
    • Type: Poster
    • This poster presentation will present several hands-on “lab” activities for introducing students in the astronomy classroom to some of the basic ideas of general relativity. Most of the activities involve paper & pencil measurements and simple objects like balls, balloons, flower vases and globes. Activities that explore Hubble’s Law and the accelerating expansion of the universe will also be shown. Finally, a simple activity will be described that makes use of the cosmological models built-into the Wolfram Alpha computational engine.

  • • Combining Existing Technology & Resources for Stronger Outreach In Today’s World

    • PS-B.02
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Dave Milewski, Emmanuel Masongsong

    • Type: Poster
    • The 1969 Apollo 11 Moon landing led to significant advances in technology while heightening enthusiasm for science, creating a lasting impact. Half a century later, people are still mesmerized by the wealth of continued returns in many fields, with unprecedented levels of interest in astronomy and space exploration. Now in its 11th year, NASA’s International Observe The Moon Night Event proves how simple community strategizing leads to widespread education and outreach to citizens of all ages. Combining numerous scientific demonstrations (including basic physics, meteorite specimens, and historical Apollo artifacts), we make planetary science accessible for everyone. Via UCLA Institute for Planets and Exoplanets, a joint-collaboration amongst specialists in multiple UCLA departments, and people involved in NASA missions, those specialties of professional scientists are merged to bring their expertise to the public. We hope to expose everyone to basic science and scientific phenomena empowering the next generation of researchers and explorers.

  • • Nucleosynthesis for high school students

    • PS-B.02
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Margaret Norris
    • Type: Poster
    • The synthesis of new elements in cosmic events - on both slow (fusion in stars) and fast (supernovae, colliding neutron stars) time scales - is an unsettled science topic that excites the imagination. When the LIGO/VIRGO collaborations observed the firstgravitational waves from colliding neutron stars in 2017, nuclear astrophysics and gravitational physics combined to generate the new field of MultiMessenger Astronomy (MMA). MMA connects to classrooms through both physical science standards (nuclear processes, energy) and earth/space science standards (Earth's Place in the Universe). We have developed an activity to model nucleosynthesis in the classroom by having students explore the competition between slow-neutron capture (the s-process) and rapid-neutron capture (the r-process) at different sites in the cosmos. The activity introduces modeling, probability and nuclear beta-decay. It can be used as a culmination of a unit on the origin of the elements or as a stand-alone activity.

  • • Working with Real Astronomy Data

    • PS-B.02
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Luisa Rebull
    • Type: Poster
    • Did you know there is a lot of professional astronomy data out there, right now, available to you, for free? Professional astronomy archives are open to the public; tools are getting better all the time to not just access these data, but also work with them. This poster summarizes how to access data from IRSA, the Infrared Science Archive (http://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu). The online tools give you access to multi-wavelength data (images and catalogs) and provide basic tools for analysis.

  • • The Pan-African School for Emerging Astronomers

    • PS-B.02
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Linda Strubbe
    • Type: Poster
    • The Pan-African School for Emerging Astronomers (PASEA) is a short course in astronomy for university students from across Africa, designed and taught by a collaboration of astronomers from Africa and around the world. Our program started in West Africa in 2013, where it was known as WAISSYA, and has been held four times in Nigeria and Ghana. Building on our success and the enthusiasm of African participants outside West Africa, our team decided to expand to a Pan-African program. Our goals include building a critical mass of astronomers across Africa, and exchanging teaching ideas between Africa and outside. I highlight four major aspects of PASEA and their significance to Astronomy for Development across Africa: (1) our inquiry-based curriculum; (2) "paired-teaching," in which international partners teach together to exchange and learn new ways of teaching; (3) our active alumni community; and (4) our evaluations to measure the effectiveness of the program.

• Computer Modeling and Computation in Labs  

  • • Computational Modeling of Seiche in an Circular Above-Ground Pool

    • PAR-G.01
    • Wed 07/22, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Hugh Gallagher, Benjamin Weir, Melissa Marry

    • Type: Poster
    • A surface seiche is a regular oscillation of the surface of an enclosed body of water such as a lake or bay. This project examines the formation of a seiche in a small circular above-ground pool. Analyzing observations from an ultrasonic range sensor, wedetermine the initial amplitude, period and decay constant of the seiche to be 6.2 cm, 1.975 s and 340 s, respectively. Since the decay time constant is much larger than the period, frictional effects should have a relatively small impact on the period of the seiche. We use a finite difference scheme to solve the wave equation in cylindrical coordinates for the surface height. We find that the theoretical period agrees with the observations if a wave speed consistent with the pool dimensions is used instead of the wave speed provided by the shallow wave approximation.

  • • Simulating a Pandemic

    • PAR-G.01
    • Wed 07/22, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Herbert Jaeger
    • Type: Poster
    • Ever since the emergence of the novel corona virus (COVID-19) earlier this year, we have been bombarded with numbers representing observations, estimates, and results of modeling the outbreak of the virus. Models in particular are interesting as they allow to play out a number of scenarios and so help to determine the effectivity of actions with respect to slowing down the infection. In this contribution we show how such a model can be approached so it is suitable for use in an undergraduate computational physics class or an independent study project. The results of this simple simulation show how an outbreak can be affected by measures such as social distancing.

  • • Capture, Code, Compare: Integrating Computational Modeling with Video Analysis

    • PAR-G.01
    • Wed 07/22, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    
    • by W. Brian Lane
    • Type: Poster
    • It’s clear that computational modeling has significantly impacted physics education. However, there remains a gap in student sensemaking between the results they see in a computational model and their observation of the physical world. To help my students see that their computer models actually describe reality and learn how to quantitatively discuss how well model and reality match, I’ve developed the Capture, Code, Compare (CCC) activity structure. In CCC, students capture the motion of a physical system and study that motion through video analysis, develop a code that reproduces the motion in a computer animation, and compare the results of the video analysis and animation. This poster will present sample CCC activities and discuss possible means of assessment.

  • • Understanding COVID-19 by modeling it

    • PAR-G.01
    • Wed 07/22, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Peter Nelson
    • Type: Poster
    • Simple epidemiological models are introduced using finite difference methods in Excel. The SIR model explains the initial exponential growth of COVID-19, the effects of social distancing in the US during early April 2020 and successfully predicts the continued spread of the virus during late April and May 2020. The SIR model is the origin of the basic reproduction number R0 and herd immunity. It also predicts what will happen if social distancing is lifted prematurely. A wide range of student research projects are possible for modeling and making predictions based on real data for US states and other countries. See http://circle4.com/biophysics for free sample chapters and videos.

  • • Computational Simulations of Introductory Lab Experiments in Physics I

    • PAR-G.01
    • Wed 07/22, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Deva O'Neil
    • Type: Poster
    • Introductory calculus-based physics is taught at Bridgewater College with both laboratory and computational components. Simple programming in Glowscript (a vpython environment) is introduced to students in recitation section. In two of the lab experiments (cart sliding with constant velocity, collision between two carts), students use the experimental data to determine the parameters for a numerical simulation of the system. The computational activities are designed to provide practice with momentum conservation and with updating the position of an object based on its previous position and velocity. Integrating them with lab activities is intended to promote understanding of the physical parameters. If coded correctly, the numerical output will resemble the experimental data, providing plausibility checks on the code. A more advanced laboratory activity done in Physics I, the ballistic pendulum, has also been simulated numerically by a student as an Honors Upgrade. The simulation applies the principle of momentum conservation to reproduce the motion of a pendulum after a collision with a projectile.

  • • Radiological Physics simulation of radiographic image acquisition.

    • PAR-G.01
    • Wed 07/22, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Peter Riley
    • Type: Poster
    • Radiology practitioners are examined on the underlying radiological physics principles of Photoelectric Absorption and Compton Scatter. Students must understand how these interactions in the patient vary as the x-ray tube acquisition parameters are adjusted. This variation changes the relative tissue contrasts in the radiograph and the detrimental radiation dose to the patient. An interactive Mathematica (1) simulation has been developed which simultaneously shows relative interaction probabilities, patient dose & penetration, and an anthropomorphic chest image. By adjusting the parameters the student can determine an optimal acquisition which minimises patient dose whilst generating sufficient contrast for lesion detection on the radiograph. The simulation instructions lead the student through a series of acquisitions which enable MCQ & SAQ assessments, which have demonstrated enhanced and accelerated comprehension. 1. Mathematica, Wolfram Research Inc., Champain, IL (1989-2020).

  • • Arduinos Used to Integrate Programming Skills into an Advanced Lab

    • PAR-G.01
    • Wed 07/22, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    
    • by David Sidebottom
    • Type: Poster
    • Guided by recent AAPT guidelines, reorganization of the lab sequence at Creighton University resulted in a new, intermediate-level course designed to teach the six skills that practicing scientists rely on: constructing knowledge, modeling, designing experiments, developing technical and practical lab skills, analyzing and visualizing data, and communicating physics. As a way of introducing fundamental programming skills, students are tasked to integrate a microprocessor (Arduino Uno) with simple sensors to create basic data acquisition and control systems that can automate measurements. Here we highlight two examples. The first is a simple temperature controller used to maintain the temperature of an aluminum block. The second is a large angle pendulum whose amplitude and half period are measured using a rotary encoder. In both instances, students are challenged to design the program and troubleshoot its final application in the real world.

  • • Modeling linear and non-linear drag in horizontal oscillatory motion

    • PAR-G.01
    • Wed 07/22, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Kyle Slinker, Eleanor Murray

    • Type: Poster
    • Exponentially damped oscillatory motion is often encountered early in a physics student's education. The closed form solution in the case of linear-in-velocity drag makes this an attractive first model, but realistic systems typically include constant- and/or quadratic-in-velocity drag. The equations of motion for non-linear drag can be solved numerically so that data can be fit using more accurate models. A data set is presented and analyzed which students can use to explore topics such as differing models of friction, numerical modeling techniques, and evaluating and quantifying the agreement between a model and data. Code and data are provided for physics instructors' use.

• Introductory Physics for the Life Sciences (IPLS)  

  • • Click and Drag Digital Worksheets for Online Biomechanics Activities

    • PAR-G.05
    • Wed 07/22, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Nancy Beverly
    • Type: Poster
    • Click and drag digital worksheets were created on which students can click and drag vectors, lines, text boxes, and symbols to create motion, force, and torque diagrams, as well as analyze graphs for biomechanics scenarios. These were made for use by student groups during an online synchronous introductory physics for life science class, but could be used in a myriad of other ways.

  • • Science 100- The Science of Energy

    • PAR-G.05
    • Wed 07/22, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Donald Franklin
    • Type: Poster
    • Using Energy to Teach Science for all students. This course allows students to learn about the Science of Energy. It contains information on Energy of Biology, Chemistry, Earth & Space, Physics. This gives students a background in all Sciences while in high school. It is designed to help small high schools, and limited expenditures for science courses in high schools.

  • • Designing a Reynolds Number Tutorial for an IPLS Course

    • PAR-G.05
    • Wed 07/22, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Jessica Hobbs, Brandon Lunk

    • Type: Poster
    • Many biological processes occur in fluids; therefore, understanding the details of these processes requires an understanding of whether inertial or viscous forces dominate the biological environment. Reynolds number (Re), which is the ratio of these two forces, can help us to identify whether organisms experience viscous flow or turbulent flow when moving through a fluid; this, in turn, gives us physical insight into many biological phenomena. In order to help students with these ideas, we developed an in-class worksheet covering the concepts of viscosity, reciprocal motion, drag (inertial and viscous), and Reynolds number for students in an introductory physics course for life sciences (IPLS). While developing this material, we used faculty surveys, PER faculty test runs, and student-based focused groups for assessing and improving the tutorial. In this presentation, I will showcase the worksheet as well as the design choices involved in its creation.

  • • Physics Learning Goals versus AAPS Survey Results: Life Science Majors

    • PAR-G.05
    • Wed 07/22, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Andrew Mason
    • Type: Poster
    • The Attitudes and Approaches to Problem Solving (AAPS) Survey has been used to analyze students in introductory calculus-based physics, introductory math-based astronomy, upper division/graduate-level physics, as well as Turkish students in high school and introductory university physics. In this study, we consider post-test survey results from pre-IPLS introductory algebra-based physics course sections in 2019 and 2020, which are predominately life science majors. The following variables will be checked for statistical relationship: 1) students’ self-reported learning goals in introductory algebra-based physics courses; 2) students’ choice of major (in particular, life science majors dominate the student population). From prior studies regarding these two variables, it is anticipated that life science majors that express a mastery learning goal (as opposed to a performance learning goal or otherwise) may have more expert-like views than other students; discussion will focus on the accuracy of this statement and potential explanations for results.

  • • Three-Dimensional Learning in Introductory Physics for Life Sciences Laboratory Courses

    • PAR-G.05
    • Wed 07/22, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Jason May, Claudia De Grandi, Jordan Gerton, Lauren Barth-Cohen

    • Type: Poster
    • Recent developments in Introductory Physics for Life Sciences (IPLS) laboratory courses have produced fruitful curricular and pedagogical shifts in undergraduate physics education. However, less work has examined to what extent these developments align with a parallel growing interest in three-dimensional learning, which is widely being implemented at the K-12 level through the Next Generation Science Standards. This poster presents a preliminary analysis of a newly reformed IPLS laboratory course at the University of Utah and its extrapolation of three-dimensional learning that involves scientific practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts. Results suggest IPLS lab curriculum prompts students to engage in complex and dynamic scientific practices and utilize crosscutting concepts when conducting laboratory experiments to meet IPLS-specific course performance expectations. This poster presents course learning outcomes, laboratory experiments, and student artifacts to highlight three-dimensional learning within these IPLS laboratory courses and discusses the potential benefits inherent in developing this new approach.

  • • Scaffolding student mechanistic reasoning about static and dynamic liquids

    • PAR-G.05
    • Wed 07/22, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Dawn Meredith, Jason Jung, Daniel Young, James Vesenka

    • Type: Poster
    • The kinetic theory of gases provides a powerful set of mechanistic resources that allows students to reason productively about pressure in gases. We give evidence students (and experts) are lacking similar resources for reasoning about liquids (especially water in an IPLS course), and provide initial evidence of some possibly productive resources.

  • • Student Understandings of Fluid Dynamics

    • PAR-G.05
    • Wed 07/22, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Dawn Meredith, Jason Jung, James Vesenka, Daniel Young, Rebecca Lindell

    • Type: Poster
    • We report on results from preliminary student interviews and open-ended questions which probe student understanding of the basic fluid dynamics ideas: flow rate, continuity, Bernoulli's equation, and viscosity. These student ideas will help us develop appealing distractors for a conceptual fluids evaluation which is under development.

  • • Incorporating Computation into a Physics Course for Life Science Students

    • PAR-G.05
    • Wed 07/22, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Kirtimaan Mohan, Kathleen Hinko, Vashti Sawtelle

    • Type: Poster
    • Introductory Physics for the Life Sciences (IPLS) courses are gaining momentum in the physics education community, with the creation of multiple curricula for a variety of implementation strategies. At Michigan State University, we have designed an integrated lab-lecture (studio style) introductory physics course that meets the needs of life science students. Our design of this course focuses on incorporating computational simulations that model complex biological phenomenon and complement empirical lab investigations. We will present on updates to a unit on diffusion in which we incorporated a series of computational tasks designed to build up students’ understanding of collisions and random motion. In this presentation we will describe changes that we have made to the unit and how those changes supported student understanding and engagement.

  • • Understanding COVID-19 by modeling it

    • PAR-G.05
    • Wed 07/22, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Peter Nelson
    • Type: Poster
    • Simple epidemiological models are introduced using finite difference methods in Excel. The SIR model explains the initial exponential growth of COVID-19, the effects of social distancing in the US during early April 2020 and successfully predicts the continued spread of the virus during late April and May 2020. The SIR model is the origin of the basic reproduction number R0 and herd immunity. It also predicts what will happen if social distancing is lifted prematurely. A wide range of student research projects are possible for modeling and making predictions based on real data for US states and other countries. See http://circle4.com/biophysics for free sample chapters and videos.

  • • Modeling the variable moment of inertia of limbs during locomotion.

    • PAR-G.05
    • Wed 07/22, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Melissa Vigil
    • Type: Poster
    • Analysis of gross motor motion is of particular importance to future physical therapists in our IPLS courses. Using the work of Thollesson & Norberg (J.Exp.Bio, 1991) as a starting point, students use LEGO bricks and Tinker Toys to model the changes in moment of inertia of arms and wings both from the definition of moment of inertia as the sum of mr^2 terms and from the movement of the model as a physical pendulum.

  • • A Calculus-based Studio IPLS Course Sequence at UConn

    • PAR-G.05
    • Wed 07/22, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Xian Wu
    • Type: Poster
    • At University of Connecticut, we have been designing a studio physics course sequence for life science students. Several non-traditional, bio-relevant physics topics are adapted to meet the needs of the students. In 2020 summer semester, a mock-up studiophysics course is taught to test out the content and the structure of the course. We assess student conceptual learning, problem-solving ability, and attitude toward physics via exams and surveys built locally and the research-based assessments. We will address the limitations of the popular research-based assessments on probing the learning outcomes of the studio physics course for the life sciences.

• Labs/Apparatus  

  • • One aspect of Teaching /Learning in a Virtual Lab

    • PS-A.01
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Mikhail Agrest
    • Type: Poster
    • It has been learned over the numerous years of teaching in a real Lab room that Recurrent Study in Labs [1,2] brings flavor and that students love it. It can be easily used in teaching Labs adjusted to a Virtual distant teaching whether the students haveequipment in their hands, or they are observing the lab instructor’s operating it. The author practiced it successfully teaching the cadets of The Citadel for a half of the Spring semester in five labs during COVID-19. The concept of the Recurrent Study is based on studying of the property of the event/system experimentally, then using that learned property predicting results of an event at changed conditions while keeping the property of interest non changeable. The predicted value must be checked by an experiment and the error would affect the grade. The proposed aspect was expanded from Physics to other disciplines like, Chemistry, Biology, Geology.

  • • Utilizing Unity as a Classroom Tool for Physics Simulations

    • PS-A.01
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Kristopher Andrew, Keith Andrew

    • Type: Poster
    • This work details the advantages and difficulties of using the Unity development environment as a classroom tool for lab activities. The Unity software package is a cross platform highly interactive game development engine available for free by Unity, Inc. Unity gives users the ability to develop 2-d and 3-d interactive environments. We tasked a small Montessori high school classroom with completing the first tutorial on the Unity website, and we found that younger students struggled with the development environment and scripting potential. We found Unity is most useful when students have previous exposure to programming and access to online resources. Online sources provide access to a wide diversity of interesting applications which could gradually introduce students to the development environment.

  • • Just a Draft: Improving lab report writing

    • PS-A.01
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Mary Brewer Sherer
    • Type: Poster
    • While improving technical writing through lab reports is a goal of most physics programs, many smaller colleges do not have dedicated lab instructors and lab development often falls to the bottom of the list. After several years of discussing (but not implementing) large scale changes in the introductory lab, we decided to focus on one small change that we could easily implement. For the first lab report of the semester, we required a draft report, which we then returned with significant comments before the final report was due. This poster discusses the results both in terms of writing and student attitudes with implementing just this one small change.

  • • Designing Writing Intensive Advanced Laboratories in Physics

    • PS-A.01
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Sara Callori
    • Type: Poster
    • California State University San Bernardino is currently transitioning from quarters to semesters, starting in Fall 2020, with the Department of Physics transforming its curriculum. One major facet of this redesign is the creation of two writing intensive, advanced laboratory courses. These courses align with program goals and AAPT recommendations for instructional labs, including communicating physics and developing practical skills. By scaffolding assignments and creating opportunities for students to both give and receive meaningful feedback, they will be encouraged to use writing as a tool to bolster their experimental analysis by focusing on demonstrating “how they know what they know”. Peer review and student-designed assessment will also help them think metacognitively about their own writing and the role of writing in the scientific process. Here, I present the course design for the new writing intensive advanced laboratories and reflect on lessons learned and changes made from the previous single-quarter course.

  • • Challenges and Successes in Professional Development for Lab TAs

    • PS-A.01
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Danny Doucette, Russell Clark, Chandralekha Singh

    • Type: Poster
    • At large universities, introductory physics labs are often run by student teaching assistants (TAs). Thus, efforts to reform introductory labs should address the need for effective and relevant TA training. We developed and implemented a research-backed training program that focuses on preparing TAs to support inquiry-based learning, to discuss issues of epistemology, and to establish supportive and equitable learning spaces. Primary impacts of this training were identified using observational and ethnographic protocols, and secondary impacts were assessed through an attitudinal survey of students. We will discuss details of the training program and share results that suggest effective training can positively impact both TA practice and student experiences in the physics lab.

  • • Physics Outreach at Fresno State University: A Portable Physics Demonstration Service

    • PS-A.01
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Eric Madrigal, John Walkup, Don Williams

    • Type: Poster
    • The Physics Department at California State University, Fresno has one of the most active physics outreach programs in the country. This program doubles as a service learning course for future teachers, science majors, and anyone interested in teaching. Students enrolled in this program learn many methods of teaching physics, practice their skills in performing demonstrations, and take their lessons directly into public school classrooms of all ages. Unique to this program are travel trailers, funded through a grant by Chevron, full of physics demonstration equipment for delivering physics demonstrations to school children and the overall community throughout California's Central Valley. Previous outreach students who are now teaching can borrow a fully-loaded trailer to use at their own schools, along with videos of demonstrations. An overview of this program will be presented by a pre-service teacher who recently successfully completed the program.

  • • Connecting Physics and Engineering through a Modernization of the Advanced Physics Laboratory Curriculum*

    • PS-A.01
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Muriel Mcclendon, John Peters, Mel Sabella, Austin Harton, Russell Ceballos

    • Type: Poster
    • Connecting topics, experiments and methods in Physics and Engineering through the Modernization of the Advanced Laboratory Curriculum plays a significant role in motivating student interest and addressing needs in the STEM workplace. Current STEM students must be forward-thinking to solve grand challenges and take advantage of diverse opportunities. This project focuses on traditional and modern perspectives to address science and engineering applications. This project will lead to the complete modernization of the advanced laboratory curriculum for physics and engineering students. The project has outcomes that include: 1. Outlining a curriculum plan for the modernization of CSU’s applied physics/engineering laboratory with the inclusion of modern equipment, applications, and new experimental Learning Lab modules. 2. Establishing a student learning community that will inform instructional revisions by incorporating student input through the use of the Learning Assistant Program. 3. Providing outreach opportunities for increasing STEM interest by utilizing the student-developed modules at local high schools.

  • • Distance Learning Mechanics Labs Successes and Challenges

    • PS-A.01
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Michael Nichols, Melissa Vigil, Kate Piper, Annie Carani

    • Type: Poster
    • During the shift to distance learning one of the hardest parts of any physics class was how to transition labs into the remote learning environment. For our introductory course this summer, a small kit was sent out to the students containing the bare minimum for students to use as their lab supplies over the course of the mechanics semester. The kit included Lego, Binder clips, string, and a measuring tape. We will present the successes and challenges experienced using these materials to study kinematics, Newton’s Laws, energy, and rotation systems. We will also discuss our goals for future refinements and expansions of this topic list.

  • • Using FCI Data to Develop Impactful Class Activites

    • PS-A.01
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Andrew Pawl
    • Type: Poster
    • 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.

  • • Getting the conversation started: Critically thinking about informal programs

    • PS-A.01
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Brean Prefontaine, Claire Mullen, Claudia Fracchiolla, Kathleen Hinko, Shane Bergin

    • Type: Poster
    • Are you a director of an informal physics program? Do you want to think critically about how this informal environment is impacting others? Come discuss how structural elements of informal physics programs can positively impact the university students facilitating within your program. In our research, we looked at program facilitator experiences within three different informal physics programs using an operationalized version of the Communities of Practice framework to better understand how these programs support identity development. In this poster, we will do two things: 1) present the findings from our work, including the structural elements of the informal programs that support identity development, and 2) discuss the implications of these findings. We are aiming to start a discussion with practitioners about what practical applications of this research means for informal physics programs - stop by and let’s get this conversation started!

  • • How do students develop scientific epistemologies in an ISLE-based course?

    • PS-A.01
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Joshua Rutberg, Sheehan Ahmed, Diane Jammula, Eugenia Etkina

    • Type: Poster
    • Research[1] shows that in traditional and reformed courses students view physics experiments as confirmatory experiments for theory. They do not recognize the epistemic role of experiments as catalysts for knowledge construction. One approach to learningphysics, the ISLE approach pays specific attention to the role of experiments in the construction of knowledge by the students. In the ISLE approach students encounter experiments as observational, testing and application when they construct, test and apply new ideas in a students-centered inquiry-based environment. Students learn many concepts in the course by starting to analyze experimental data. Will these experiences affect their epistemologies and help them see experiments as the sources of knowledge not only tests? Our poster provides an answer to this question using the instrument developed by Hu and Zwickl. [1] Hu & Zwickl. Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 14, 010121 (2018)

  • • Implementation of Design Experiments in Large-Scale Introductory Physics Classes

    • PS-A.01
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Alexander Shvonski, Pushpaleela Prabakar, Jacob White, Peter Dourmashkin

    • Type: Poster
    • We describe design-based physics experiments that we developed and implemented in a large-scale, introductory physics course at MIT. The residential course, 8.02 Electricity and Magnetism, has >700 students, with 8 sections total (~90 per section), and is built upon an “active learning” structure, where students interact with each other and online materials during class. We introduced 5 in-class experiments, each having an open-ended, design component, which explored a practical application of electromagnetic concepts. During these experiments, students followed instructions and answered questions on MITx. We also integrated the experiments with pre- and post-experiment assignments to support and reinforce the material covered. We describe how we structured these experiments, how we integrated online components, some considerations with respect to implementation on a large scale, and also report student feedback and E-CLASS results.

  • • Validating a Tracker-based Biomechanical Model for Undergraduate Occupational Therapists

    • PS-A.01
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by J. Caleb Speirs, Shannon Keavy

    • Type: Poster
    • Tracker Video Analysis and Modeling Tool has found myriad applications in physics classrooms and labs. A recently designed biomechanics course for future occupational therapists at the University of New England heavily utilizes this tool. In the course, students use Tracker during in-class activities as well as in personal projects to create models and study kinematics and kinesiology. The work presented in this poster describes the creation of a biomechanical model using Tracker and details the process of attempting to validate that model by comparison with data derived from 3D Motion Analysis in the University of New England Motion Analysis Laboratory (MAL).

• Labs/Apparatus III  

  • • How Can You Light The Bulb? - Student Engineered Electrophorus

    • PS-B.01b
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Bree Barnett Dreyfuss
    • Type: Poster
    • Students are tasked with lighting a small neon bulb with small amounts of electric charge using an electrophorus they built. An electrophorus device is often used to demonstrate electric charging by induction. The basic structure of the device (a handle made of a cup attached to a plate) and the mechanism to charge the electrophorus is demonstrated to the students but the materials of each part are not revealed. Student groups are given four cups and four plates, one each made of aluminum, paper, plastic and styrofoam. Each group tries different combinations of the cup and plate materials until they get the neon bulb to light. The next stage is to try to improve their device and correctly explain how the bulb can be made to light up. Sample student guides, lesson logistics and suggestions for different grade levels will be discussed.

  • • How to do an advanced lab course at home, on short notice

    • PS-B.01b
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Eric Black
    • Type: Poster
    • The transition to remote learning in March of 2020 came suddenly and with little warning. Fortunately, the closure of campus happened during finals week of Winter Term for those of us on the quarter system, so I had a full week during spring break to develop and deploy a curriculum that our students could do from home during Spring Term. Starting with John Essick’s excellent textbook on LabVIEW and continuing with having hardware drop shipped from National Instruments to the students’ home addresses, we were able to cover quite a bit of material, almost all of the projects worked, and at the end of the term many students commented that they genuinely enjoyed the course.

  • • Treatment of Statistics and Error in Introductory Physics Lab Manuals

    • PS-B.01b
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Jimmy Gonzalez, John Walkup

    • Type: Poster
    • Many students experience their first practical application of statistics and error analysis conducting activities in their introductory physics labs. During this time, they learn definitions, concepts, and skills they will use for the rest of their academic and postgraduate career. The authors will present their analysis of the use of statistical methods used in labs by comparing lab manuals aimed at science and engineering students collected from two-year community colleges and four-year universities. Approaches to introducing statistical concepts and procedures are examined for consistency, with reference to national and international guidelines such as the NIST and ISO. Their analysis reveals severe inconsistencies in the treatment of statistics and error among the samples. Most notably, wide disparities surfaced in terminology and relationships, along with a dearth of topics that should have warranted a more concerted treatment. Results point to potential inadequate development of statistical reasoning skills among future scientists and engineers.

  • • Student-Centered Approach to Online Radiation Experiments during a Pandemic

    • PS-B.01b
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Yugjeet Grewal, Raul Reynoso, Ruben Reyes, Javier Santos, John Walkup

    • Type: Poster
    • First-year students at California State University, Fresno learn to perform scientific research through a Building Opportunities with Networks of Discovery (BOND) course sequence. Students perform their own research as a culminating project. Although COVID-19 eliminated on-campus student involvement, one group of freshmen was undeterred. Spurred by a presentation on the dangers of radium, they decided to complete their research nevertheless. Using a Geiger-Muller tube and sound-capturing software, they measured to reasonable precision the half-layer of steel in absorbing high-energy gamma rays emanating from a Revigator, an early quack medical device. The poster describes how they conducted radiation exposure experiments through Zoom, with the instructor acting in the reversed role of “Lab Rat,” and how their procedure can drive similar online radiation experiments without compromising student safety. Finally, it describes how such a project offers lessons in medical history, especially disasters that unfolded when greed and ignorance supplanted science.

  • • Using Spoons as Spherical Mirrors

    • PS-B.01b
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by James Hicks
    • Type: Poster
    • An "at-home" version of an introductory physics 2 lab involving spherical mirrors is proposed. In the regular, face-to-face laboratory experiment, students measure the focal length of commerically available spherical mirrors, both concave and convex, using an optical rail. Most students will not have easy access to these types of mirrors at home but a reasonable replacement can be found using the front and back surface of a metal spoon. This provides both a concave mirror and convex mirror with very similar focal lengths. Students were given the task of determing the focal length of the spoon in addition to several general suggestions for measurement techniques. Several of the students’ techniques will be discussed along with their accuracy and possible improvements for implementing this “at-home” lab.

  • • The iPad as a virtual oscilloscope for measuring time constants in RC and LR circuits

    • PS-B.01b
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Roberto Ramos
    • Type: Poster
    • In a university introductory physics laboratory, the measurement of time constants in RC and LR circuits usually employ a conventional oscilloscope. The standard oscilloscope with its many knobs and switches often intimidate first-time users and can cause anxiety especially among non-physics and non-engineering majors. On the other hand, an iPad has a more familiar, less intimidating and friendlier touch-pad interface. We report our experience in using the iPad as a virtual oscilloscope in an introductory algebra-based physics laboratory course. We used a commercial electronic accessory called Oscium iMSO that turns the iPad into a virtual oscilloscope. Using blind surveys and direct observation, we report student responses to this pedagogical tool.

  • • Using an Ordinary Pen as a Lab Tool to Learn Spring Constant

    • PS-B.01b
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Hoang Vo, Nabin Malakar

    • Type: Poster
    • We improvised the learning exercise for energy conservation principle using a simple retractable writing pen to calculate the spring constant of a pen's spring. We used the pen's spring to design and set up an experiment as an undergraduate design project. We took measurements of how high the pen's cap sprung for varying compression length. This allowed us multiple measurements of compression and height. A simple slope-intercept formula was then used to calculate the spring's constant derived from the energy conservation principle. This demonstration serves as an example of how everyday objects could be used to design an experiment, collect data, and analyze the data. We hope that it will be useful for teaching and learning exercise in understanding the basic physics principles.

• Lecture/Classroom  

  • • A New Model for Public Engagement Partnerships With High Schools

    • PS-A.02
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Michael Bennett, Rosemary Wulf, Noah Finkelstein

    • Type: Poster
    • The University of Colorado’s highly successful Partnerships for Informal Science Education in the Community (PISEC) public engagement program has partnered for over 10 years with local Colorado primary schools to implement a collaborative, after-school physics learning program. In recent semesters, PISEC has complemented its work with primary schools by partnering with secondary schools in the front-range area to develop and implement project-based curricula designed to give students opportunities to engage in authentic professional scientific practice, facilitated by CU mentors. These curricula give high schoolers the opportunity to lead projects, design experiments, and present at a conference-like symposium hosted by CU Boulder. We will discuss the genesis of PISEC’s high school efforts and recent outcomes, including first steps toward assessment and research.

  • • Taking a Traditional Lecture Online - Lessons Learned

    • PS-A.02
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Jacqueline Dunn
    • Type: Poster
    • As campuses were forced to move their classes online in the spring semester of 2020, many different approaches were attempted. Some faculty chose to mimic their traditional lectures exactly, meeting with students synchronously online using various formats, while others chose to move their courses online in an asynchronous format. The approach presented here utilizes a combination of the two. Along with video instructions, video lectures, lecture notes, lecture slides, discussion forums, and online labs moderated by student teaching assistants, two meetings were scheduled with students via a videoconferencing platform. Beyond the technical aspects of moving a traditional lecture from the classroom to an online environment, the analysis presented here will include methods utilized to decrease student stress and frustration with having to adjust to a new learning environment.

  • • Class of Particle Physics to Promote the Access of Girls to Scientific Education

    • PS-A.02
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Verania Echaide Navarro, Mario Humberto Ramírez Díaz

    • Type: Poster
    • Nowadays, women and girls continue to be excluded from participating fully in many fields of science at national and international levels, in addition to various issues that make them distance themselves from their scientific curiosity. Physics offers a great opportunity to involve young people in science, therefore, in this article is proposed a master class of particle physics for female high school students in Mexico. The methodology of CERN and the International Group of Scope of Particle Physics (IPPOG) will be used, that way, the students can participate in a real experimental research process.

  • • Helping Students Understand Temperature By Using Money

    • PS-A.02
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Gerardo Giordano
    • Type: Poster
    • Last year health issues prevented me from presenting on the continued implementation of class activities and discussions that use money to explain temperature as part of a one-semester, introductory, conceptual physics class. The activities and subsequent conversations attempted to explain temperature as a measure of the average translational kinetic energy per particle, its role in heat flow direction, its lack of dependence on the quantity of a substance, how a thermometer measures it, and why it has a lower limit but no upper limit. Using the Thermal Concept Evaluation created by Shelley Yeo and Marjan Zadnik and published in The Physics Teacher (Vol. 39, November 2001), I now present 3 years’ worth of pretest and posttest scores in general and on select temperature related questions. Additionally, results from temperature related questions on the final exam as well as FCI data are included to evaluate the effectiveness of the money related activities.

  • • Example written explanations of qualitative reasoning

    • PS-A.02
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by David Liao
    • Type: Poster
    • Students in AP Physics 1 can sometimes have difficulty developing written explanations of qualitative reasoning, even when they are certain of their final conclusions. This poster can be printed out as a wall reference for teaching students to identify structures of reasoned arguments (using terms from Toulmin's model, McNeill's claim-evidence-reasoning (CER) model, and Frensley's ABCD model and using terms from REASoN: Relationship/rule, Equal/Same/Match, Altered/Different/Mismatch, So what?, Next?) and to provide phrasal templates for some example arguments.

  • • Spiral 2.0

    • PS-A.02
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Kris Lui
    • Type: Poster
    • Inspired by the idea of a curriculum structured by increasing complexity, I was inspired to re-design a first-year calculus-based mechanics course on this principle. In this design, students encounter four main concepts (kinematics, forces, momentum, andenergy) in a 1D system, then revisit the same ideas multidimensionally, and finally in a rotational framework. In this poster, I will describe the redesigned framework and challenges and benefits of its implementation.

  • • Themed Physics for Non-Science College Students

    • PS-A.02
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Kris Lui
    • Type: Poster
    • Teaching physics for non-science majors is fraught with challenges. In an effort to engage this group of students, I structured the course around three everyday themes: driving, cooking, and power consumption. Further, quantitative reasoning done throughgraphs, rather than any equations. My poster will describe the structure and curriculum, and include some examples of student work.

  • • Making physics problems less google-able

    • PS-A.02
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Andrew Morrison
    • Type: Poster
    • In an era when virtually every textbook homework question and test bank problem has been posted online,with solutions, how can instructors create assessments with problems that are not already online? Ideally, intructors would be able to craft assessments that develop critical physics skills without having to completely invent new problems for every type of assessment. Several possible methods of achieving this goal are described.

  • • Student perspective about the impacts of feedback

    • PS-A.02
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Carissa Myers, Rachel Henderson, Daryl McPadden, Paul Irving

    • Type: Poster
    • Projects and Practices in Physics (P-Cubed) is a flipped, problem-based learning course for introductory, calculus-based mechanics. P-Cubed was designed using the communities of practice framework, with a principle learning goal to develop scientific practices. To promote students’ development of practices, students spend their in-class time working in groups of 4 to 5 members to solve complex physics problems. Practice development is then facilitated through formative feedback and assessments aligned with growth in practice. Each student receives weekly, individualized feedback from their instructor (either a faculty member, teaching assistant or learning assistant) as a practice-based assessment. The feedback focuses on helping students improve their individual understanding and group collaboration through the development of key group-based practices such as decision making and planning. This presentation reports on a series of semi-structured interviews that were conducted with students at various points in the semester to understand the impact feedback had on them.

  • • Anticipatory Teaching Methods and their Usage by Physics/Science Teachers

    • PS-A.02
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Anne Tabor-Morris
    • Type: Poster
    • When looking for good classroom practices, teachers usually consider strategies for teaching individual topics. However, in order to attain mastery, students also can benefit from fitting together topics in the broader landscape of learning. “Anticipatory teaching methods” are explored here, wherein students are alerted regarding upcoming material such that students have a sense of a goal: specifically “historical context”, “vertical learning”, and “quest”. These methods can create a sense of anticipation, but also can encourage students to press forward in their inquiry, potentially increasing student investment. Are teachers already using anticipatory techniques and tools, even occasionally or informally? Reported here is a pilot survey of experienced high school teachers of teaching methods. Data collected indicates a drastic under-usage of anticipatory teaching methods by physics and science teachers compared to other methods, but it is an area of future research whether these methods work and/or are simply overlooked and hence under-utilized.

  • • Anticipatory Teaching Technique of “Physics Quest” in the Classroom: Light

    • PS-A.02
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Anne Tabor-Morris
    • Type: Poster
    • The idea of quest as literary device is long established in the humanities community, serving to interest and propel readers. Proposed is a similar teaching technique that can assist in learning physics – specifically here in aiding student development toward understanding light. How so? When quest is used in a myth or novel it carries the reader through the adventures and growth of a character to solve a specific problem. The introduction of a “physics quest” can encourage students not only to re-inspect their own lives to find the hero within advancing toward a difficult goal, but also open the mind to the realization that several steps/topics will be needed to obtain their objective –for example the advance realization of needing to master waves, electricity, and magnetism to get to the result of the ability to fathom the nature of light – with the then added benefit of understanding diffraction and polarization.

  • • Engaging Prospective Teachers in Learning about Climate Change via Zoom

    • PS-A.02
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Emily Van Zee, Elizabeth Gire

    • Type: Poster
    • Prospective elementary teachers “met” via Zoom in a physics course during spring term. After exploring light and thermal phenomena, they considered the influence of these phenomena on global climate change. Emphasis was on understanding the greenhouse effect, interpreting evidence for rising sea levels and melting glaciers, and becoming informed about ways that individuals, communities, states, our nation, and international organizations are taking action. Both students and instructor were beginners in using Zoom. On-going revisions occurred in what to attempt with home-made materials, what to include via excerpts from our draft for an open source textbook, and what to abandon. This poster presents some of the students’ written work, their reflections in ungraded surveys about their experiences during this form of remote learning, and excerpts from our open source textbook: Exploring Physical Phenomena: What happens when light from the Sun shines on the Earth?

  • • Understanding the student experience with emergency remote teaching

    • PS-A.02
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Bethany Wilcox, Michael Vignal

    • Type: Poster
    • In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, colleges and universities transitioned in-person instruction to a new modality we refer to as `emergency remote teaching' (ERT). As many instructors may be facing this same format in future semesters, and in responseto future emergency events, it is important to understand the student experience with ERT in order to inform recommendations and best practices that can be used to improve instruction. In this manuscript, we report on preliminary findings from a survey administered to physics students to gain both qualitative and quantitative feedback on what approaches to ERT are being used as well as which were most effective at supporting student learning. Here, we four initial themes relating to: interactivity and student motivation; lecture format; exam format; and new challenges experienced by students as a result of ERT. These findings have significant implications for instructors with respect to optimizing ERT.

• Lecture/Classroom II  

  • • How can you help lead instructional change? The SEI Handbook

    • PS-A.03
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Stephanie Chasteen, Warren Code

    • Type: Poster
    • Departments have power over their own curricula and teaching. Thus, educational change often arises at the departmental level. Faculty, instructors, postdocs, chairs, and others can be effective agents of change, supporting innovations and effective teaching practices. Positive outcomes, however, are not automatic. This poster will share some of the big lessons-learned from the Science Education Initiatives (SEIs) designed by Carl Wieman, in which postdoctoral fellows were embedded directly within disciplinary departments as catalysts of change. Come see our messages for initiative leaders, departmental faculty, and embedded postdocs and instructors, and take a look at a printed copy of our SEI Handbook, free and online at https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/seihandbook/.

  • • We Have Led the Horse to Water - Open Textbooks

    • PS-A.03
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Jennifer Kirkey, Jennifer Barker

    • Type: Poster
    • The use of open textbooks in increasing dramatically in first year physics courses. This poster will present the result of scholarly research around student perceptions, the use and impact of open textbooks as well as suggestions for how instructors might change what they do in their classroom around their use of open textbooks. Comparing and contrasting student's attitudes in first year physics, astronomy and biology classes to open textbooks is the theme of this poster. It will also relate attitudes towards open educational resources (OER) to simple demographic information and the overall cost of textbooks to determine whether there are indicators that can be measured a priori to suggest that students in a particular course may be more or less receptive to the incorporation of OER. More than 300 students were surveyed in 10 courses over two years at Douglas College so there is enough data to form interesting correlations.

  • • PISEC Intercultural Camps: A Globalized Model For Informal STEM Education

    • PS-A.03
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Zach Mbasu, Claudia Fracchiolla, Michael Bennett

    • Type: Poster
    • As society becomes increasingly globalised, educational physics opportunities that promote both global thinking and increased representation are critically needed for the increasing demand in STEM. To meet this need, we propose a global public engagement initiative through a series of short-term, collaborative outreach programs, facilitated simultaneously in Ireland, USA, and Kenya. These programs will take the form of one-week camps designed to expose underrepresented students in their local communities to scientific and intercultural experiences. Therefore, serving as opportunities for students and facilitators to practice scientific skills, broaden scientific horizons, have enriched learning experiences and expand scientific and cultural worldview. We will discuss what the outcomes and challenges faced through the pilot run in Kenya and what are the next steps in the development of the program.

  • • Guided Problem Solving: Active Learning while working through Example Problems

    • PS-A.03
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Michelle Milne, Samantha Elliot

    • Type: Poster
    • Many physics teachers work through example problems on the board in order to model problem solving while the majority of their students passively watch. However, extensive research shows that students learn more from active learning techniques than theydo from passive ones. How then to convert what is often a passive, but widely-used, technique into an active and engaging one? A low-cost method is presented for working through example problems while actively engaging all students from start to finish and preliminary results on the method’s effectiveness in teaching problem-solving skills are discussed.

  • • Guided Inquiry Physics Experiment: Perceptions and Anxiety Level of Grade 8 Students

    • PS-A.03
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Voltaire Mistades, Luzette Oraa

    • Type: Poster
    • A substantial body of research put forward that idea that inquiry-based laboratory is effective in closing the science process skills gap among learners. In the Philippines, however, information regarding the performance of high school learners doing a guided inquiry Physics experiment (GIPE) is limited. Using a mixed-method approach, the study looked into the perceptions and anxiety level of Grade 8 learners while engaged in a guided inquiry Physics experiment. Using an adapted scientific ability rubric to rate the level of laboratory performance of the students, their performance was correlated with their anxiety level, measured using the Physics Laboratory Anxiety Assessment Scale. The over-all anxiety level of the students was rated as intermediate and there is no clear indication that their laboratory performance is correlated with their anxiety level. Data from the students’ reflective journals and interviews were analyzed qualitatively to uncover categories that emerged from the content of the individual reflections. Working as a team, supportive behavior, academic pressure, science process skills, use of language, time constraint, and readiness to high level of inquiry were found relevant to the students’ laboratory performance.

  • • Student peer evaluation in collaborative physics classrooms

    • PS-A.03
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Laura Tucker
    • Type: Poster
    • A body of research supports student collaboration to increase learning and build the teamwork skills necessary for almost all careers. Yet concerns about freeloading and other behaviors can negatively affect students' learning experience. We discuss a popular strategy responding to these concerns: student peer evaluations. Peer evaluations are a course assignment in which each student evaluates each of their team members contribution to the team. We discuss the implementation of peer evaluations in large-enrollment courses and research about the relationship between peer evaluation scores and other course outcomes.

  • • A Large-Scale Transition to Studio-based Physics in a State University

    • PS-A.03
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Diego Valente, Sarah Trallero, Xian Wu

    • Type: Poster
    • The University of Connecticut is currently undergoing an exciting transformation in the way introductory physics is taught in its large-scale setting. This pedagogical reform spans a total of three introductory sequences encompassing six courses in totaland impacting approximately 2300 students each year. Our underlying goal was to shift away from the traditional framework of segregated lectures and laboratory sessions in favor of a studio-based instructional model blending lectures, problem-solving tutorial sessions and hands-on experimental activities. In this work we discuss details of our newly reformatted program and lessons learned in year one ed in the development stages and year one of its implementation. We also present preliminary data on concept inventory assessments administered in our reformatted courses.

  • • Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to Develop New Assessments

    • PS-A.03
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by David Waters, Margaret Weck

    • Type: Poster
    • In our algebra-based introductory physics sequence, we have had exams consisting of multiple choice questions and traditional math problems. The multiple choice questions were more conceptual in nature and would come at the beginning of our exams. Then we would have all of the math problems. Unfortunately, a single multiple choice question that potentially covers a number of topics at an arbitrary level of difficulty doesn’t allow an instructor to determine a student’s level of understanding of any single topic. To better assess students’ levels of understanding, we designed sets of questions and problems with increasing difficulty, as defined by Bloom’s Taxonomy. This new way of structuring exams benefited the instructor in documenting levels of student understanding. It also allowed weaker students to show mastery at some level and possibly boost their confidence with the more challenging questions. In general, the students have rated this new assessment positively.

  • • Explore the Living Physics Portal: Student-centered curricula for interdisciplinary college physics

    • PS-A.03
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Stephanie Williams, Chandra Turpen, Adrian Madsen, Sarah McKagan

    • Type: Poster
    • Come hear about the Living Physics Portal* (www.livingphysicsportal.org), a new online environment, that supports physics faculty in finding, sharing, and adapting open-source curricular materials for interdisciplinary college physics courses. These materials can support faculty in making physics personally meaningful and coherent with students’ other STEM knowledge. The Portal offers low-barrier-to-entry ways to share your own instructional materials and lets you hear about how others are using them. The Portal also supports collaboration and discussion around curricular resources. In addition to introducing the Portal, this poster will summarize: (a) the size of the curricular library, (b) the topics covered by the materials, (c) the size of the Portal community, and (d) aggregate Portal activity statistics. Come by if you want to connect with the Portal community, make a Portal account, or browse what is available through the Portal. *This work is supported by NSF #1624478 and #1624185

• Lecture/Classroom III  

  • • Distance learning with a skills-based physics lab curriculum

    • PS-B.05
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Emily Allen, Jamie Brandt

    • Type: Poster
    • The evolution and reform of physics education has shifted from traditional, content-driven courses to those that focus on scientific skills. Over the past year we implemented a new curriculum and framework for an upperclassmen, high school level regular physics course that taught students skills to better understand what it means to do science specifically through the lens and practices of a physicist. In this course, we leveraged the elements of the “Nature of Science” (AAAS, 1990) to teach students how to “see physics” in their surroundings rather than in their textbooks. As we made the abrupt transition to distance learning, these skills allowed us to continue hands-on lab activities for students in their own homes using common household items and technology-based tools. We will present the skills, concepts, labs, and tools we used in making this transition as successful and productive for our students as possible.

  • • Using Quantum Dots to Teach Introductory QM Concepts and Applications

    • PS-B.05
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Jonathan Bennett
    • Type: Poster
    • We purchased CdSe quantum dots (QDs) of different sizes from a science supply company and used a transmission electron microscope (TEM) to image them. Students can easily examine fluorescence spectra and TEM images of these quantum dots and can use the “particle in a box” model to describe the relationship between radius of QD and emission wavelength. Using the widths of emission lines and Heisenberg’s energy-time uncertainty principle, students can estimate the lifetimes of the excited states of the QDs. We will share some of the results obtained by students. Instructors who are interested in using the TEM images and/or fluorescence spectra may get them by contacting the author.

  • • Representing Torque with Oriented Parallelograms

    • PS-B.05
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Brian Frank
    • Type: Poster
    • In introductory algebra-based physics courses, I have been teaching static equilibrium problems using an oriented area representation of torque. In this poster, I will provide examples that illustrate the approach as applied to a variety of contexts and discuss aspects of classroom implementation.

  • • A Motor-Driven Generator with a Gearbox Is Not a Perpetual Motion Machine

    • PS-B.05
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Douglas Goodman, James Wells

    • Type: Poster
    • Perpetual motion machines capture the imagination of many students and instructors. We know that perpetual motion is impossible, nevertheless the explanation for why specific designs fail is not always obvious and is often interesting. One of our students proposed a perpetual motion machine that uses a dc electric motor to drive a dc electric generator through a gearbox. The gearbox rotates the generator multiple times per motor revolution, generating a larger emf across the generator than the motor. We discuss how the energy is partitioned between the motor and the generator as a function of gear ratio, assuming a frictionless gearbox. Alas, our analysis debunks our student’s proposed perpetual motion machine. However, in doing so, we find conditions for two critical gear ratios, one that maximizes the time-averaged generator power output and another that optimizes the time-averaged energy conversion efficiency to 40%.

  • • Particle Physics Research within UMD’s FIRE Program

    • PS-B.05
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Muge Karagoz
    • Type: Poster
    • The University of Maryland’s First-Year Innovation & Research Experience (FIRE) is a 3-semester gen-ed program with a first-semester enrollment of more than 600 undergraduates. FIRE provides faculty-mentored research experience and career-readiness with more than 15 diverse research streams available to its students in their second and third semesters. In 2019, I launched a FIRE stream called “Simulating Particle Detection” (SPD), to introduce undergraduate students to the field of experimental high energy particle physics. The research concentrates on computing and data analysis using simulations of novel detectors, specifically, the upgrade calorimeters of the CMS experiment at CERN. While high energy physics experiments are at the forefront of large collaborative research, large-size, university-wide, course-based research experiences are not as common. There are challenges to be addressed to serve about thirty undergraduates every year, such as adaptation of a high-level research topic into a course curriculum, physical and digital research setting logistics, and mentoring of students from different disciplines. I will share my experiences from the first-year running of SPD, highlighting not only research but also pedagogical methods and outcomes concerning the above challenges.

  • • Sketch production rules before designing, categorizing, solving, and grading problems

    • PS-B.05
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by David Liao
    • Type: Poster
    • This poster is a printable guide sheet for using a network representation of production rules when (a) designing problems with intentional amounts of emphasis on different thinking tasks (e.g. focus more on governing relationships or constitutive relationships? focus more on straightforward processing of situations or tricky ontological shifts?), (b) categorizing problems according to types of difficulty, and (c) showing students how to select first principles to solve problems.

  • • Working for a Better World: Astronomical Observatories and their People*

    • PS-B.05
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Carmen Pantoja, Mayra Lebrón

    • Type: Poster
    • In this poster we describe the creation and display of a traveling image exhibit about astronomical observatories. The visitors can learn about science at different observatories as they stroll through the electromagnetic spectrum. The exhibit includes: facts about the observatory, an example of the science studied at the observatory, a description of how light is detected, and highlights the people that make the discoveries possible. A special effort has been made by means of concrete materials and demonstrations to promote the active participation of diverse audiences (students, teachers, college professors, general public, amateur astronomers , and the visually impaired). This traveling exhibit allows people from different regions in Puerto Rico to learn about new discoveries, technologies and careers in science.

  • • Exploratory Factor Analysis of the QMCA

    • PS-B.05
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Adam Quaal, Gina Passante, Steven Pollock, Homeyra Sadaghiani

    • Type: Poster
    • This investigation is situated within a larger, ongoing project which seeks to understand student thinking in upper-division introductory quantum mechanics courses. We use the Quantum Mechanics Concept Assessment (QMCA) to explore the distinction betweenstudent thinking on multiple-choice questions in position-basis and spin-basis contexts. In this work, we utilize the technique of exploratory factor analysis to group items on the QMCA based on their common variance. In interpreting the resulting factor structure, we focus on the placement of isomorphic questions and the original concept framework of the QMCA. We discuss the implications of our findings to subsequent iterations of the QMCA and the future study of student thinking in these two contexts.

  • • Particle Interactions simplified with a Tripreon model for students.

    • PS-B.05
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Peter Riley
    • Type: Poster
    • Whatever other virtues may exist for preon models of elementary particles, there are pedagogical benefits in simplifying vertex interactions for junior HEP students. The Tripreon model is a more intuitive method of tracking Quantum Numbers. A Standard Model example, neutron decay: n0 -> p+ + e- + Ve, which resolves to a quark decay (udd) -> (uud) with the vertices d.W+ -> u and d -> u.W- (uppercase antimatter). How exactly does that happen? Well, we can keep a tally of numerous QNs to ensure all are conserved and verify with past instances. But, what exactly happened? If the QNs are carried by three types of preons (a,b,d) then the d.W+ ->u vertex may be visualised (b.BD).(a.B) -> (a.BD) respectively. Note that the same number of particle types exit the vertex as enter the vertex where b. and .B annihilate. An overview is presented with examples and suggested activities.

• Physics Education Research II  

  • • Measuring Student Mindset Shifts in an Introductory Physics Classroom

    • PS-A.05
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Debbie Andres
    • Type: Poster
    • As teachers we are expected to incorporate various new types of instruction into our classrooms to keep up with changing standards. With each new instructional practice, we assess our students based on content and skills, but can we measure their beliefson their ability to learn and their development of confidence? Students will step into a physics classroom with a predetermined mindset regarding their ability to learn physics or even more generally science. In my ninth grade physics classes I integrate elements of Standards Based Grading and the Investigative Science Learning Environment approach to develop physics content and science practices. I use a variety of attitudes and beliefs surveys throughout the year to track shifts in students’ mindsets. Students are more actively involved in their self-reflection process. In this poster I share how my students’ mindsets regarding their learning of physics have changed.

  • • Biases, Limitations, and Focus: Student Perspectives on Subjectivity in Physics*

    • PS-A.05
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Randeep Basara, Andrea Wooley, Leander Villarta, Abigail Daane

    • Type: Poster
    • Descriptions of the nature of science contrast the view of physics as objective, unaffected by human influence. In order to better understand students’ thinking about the nature of physics, we collected responses to the question, “Do you think physics isobjective or subjective?” In this presentation, we compare and contrast the ideas from “Science for All Americans” to students’ ideas about the presence of subjectivity in physics. Students, prior to engaging in conversation about subjectivity, tend to describe physics without reference to human influence. After discussing this question with peers, students acknowledge the individual limitations of human perception and focus in research. We argue that an awareness about the influence of structural and individual subjectivity in classrooms can create a robust scientific community and disrupt the current culture that serves to marginalize groups of people.

  • • Understanding Motivational Characteristics of Students Who Repeat Algebra-Based Introductory Physics Courses

    • PS-A.05
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Sonja Cwik, Yasemin Kalender, Chandralekha Singh

    • Type: Poster
    • In introductory algebra-based physics courses at the University of Pittsburgh, the majority of students are on pre-health professional track who aspire to become future health professionals. Two introductory physics courses are mandatory for students with these types of ambitions and many students who do not perform to their satisfaction the first time repeat these physics courses. We present an investigation in which we compared the motivational characteristics of male and female students who repeated an introductory algebra-based physics course across different racial and ethnic minority groups. These findings can be beneficial in providing appropriate advising and support to help all students excel in algebra-based physics courses.

  • • Experimental Science Affect and Measurement Uncertainty

    • PS-A.05
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Paul DeStefano
    • Type: Poster
    • Physics education research (PER) has produced a large body of work from which a standard of best practices for the introductory laboratory were synthesized in the AAPT Recommendations for the Undergraduate Physics Laboratory Curriculum (2014). These guidelines emphasize teaching students to “think like a physicist”. But, many introductory labs remain procedure driven and focused on data-taking. Even when they are not, students tend to believe the goal of labs is to get the “right” data from the instruments. We argue one unifying feature of the recommendations is the teaching of authentic practice and, therefore, successful lab instruction should be reflected in improved student attitudes of self-efficacy and science affect. We propose a project-based, student-centered, design-oriented learning module for first year introductory undergraduate physics labs in mechanics that emphasises experimental measurement uncertainty and is based on previously researched reforms in PER.

  • • Mapping the informal physics efforts in the state of Michigan

    • PS-A.05
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Dena Izadi, Julia Willison, Kathleen Hinko

    • Type: Poster
    • We are conducting study to map the landscape of informal physics efforts using a framework we have developed based on Organizational Theory. To achieve our goals we have designed a methodology based on this framework that collects surveys and interviewswith informal physics program facilitators across different states. To test our methodology, we implemented our data collection protocol across the entire state of Michigan, as a microcosm of other states in the US. Here we present data analysis for all the respondents from Michigan to create a comprehensive taxonomy of informal physics activities in our data set. In building a taxonomy, we considered different approaches for comprehensive and representative data collection.

  • • Understanding Self-Efficacy and Performance of Students Who Repeat Calculus-Based Introductory Physics Courses

    • PS-A.05
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Yangqiuting Li, Zeynep Kalender, Christian Schunn, Timothy Nokes-Malach, Chandralekha Singh

    • Type: Poster
    • College level introductory physics courses for physical science and engineering majors are often perceived as weed- out courses. These large calculus-based introductory physics courses, which are taken mainly by first-year college students at the University of Pittsburgh, act as gatekeepers for many students who want to pursue careers in physical science and engineering. Due to the societal stereotypes and biases about who belongs in physics and who has what it takes to do well in physics, many underrepresented students in these courses, e.g., women and racial and ethnic minority students, often experience stereotype threat that can cause them to perform worse than they otherwise would. Moreover, students who repeat introductory level physics courses in college due to various reasons can experience even higher level of anxiety. We conducted an investigation in which we compared the self-efficacy and performance of male and female students and students across different racial and ethnic minority groups who repeated the first calculus-based introductory physics course. These findings can be helpful in contemplating strategies to develop equitable and inclusive learning environments in these pivotal courses to help all students learn physics.

  • • Examining and Supporting Student Construction of Alternative Lines of Reasoning*

    • PS-A.05
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Mikayla Mays, MacKenzie Stetzer, Beth Lindsey

    • Type: Poster
    • Research in physics education has shown that poor student performance on certain physics tasks may stem primarily from domain-general reasoning phenomena rather than a lack of conceptual understanding. The observed reasoning patterns are consistent with dual-process theories of reasoning (DPToR). Efforts are ongoing to design intervention strategies that can guide the development of research-based curriculum to help students strengthen their reasoning skills and support cognitive reflection. In one new intervention, students are asked to set aside (at least temporarily) their own reasoning and engage in alternative lines of reasoning. Students first respond to a qualitative physics task, then construct reasoning chains that could have been used to reach the answers given by fictitious students, and finally revisit the original physics task. In this talk, we will discuss the preliminary results, how they relate to DPToR, and the implications of our findings for future curriculum development.

  • • Understanding LA sensemaking: Are they discussions about Physics or Teaching?

    • PS-A.05
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Austin McCauley, Marshall Adkins, Eleanor Close, Steven Wolf

    • Type: Poster
    • The physics department at Texas State University has implemented a Learning Assistant (LA) program with research-based curricula (Tutorials in Introductory Physics) in introductory course sequences. We have been reviewing video data of LA prep sessions taken over the past three years in order to characterize LA discussions. As emerging physicists and physics teachers, LAs naturally engage in discussion in these groups that spans many topics directly relevant to the activity being prepared. Initially we attempted to code separately for discussions of physics content and discussions of student struggles relevant to teaching the physics content. However, we have concluded that these categories are not meaningfully distinct. We sought to understand the sensemaking LAs went through and the effect this had on group discussions. We noticed LAs tended to frame their questions as though they were potential inquiries from students or how to approach teaching the concept in class.

  • • Characteristics of Institutions with Learning Assistant Programs: An Equity Investigation*

    • PS-A.05
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Alexa McQuade, Jayson Nissen, Manher Jariwala

    • Type: Poster
    • Learning assistant (LA) programs support instructors transforming their courses to use evidence-based instructional strategies. We investigated the types of schools that have LA programs to better understand how the distribution of those programs supports excellent and inclusive education across institutions. We used the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education (CCIHE) public database to compare schools with and without LA programs, looking at a variety of institutional characteristics to determine whether the distribution of LA programs is equitable across different types of institutions. We will discuss the implications of our findings and identify areas for future research using critical quantitative perspectives in physics education research.

  • • STEM Student Integration and Identity through Discipline-based Outreach Activities

    • PS-A.05
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Callie Rethman, Tatiana Erukhimova, Jonathan Perry

    • Type: Poster
    • Beyond the formal curriculum of a physics degree, students in the field may choose to enhance their education through participation in informal experiences such as physics outreach. While participation in outreach gives students opportunities to engage with the public and communicate physics, the role of these experiences in establishing a student’s identity within physics is not well understood. For the initial iteration of this study, current and former participants from outreach programs at Texas A&M University were surveyed. Results indicate a positive association between participation in physics outreach events and a student’s sense of belonging within the STEM community. There are also indications of to the development of communication and teamwork skills from respondents. Interviews are currently being conducted with more in depth questions in order to get a deeper look at students’ experience with outreach. With the combined results of the survey and interviews, we aim to contribute to a more complete understanding of the role of outreach in establishing a participant’s identity within the field of physics.

  • • How Do Introductory Physics and Mathematics Courses Predict Engineering Students' Performance in Subsequent Engineering Courses?

    • PS-A.05
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Kyle Whitcomb, Yasemin Kalender, Timothy Nokes-Malach, Christian Schunn, Chandralekha Singh

    • Type: Poster
    • Physics courses as well as chemistry and mathematics courses are considered foundational in engineering curricula and all engineering undergraduates must successfully complete courses in these subjects. However, relatively little is known about the predictive relationships between physics coursework and later engineering courses. This study uses large-scale institutional data to investigate the relationships between grades earned in foundational courses and early engineering courses in two large-population majors in order to gain insight into which foundational courses are most predictive of later performance and whether the relationship follows a linear or threshold function. Multiple regression analyses were performed on course grades using 10 years of data on 5,348 engineering students to construct a predictive model. We find that the predictive relationship between early and later performance is generally linear rather than threshold and that the strongest predictors are advanced mathematics courses along with cumulative STEM GPA, which is in turn strongly predicted by high school GPA and entry test scores. Physics and introductory engineering programming and modeling courses from the first year also predict performance in later courses. In addition, advanced mathematics courses are critical to the long-term success of engineering students in these two common majors.

  • • Inconsistent Gender Differences in Self-Efficacy and Performance for Engineering Majors in Physics and Other Disciplines: A Cause for Alarm?

    • PS-A.05
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Kyle Whitcomb, Yasemin Kalender, Timothy Nokes-Malach, Christian Schunn, Chandralekha Singh

    • Type: Poster
    • Prior research has shown that self-efficacy can be a critical factor in student learning and performance in different STEM disciplines. Moreover, although past research has documented self-efficacy differences between female and male students in some STEM disciplines, there has not been research comparing these relations across disciplines. In order to better understand these relations and how self-efficacy and academic performance are related, we analyzed undergraduate engineering students' physics, mathematics, engineering, and chemistry grades using large-scale institutional data and their self-reported self-efficacy using a validated survey in each of these disciplines to examine gender differences in engineering students' self-efficacy and course grades. We find discipline-dependent trends in the relationship between self-efficacy and course grades, including a self-efficacy gender gap in physics which does not close by the fourth year in engineering along with a gender gap in physics course grade that favors men despite women engineering majors outperforming men in every other discipline. The troubling trends reported here should be addressed in order to make STEM learning equitable and inclusive.

  • • Encouraging collaborative partnerships: An extended professional development process for Learning Assistants and Faculty

    • PS-A.05
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Jamia Whitehorn, Ember Smith, Mel Sabella, Andrea Van Duzor

    • Type: Poster
    • The Learning Assistant (LA) Model involves undergraduate students as peer support in STEM classrooms. During weekly preparation sessions, faculty meet with their LAs and have the opportunity to discuss content, think about student understanding, develop instructional materials, and develop collaborative partnerships where LAs can be authentic members of an instructional team. The development of these partnerships can take time. In this poster we talk about fostering partnerships between LAs and faculty to support curriculum transformation through extended professional development, occurring over multiple semesters. Our process provides structure for an LA-faculty team to conduct and gather data through preliminary tools such as forms that guide reflection on course activities and in-class focus groups that provide direct student feedback. This extended professional development process also provides support for LA-faculty partnerships, leveraging LA expertise and supporting instructional innovation.

• Physics Education Research IV  

  • • 3 Dimensional Learning in Student Work: Developing and Using Models

    • PS-A.07
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Paul Bergeron
    • Type: Poster
    • The Next Generation Science Standards has laid out a vision for science instruction that mirrors the three dimensions of expert knowledge organization: Scientific Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas, and Crosscutting Concepts. While originally devised forthe K-12 classroom, increasing effort has been made to bring this philosophy to the college level. As part of our STEM gateway transformation project at Michigan State University, we've developed protocols to characterize the 3 Dimensionality of both assessment items and teaching practices. This work shifts the focus from instructor teaching to student engagement. This poster will present initial results for specifically characterizing student engagement in the Scientific Practice of Developing and Using Models.

  • • The impact of IPLS in a senior biology capstone course

    • PS-A.07
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Benjamin Geller, Jack Rubien, Sara Hiebert Burch, Catherine Crouch

    • Type: Poster
    • In this second of two paired posters exploring the longitudinal outcomes of Introductory Physics for Life Science (IPLS) on student learning, we examine whether differences in student work on a diffusion task given in the senior biology capstone course can be correlated with prior enrollment in IPLS, and how those differences reflect competencies developed in the IPLS curriculum. More specifically, we assess whether IPLS students are more likely to reason quantitatively about diffusive phenomena and to successfully coordinate between multiple representations of diffusive processes. We also use survey data to describe the attitudes toward physics of IPLS and non-IPLS students in the senior capstone, and position these findings within the broader context of our longitudinal study of the impact of IPLS on student work in later biology and chemistry environments.

  • • MAGNA: MAgnetic General kNowledge Assessment

    • PS-A.07
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Colleen Megowan Romanowicz, Rebecca Vieyra, Johnson-Glenberg Mina, Lopez Ramon, Chrystian Vieyra Cortes

    • Type: Poster
    • Learn about a new instrument intended to measure learners' conceptualizations of static magnetic fields, including strength and orientation, especially as they pertain to Earth's background magnetic field. The MAgnetic General kNowledge Assessment (MAGNA) was developed to measure the impact of a 3-D mobile visualization tool, MAGNA-AR, created through an NSF-funded technology development and education research project. This poster will include information about how to access and review the assessment, an opportunity to use the MAGNA-AR app, and a suggested protocol for how to help learners effectively explore fields.

  • • Graduate programs in physics education research: A USA based survey

    • PS-A.07
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Mirna Mohamed, Ramón Barthelemy, Alexis Knaub

    • Type: Poster
    • This article outlines the results of a survey seeking to understand Physics Education Research (PER) Ph.D. programs in the USA. The survey explored research group composition, the number of graduates, courses taken and more. The survey was sent to a listof PER research group leaders created by crowdsourcing from the PER community. Of the 46 PER Ph.D. programs identified and invited to the survey, 25 usable responses were received. The majority of programs were in departments of physics with fewer in schools of education or institutes of science education. Most programs required graduate physics course work, with fewer requiring research methodology courses. Only five required a course in PER. The career trajectories of students were diverse, with the majority going into academic careers. However, a robust minority pursued careers in the private sector. It is important to understand the training and support of new Ph.D.s in PER in order to train the next generation of our community leaders and sustain the field as a whole.

  • • Applying Social Network Analysis to an Online Community of Practice for Teachers

    • PS-A.07
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Michael Nadeau, Bahar Modir, Robynne Lock, William Newton

    • Type: Poster
    • We take a social network analysis approach to investigate how members of an online teacher community interact with each other through a nine-week classical mechanics summer course. The class, associated with the Master program in physics with teaching emphasis at Texas A&M University-Commerce, requires students to participate in weekly problem solving and biweekly reading reflection discussion boards. We measured the weekly activity level for the community and number of interactions between students, and compared these to the average values determined for the entire semester. We found that the participation of students in problem solving discussions fluctuates from week to week; revealing the activity of the community of practice, influence of student backgrounds, and possible structural features of the course. Comparatively, the reading reflection participation did not show a noticeable variation. In order to gain more insight into our findings we characterized the types of interactions by categorizing student communication.

  • • Comparing Attitudes of Students and Faculty About Inclusive Teaching Practices

    • PS-A.07
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Dan Oleynik, Jacquelyn Chini Chini, Erin Scanlon

    • Type: Poster
    • People inherently vary in terms of their needs, abilities, and interests. Previous research indicates that physics instructors hold negative views about people with disabilities, complicity engage in practices of ableism, and do not receive training about teaching or implementing inclusive teaching practices. However, we can support learner variability by employing inclusive teaching practices (i.e., teaching practices that support learner variation, possibly reducing though not eliminating the need for individual accommodations). Using a modified version of the Inclusive Teaching Strategies Inventory (ITSI), we surveyed 140 students and instructors from 10 APS meetings about their beliefs about and use of inclusive teaching strategies. Students and instructors both exist within the same postsecondary environment, while playing different roles. Thus, there may be similarities as well as differences in their beliefs. We will present a comparison of students’ and instructors’ beliefs regarding inclusive teaching practices.

  • • Secondary Student Perspectives of Quantum Physics

    • PS-A.07
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Zac Patterson, Lin Ding

    • Type: Poster
    • Secondary physics curricula predominantly focus on physics content established prior to the 20th century (e.g., Newtonian mechanics, conservation of energy). Rarely are students exposed to modern physics topics (e.g., quantum mechanics, special relativity) in their formal education. Even so, students inevitably encounter terms such as “quantum” and “quantum physics” in their everyday lives. The aim of this study is to provide insight on secondary student perspectives of the terms “quantum” and “quantum physics”. While there is a body of research available that analyzes university physics majors’ perspectives of quantum physics topics, little research has been done at the secondary level. Clinical interviews of students at a Midwestern high school are conducted to establish commonalities among perspective of quantum physics topics.

  • • Exploring the Durability of Student Attitudes Toward Interdisciplinarity

    • PS-A.07
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Gwendolyn Rak, Benjamin Geller, Catherine Crouch

    • Type: Poster
    • Building on prior analyses of how introductory physics experiences affect student attitudes, preliminary evidence suggests that IPLS students, more so than their counterparts in traditional introductory physics courses, express the attitude that physics is relevant to their primary biological interests. We report on the durability of these attitudes. We present results from interdisciplinary attitude surveys given to students a year (or more) after their initial experience in IPLS, as well as immediately after that experience. By tracking the evolution of student attitudes over time, we assess whether attitude improvements due to IPLS are in fact stable and long-lasting. We also explore how students’ subsequent coursework in biology or other disciplines may influence these attitudes.

  • • SUPER Recruitment and Retention Program

    • PS-A.07
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Peter Sheldon, Sarah Sojka

    • Type: Poster
    • Step Up to Physical Science and Engineering at Randolph College (SUPER) was established as a four-year recruiting and retention program in 2013 with NSF S-STEM funding. The intention is to educate the nation’s next scientists. SUPER includes a summer transition program, mentoring, study halls,a living-learning community, a four-year career plan, a common first year seminar, and research and internship experiences. The NSF funding supports need-based merit scholarships for approximately half of the students in the program. This paper examines the impact of these programs as a whole on recruitment to the College and retention to graduation with a STEM degree across a range of demographic characteristics. The goal is to determine the overall impact of a comprehensive program of student support and engagement, and as much as possible, determine how individual components of the program contribute to this impact.

  • • Does IPLS help students apply physics to biology?

    • PS-A.07
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Maya Tipton, Benjamin Geller, Catherine Crouch

    • Type: Poster
    • Although we have found that students in our Introductory Physics for Life Science (IPLS) course describe physics as more relevant to their primary interests than do their counterparts in a traditional introductory physics environment, we do not yet know whether IPLS courses better prepare life science students to use physical reasoning in contexts that extend beyond those explicitly encountered in IPLS. To answer this question of whether IPLS better prepared our students for future learning, we designed and administered a task related to fluid dynamics at the conclusion of both traditional and IPLS introductory physics courses. We describe the construction of the task and the ways in which IPLS students approached the task differently than did students in the traditional course. We interpret the results in light of the goal of the IPLS course, supporting transfer within the preparation for future learning paradigm around which our course is designed.

  • • "Thinking Like a Physicist" in the Middle-grades: Promising Results from 7th-grade Students Studying Magnetism

    • PS-A.07
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Tamara Young, Lauren Barth-Cohen, Sarah Braden, Sara Gailey

    • Type: Poster
    • Significant research at the undergraduate level has been devoted to examining how students learn scientific reasoning skills, or how to “think like a physicist.” Comparably, few studies in PER have focused on similar reasoning skills at the middle schoollevel. We implemented a reform-based physics unit at the 7th grade level that is focused on supporting students in developing and refining scientific models for magnetism. Through a multiple-case study approach, we analyzed students drawn models along with video of class discussion. Results show how 7th grade students use evidence to make arguments for and defend models of magnetism in a manner that is consistent with ways that professional physicists reason with scientific models. This is significant in light of the growing recognition of the need to support middle school students in developing scientific practices that are consistent with “thinking like a physicist.”

  • • Diagnosing Middle-School Students’ Cognition in Argumentation Practices

    • PS-A.07
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Xiaoming Zhai, Kevin Haudek, Chris Wilson, Tina Cheuk, Jonathan Osborne

    • Type: Poster
    • This study applies a cognitive diagnostic modeling approach to examine student performance on argumentation. We abstract five types of attributes which are deemed critical to successful argumentation practice: making claims, providing evidence, reasoning, justification, and deploying scientific ideas. We coded for these five attributes across 19 constructed response items for argumentation. We automatically scored responses from 932 middle school students using machine learning algorithms. We first applied many-facet Rasch analysis to classify students into different levels according to an existing learning progression of argumentation. We then examined patterns of students’ mastery patterns of the five attributes within each level. Preliminary findings suggest that 36 major mastery patterns exist within the three-level learning progression. We find that the attributes of justification and reasoning are critical and challenging cognitive skills for students at lower levels of the learning progression. Some Level 3 students experience challenges using reasoning.

• Physics Education Research IX  

  • • Report and Rerun: Closing the Loops in Education

    • PS-B.09
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Mohamed Abdelhafez, David Pritchard

    • Type: Poster
    • We’re developing a web-based utility to give instructors next morning formative reports on last night’s assignments, including the time and difficulty on questions and videos/readings to guide today’s instruction. Together with additional metadata, thisinformation can guide revising the course for rerunning next year. Data are presented using color codes for quickly assessing how well students are doing on individual resources and on the entire assignment. This quickly identifies resources to eliminate or move elsewhere. We use “edx2bigquery” to convert edX log data into Google BigQuery which generates the dynamic reports. It also provides an easy way of adding static metadata via a popup in a modified version of open edX or directly into the resource database. These uses illustrate the desirability of “closing the loop” in education, a powerful way to improve instruction and content. The audience can suggest what information they desire - or to mohamedr@mit.edu

  • • Affordances and Constraints of Real Experiments vs Video

    • PS-B.09
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by David Brookes, Eugenia Etkina, Peter Bohacek, Matthew Vonk, Anna Karelina

    • Type: Poster
    • This poster describes a project in which students in an algebra-based course who learned physics through the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) approach designed and conducted experiments in labs either using real apparatus or analyzing arrays of videos pre-prepared for them. The students were assigned randomly to those two conditions. They wrote lab reports, which we analyzed using scientific abilities rubrics (Etkina et al., 2006). We present the analysis of those reports and use it to discuss the affordances of these two different ways to design experiments, collect and analyze data, test hypotheses and communicate.

  • • Understanding Rural

    • PS-B.09
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Elaine Christman, John Stewart

    • Type: Poster
    • Not all high schools prepare students equally well for university physics coursework and identifying students who may benefit from additional support can improve equity and access to STEM. While substantial research has investigated different outcomes for women in physics, substantially less work has investigated other students in the minority in physics classes such are underrepresented minority students, first-generation students, and rural students. This study investigates characteristics of rural schools that correlate with election of and persistence in STEM majors as well as successful completion of a calculus-based introductory physics course sequence at a large state land-grant university. Factors examined include Advanced Placement and online concurrent college course offerings, school size, and community demographic data.

  • • Changes (or not) in Perceptions in a Revised Lab

    • PS-B.09
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Helen Cothrel, Gregory Hassold, Ronald Tackett

    • Type: Poster
    • We revised our electricity and magnetism (physics 2) lab with a goal of facilitating a more authentic lab experience. Significant changes to the course included doing mostly two-week labs instead of one-week labs, students setting up their own equipment,and use of lab time for report writing including a “writing workshop” early in the term. We collected six terms of E-CLASS data to examine students’ beliefs about experimenting before and after changes to the course; data include three terms of the original course and three terms of the revised course. This poster will include survey results and will compare and contrast data from both versions of the course. The poster and an associated contributed talk are available in a shared presentation folder at bit.ly/HelenAAPT (case sensitive).

  • • It’s just rolling up—How students make industrial rolled-up capacitors

    • PS-B.09
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Lin Ding, Ping Zhang

    • Type: Poster
    • Capacitance is a challenging concept in introductory physics. Learners often struggle with the functions and working mechanisms of capacitors. In this study, we investigated how high-school students followed textbook descriptions to create industrial rolled-up capacitors. In principle, rolled-up capacitors are an extension of the 3-layer parallel-plate structure with a necessary, additional layer of dielectrics (aluminum-dielectrics-aluminum-dielectrics) to prevent short circuit and increase capacitance. Although nontrivial, the rationale and resultant outcome of the 4-layer structure is almost never discussed in textbooks. We tasked 37 students in an introductory physics class with an assignment to create and analyze rolled-up capacitors by following textbook descriptions. Findings show that the participants used the textbook descriptions merely as a cookbook recipe. They rolled up a 3-layer parallel-plate capacitor and failed to understand the mechanisms of the different layers in the rolled-up structure.

  • • Patterns in students’ self-directed use of the digital learning environment Algodoo

    • PS-B.09
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Elias Euler, Christopher Prytz, Bor Gregorcic

    • Type: Poster
    • In this poster, we present three types of activity that can be expected during students’ self-directed use of a specific physics software, Algodoo, and reflect on how each activity type can be productive for the teaching and learning of physics. Unlike many commonly-used physics simulations and visualizations, Algodoo is a digital learning environment that allows students to explore a range of physics phenomena within the same software. We describe the features of the activity types, which we coded from video recordings of students as they used the software, and discuss how each of the three activity types can be seen as productive for physics education. In doing so, we provide recommendations for how physics teachers can springboard from students’ engagement in each activity type into a range of possible physics-relevant discussions.

  • • Direct observation of student behavior in online learning modules

    • PS-B.09
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Matthew Guthrie, Zachary Felker, Tom Zhang, Zhongzhou Chen

    • Type: Poster
    • Interpretation of student behavior in online learning platforms based on clickstream data is complicated by not being able to directly observe the learner. This leads to difficulties in understanding inherently unobservable effects on the students’ clickstream data. For example, we try to calculate the amount of time that each student spent studying the instructional material in each module, which requires estimating certain properties of the resulting data. Consequently, the major issue we address in this work is the difficulty of making reasonable cutoffs for abnormally short and abnormally long events. Students enrolled in introductory mechanics courses participated in a study where they completed online homework modules in a controlled, observed environment. In this talk, we will present comparisons between students’ clickstream data for those who were observed and those who were not observed, and for the same student in proctored and non-proctored sessions on different modules.

  • • The NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program (NITARP)

    • PS-B.09
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Luisa Rebull
    • Type: Poster
    • NITARP, the NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program, gets teachers involved in authentic astronomical research. We partner small groups of educators with a professional astronomer mentor for a year-long original research project. The teams experience the entire research process, from writing a proposal, to doing the research, to presenting the results at an American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting. The program runs from January through January. Applications are available annually in May and are due in September. The educators’ experiences color their teaching for years to come, influencing hundreds of students per teacher. This poster will provide a description of the program, which has been running in this form since 2008.

  • • n Analysis of 8 Years of Data on the NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program (NITARP)

    • PS-B.09
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Luisa Rebull
    • Type: Poster
    • The NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program (NITARP) partners small groups of educators with a research astronomer for a year-long authentic research project. This program aligns well with the characteristics of high-quality professional development programs and has worked with a total of 123 educators since 2005. In this poster, we explore surveys obtained from 74 different educators, at up to four waypoints during the course of 13 months, incorporating data from the class of 2010 through the class of 2017. The reasons educators participate are mapped onto a continuum ranging from more inward-focused to more outward-focused. At least 12% of participating educators have changed career paths substantially in part due to the program, and 11% report that the experience was “life changing.” At least 60% are including richer, more authentic science activities in their classrooms. This work illuminates what benefits the program brings to its participants.

  • • Can We Teach Critical Thinking in an Introductory Lab Setting?

    • PS-B.09
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Stiliana Savin, David Weiman, Alisa Rod

    • Type: Poster
    • Here we present results from three different assessments carried out at Barnard College. In the first, we evaluated lab reports as a part of an internal study funded by the provost’s office and in collaboration with Barnard’s Empirical Reasoning Center. We evaluated features like data, graph accuracy, and others, in two rounds of assessment – before and after an Excel workshop, and before and after a workshop on Experimental Uncertainty. The second assessment was done through participation in the PLIC survey. The survey presents two case studies and asks questions about models, methods, and follow-up suggestions. The third assessment was a brief one-question survey, testing understanding of experimental uncertainty, filled out during lab, pre/post instruction. The three assessments differ both in their method of evaluation and in the critical thinking skills they evaluate. We will show that the results are promising – indeed, we can teach critical thinking in the physics lab.

  • • Development of high school students’ understandings of Nature of Science

    • PS-B.09
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Matthias Ungermann, Spatz Verena

    • Type: Poster
    • In a society characterised by STEM sciences the knowledge about Nature of Science (NOS) is deemed an important part of students’ education (Höttecke, 2008; Kircher et al., 2015; OECD, 2016). Furthermore, epistemological beliefs are found to influence learning processes and learning outcomes (Hofer and Pintrich, 2016). So one can say, this seems to be a key competence for successful orientation and understanding in the STEM subjects (Köller et al, 2000). Although there are a couple of studies about students’ beliefs about NOS available in some states in Germany (representing: Kremer, 2010; Ertl, 2013), due to the differing school curricula in each state generalisations are to be avoided. Therefore, we have conducted a study which explores the development of lower high school students’ conceptions of NOS during one school year in the state of Hesse (N=101). On the poster we will present an overview of our results.

  • • Using Worked-Out Examples of Different Features to Increase Learner’s Problem Solving

    • PS-B.09
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Ping Zhang, Lin Ding

    • Type: Poster
    • It is well documented that studying worked-out examples can effectively increase learners’ performance on solving isomorphic target problems. However, the extent to which the proximity of the example-target resemblance can affect problem solving remains unclear. To begin addressing this question, we developed several pairs of example-target problems that varied in three different types of contextual features, namely representation (involving, for example, different words, symbols, diagrams and pictures), models (requiring different approximations, idealizations, and simplifications of a phenomenon), and structures (invoking different auxiliary concepts or different ways of invoking concepts). We tested these example-target pairs of different resemblance features with a cohort of 122 university students enrolled in a calculus-based electricity and magnetism course. It was found that a change in any of the aforementioned contextual features posed as a barrier for students to recognize the connection between the example and the target, therefore reducing the effectiveness of the worked-out examples.

• Physics Education Research VI  

  • • Assessment of Knowledge Integration in Learning Physics*

    • PS-B.06
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Lei Bao, Joseph Fritchman, Kathleen Koenig

    • Type: Poster
    • Student development of deep understanding of core scientific ideas and cross-cutting concepts in STEM disciplines is the focus of current framework for science education. Research has shown that deep learning can be achieved through knowledge integrationwhere fragmented connections between and within concepts are strengthened through experience within differing contexts. However, few studies point towards specific methods for assessing and supporting knowledge integration in the classroom. This presentation will introduce Conceptual Framework, which has been shown to be promising as an operational approach for modeling assessment and instruction that target knowledge integration. A conceptual framework maps the possible knowledge structures of novice and expert students and help identify missing connections between conceptual core ideas and other elements within the knowledge structure. Examples and current studies using the conceptual framework approach will be discussed.

  • • Evaluating context-oriented teaching materials for electricity lessons

    • PS-B.06
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Liza Dopatka, Verena Spatz

    • Type: Poster
    • In the past decades, physics education research has repeatedly shown that German students’ interest in physics is often low. This is particularly worrying as students’ interest is an important factor for the learning process. Therefore, a lot of projectshave focused on promoting students´ interest in physics classrooms. Our approach is to design und evaluate context-oriented teaching material. There are some well-established research scales available to assess students’ interest in physics that - so far - have largely been used unrelated to each other. Against this background we have decided to integrate two of these common constructs in a questionnaire for our current study to assess high school students’ interest in context-oriented physics lessons about electricity (N = 1629). On the poster we will present our ideas for the design of context-oriented teaching material in electricity and the newly structured interest scales.

  • • Multidimensional Item Response Theory and the BEMA

    • PS-B.06
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by John Hansen, John Stewart

    • Type: Poster
    • The Brief Electricity and Magnetism Assessment (BEMA) is a 31-question assessment designed to assess student understanding of basic principles of electricity and magnetism in an introductory, calculus-based physics course. This study develops a model of student knowledge measured by the BEMA. This is guided by a theoretical model of expert understanding of electricity and magnetism. Multidimensional Item Response Theory (MIRT) was used to investigate a large post-test dataset (N=9666) from a large, western public research university collected over the span of 15 years. An optimal model was found by exploring variations to the theoretical expert model and selecting the model with the optimal MIRT fit parameters.

  • • Using Group Exams to Address Persistent Intuitively Appealing but Incorrect Student Reasoning*

    • PS-B.06
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Alistair McInerny, Mila Kryjevskaia

    • Type: Poster
    • Many students tend to provide intuitively appealing (but incorrect) responses to some physics questions despite demonstrating (on similar questions) the formal knowledge necessary to reason correctly. While these inconsistencies are typically persistent even in active learning environments, we believe that adding a group component to the exam may engage students sufficiently to resolve these instances of inconsistent reasoning. In our study, students were given opportunities to revisit their answers to questions known to elicit strong intuitively appealing (but incorrect) responses in a collaborative group component of an exam immediately following a traditional individual component. Students discussed their responses with group members but were required to submit their own answers and reasoning. On this poster, we examine the effectiveness of a collaborative group exam approach in addressing and resolving inconsistencies in student reasoning and will compare the effectiveness of this approach to a more traditional peer instruction technique.

  • • Using Machine Learning to Understand Changes in CLASS Scores

    • PS-B.06
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Paul Miller, Elaine Christman, John Stewart

    • Type: Poster
    • Nearly ten years ago, we began to collect pre- and post-instruction data about content and attitudes from every student enrolled in both semesters of calculus-based introductory physics. While the content results from the FMCE and CSEM instruments have been explored in several ways by the WVU PER group, the attitudes data using the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) have gone relatively unexplored. In this poster, I will present the results of an exploration of this large (N > 3000) data set from a large eastern land- grant university serving approximately 30,000 students. We first summarize the data set in the traditional way, as a shift from pre to post in favorable vs. unfavorable or expert-like vs. novice answers. We, then, examine and report to what degree other variables in our data set can predict this shift among the population using machine learning algorithms.

  • • Extending Modified Module Analysis to Include Correct Conceptual Physics Responses

    • PS-B.06
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by John Stewart, James Wells, Rachel Henderson

    • Type: Poster
    • Brewe, Bruun, and Bearden first applied network analysis to understand patterns of incorrect conceptual physics reasoning in multiple-choice instruments introducing the Module Analysis for Multiple-Choice Responses (MAMCR) algorithm. Wells et al. proposed an extension to the algorithm which allowed the analysis of large datasets called Modified Module Analysis (MMA). This method analyzed the network structure of the correlation matrix of the responses to a multiple-choice instrument. Both MAMCR and MMA could only be applied to networks of incorrect responses. This poster presents an extension of MMA which allows the analysis of networks involving both correct and incorrect responses. The new algorithm was applied to the FCI and recovered much of the structure identified by MMA, identified sets of correct answers requiring similar physical reasoning, and identified some groups of responses which mixed correct and incorrect responses.

  • • Role analysis of student networks in active learning physics classes

    • PS-B.06
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Adrienne Traxler, Tyme Suda, Eric Brewe, Kelley Commeford

    • Type: Poster
    • The Characterizing Active Learning Environments in Physics (CALEP) project combines classroom observations with network analysis to identify distinctive features of research-based physics curricula. This poster compares the social positions available in student networks from four classes, looking for major similarities or differences across learning environments. Role analysis looks for common structural patterns in a network. It groups people who have a similar pattern of connections, whether or not they know each other. We find that coherent subgroups are the most common structure in the late-semester networks of the sections analyzed. This differs from many networks in sociology studies, where other patterns such as hierarchy are more common. Comparing these courses, the social positions are more alike to each other than different. A wider sampling of data would be needed to claim that this is a "typical" active learning network signature, and would also provide a baseline for studying network-building interventions.

  • • A Critical Examination of DFW Rates in LA Supported Physics Courses

    • PS-B.06
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Ben Van Dusen, Jayson Nissen

    • Type: Poster
    • The American Physical Society calls for improving the diversity of physics by supporting an inclusive culture that encourages women and people of color to become physicists. Evidence shows that a major barrier to pursuing a career in physics or any otherSTEM discipline is passing the introductory physics course. We investigated the intersectional nature of racism, sexism, and classism in inequities in student rates of earning a non-passing grade (d, f, or withdrawal; DFW) using a quantitative critical framework. The analyses examined DFW rates for students in LA and non-LA supported physics courses at a Hispanic Serving Institution. Results identified large differences across intersecting identities. Controlling for instructors, LAs were found to be associated with decreases in DFW rates across all demographic groups.

  • • A Metric for Comparing Populations Using Item Response Curves

    • PS-B.06
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Paul Walter, Ed Nuhfer, Crisel Suarez

    • Type: Poster
    • We introduce a valuable metric for comparing any two populations on a multiple-choice test instrument. Our case example uses real data from 12,803 participants on the validated 25-item Science Literacy Concept Inventory (SLCI) and a simulated dataset of all of these participants randomly guessing. The metric employs a weighted dot product of two normalized N-dimensional vectors where N is the number of possible overall scores (i.e., 26 for item scores ranging from 0 – 25). The percentages of students that select each particular answer choice on a multiple-choice test instrument provide the components of the vectors. The value of each dot product of vectors is a single number between 0 – 1, for each test item for each unique pair of populations. The single numbers enable easy comparisons of paired populations, such as binary genders. The number differences quickly identify those items which merit further investigation for explaining the differences. With sufficiently large populations, the item response curves of paired populations proved much closer to each other than did the item response curves between real participants and the simulated population of the same size that was randomly guessing.

  • • Network analysis of the CSEM with Modified Module Analysis

    • PS-B.06
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Christopher Wheatley, Jie Yang, John Stewart

    • Type: Poster
    • This research applied Modified Module Analysis (MMA) to over 5000 student responses to the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism (CSEM). The CSEM was given at two major US land-grant universities in the introductory Electricity and Magnetism courses. MMA is a powerful tool for analyzing large datasets that uses the correlation matrix to form a network, community detection algorithms, and bootstrapping. Many studies have investigated student misconceptions in Newtonian physics by analyzing instruments such as the Force Concept Inventory or the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation. These studies showed that students hold non-Newtonian views on classical mechanics even post-instruction. However, much less research has investigated misconceptions in E&M. This study identifies communities of correct and incorrect answers to the CSEM to explore the structure of student misconceptions.

• Physics Education Research VII  

  • • Student conceptual resources for understanding kinematics

    • PS-B.07
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Cheyenne Broadfoot, Brynna Hansen, Amy Robertson

    • Type: Poster
    • Physics education research on student understanding of kinematics has largely focused on misconceptions and difficulties. Our project reports student resources for understanding kinematics -- ideas that we consider to be the “beginnings” of sophisticatedunderstandings. Our preliminary analysis highlighted four common resources that students are using to solve kinematics problems. In this poster, we will elaborate on the resources used most often by students and give examples from our preliminary research.

  • • The Long-Term Effects of Learning Physics Through ISLE

    • PS-B.07
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Danielle Bugge, Eugenia Etkina

    • Type: Poster
    • Today’s high school students need to develop abilities and skills that are applicable across many fields. Recommendations from the NGSS call for integrating science practices into learning of normative concepts in science classrooms. In my classroom, students learn physics through the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) approach. Based on previous studies, we know that ISLE students are capable of developing science-process abilities. However, how do we know if this approach to curriculum design and learning prepares students for success in the future? I administered a survey to alumni who learned physics through the ISLE approach and followed up the survey with interviews and a focus group. I report on the findings from this study with regard to what students remember learning, how their mindset changed during their time in the course, and what elements of their experience had an effect on and/or were transferrable to their future courses and careers.

  • • Factors Associated with Students Graduating in STEM at a Military Academy

    • PS-B.07
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Jessica Dwyer, Wilson Gonzalez-Espada, Kimberly de La Harpe, David Meier

    • Type: Poster
    • The U.S. is not graduating enough science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) majors for the increasing number of available employment opportunities and national security needs. The purpose of this study was to quantify the magnitude of STEM attrition at the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA). The study also identified factors associated with STEM attrition among students. Despite strong academic preparation, of the students who reported their intention to major in a STEM discipline as incoming freshmen, 36.4% switched and graduated with a non-STEM degree. The best predictors associated with students graduating with a STEM major were their initial intention and motivation to major in these disciplines upon arrival at USAFA and course grades in Calculus I, Calculus-based General Physics I and Applications of Chemistry I. These findings suggest that students motivated to major in STEM may switch out if they struggle with prerequisite quantitative courses.

  • • Evaluation of student understanding of the hand rules in electromagnetism

    • PS-B.07
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Yikun Han, Lei Bao, Feipeng Pi

    • Type: Poster
    • In the Chinese high school physics curriculum, the Ampere's rule, the left-hand rule, and the right-hand rule are used to determine the direction of the magnetic field, the ampere and Lorentz force, and the direction of the electric current.Actually at different phases,students confused that which rule is more suitable,it causes inefficiency when they deal with problems.The central idea of these three rules is the cross product, teachers help students to build the concept of cross product,meanwhile training deep learning of electromagnetism knowledge.Therefore, through an assessment tool to understand the mastery of these three rules at different phases of their learning.

  • • Students’ reasoning during qualitative physics problem solving

    • PS-B.07
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Bashirah Ibrahim, Lin Ding

    • Type: Poster
    • Reasoning is a predictor of learning and is a key skill needed for science. In physics, there is a lack of studies exploring how students reason with particular concepts when handling qualitative, conceptual physics questions. Our work is based on Kuhn’s(2004) framework which defines scientific reasoning as the conscious intent to seek new information to enhance knowledge and understanding. The core of Kuhn’s framework is theory-evidence coordination, and it emphasizes the importance of cognition for scientific reasoning. Fifty freshmen, with a calculus-based physics background, completed three open-ended qualitative physics questions. The problems, borrowed from published instruments, dealt with the energy conservation principle. Data from the students’ written and interview responses show (i) the students’ source of self-generated evidence, and (ii) their meta-cognition in answering the qualitative physics questions.

  • • Ups and downs of ISLE-based reforms in an urban public university

    • PS-B.07
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Diane Jammula, Sheehan Ahmed, Joshua Rutberg, Eugenia Etkina

    • Type: Poster
    • Research indicates that both students and instructors struggle when a course switches to implementing student-centered inquiry-oriented pedagogical approaches which engage students in construction of their own knowledge through experimentation and reasoning. One such approach is the ISLE approach that puts the students in the driver’s seat of learning. Instead of reading a book and working on problems the students working in groups engage in the activities that mirror the activities of physicists constructing and applying knowledge. In large room meetings they work on activities helping them invent new ideas and in labs they design their own experiments to test and apply those ideas. How do the students and the instructors respond to innovations? This poster will present data collected during one year of ISLE-based reforms at Rutgers, Newark, an urban public university. We will share our achievements and struggles.

  • • Using the Popular “Shoot the Monkey” Demo to Teach Problem Solving*

    • PS-B.07
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Joe Ross, Alexandru Maries, Robert Teese, Kathleen Koenig, Michele Chabot

    • Type: Poster
    • The “shoot the monkey” demonstration is a very popular and commonly used demonstration in projectile motion: a gun is aimed at a monkey hanging from a branch. At the instant the gun is fired, the monkey lets go, and of course, the bullet hits the monkey.Prior research has shown that demonstrations promote little learning if they are not preceded by questions related to the possible outcomes of the demonstration. We have taken this one step further by using this popular demonstration (which students often love) as the basis of an Interactive Video-Enhanced Tutorial (IVET). The “monkey-gun IVET” is designed to help students learn effective problem solving strategies by guiding them to use the physics of projectile motion to explain why the monkey gets hit. The IVET is designed based on principles of multimedia learning and is adaptive in that it provides different levels of scaffolding depending on students’ needs. This presentation will showcase all the different features of this IVET.

  • • Teaching geometric optics through drawing ray diagrams

    • PS-B.07
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Yue Xiao, JianWen Xiong, Lei Bao

    • Type: Poster
    • Drawing ray diagram is the kay strategy to solve optics problems. Through interviewing junior high school students in China, they reflect that they mostly memorize the final results of special cases to solve the problems in homework and exams, even problems about lens requesting drawing are also solved by memorizing special rays. It appears that the drawing ray diagrams is not emphasized in instruction, which leads to students’ inability to make connections between principles of geometric optics and the final outcomes that they memorized. In order to promote deep learning, a conceptual framework on geometric optics is introduced to map out students’ knowledge structures. Based on the conceptual framework, an assessment test is developed to evaluate students’ conceptual understanding of geometric optics. Results of the assessment will be discussed to emphasize the ray diagram is the new method to teach geometric optics.

• Physics Education Research X  

  • • Science of Light and Color Presented Through Examining Visual Arts

    • PS-B.10
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Tetyana Antimirova
    • Type: Poster
    • In our modern society, art and science are often seen as unrelated, and sometimes even opposing human endeavors. However, a disconnect between science and art is finally being reconsidered, and the value of artistic creativity and imagination for careers in Science and Engineering is starting to be recognized. Moreover, an attempt to answer the question “what science ideas made their way into works of art and architecture” opens up the dialog between physicists and a general public. Examining representative artworks can be used to demonstrate the laws of physics, optics in particular. The presentation will demonstrate that the understanding of basic optics phenomena (absorption, scattering, reflection, refraction, diffraction and polarization of light) is absolutely essential for creating realistic paintings and drawings. Incorporating arts into science and engineering education and science outreach is a new approach that has the potential to captivate the audiences and unleash creativity.

  • • How the Learning Assistant Experience Impacts Learning Assistants as Students

    • PS-B.10
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Benjamin Dreyfus, Bailey Cake, Natalie Schultz

    • Type: Poster
    • Learning Assistants (LAs) are undergraduate STEM students who participate in a pedagogy course and facilitate active learning among their peers in a variety of courses. Much of the existing research on LA programs focuses on the impact on the students taking courses with LAs, or on course transformation. In addition to this, we look at the impact on the LAs themselves, as students. We asked LAs in physics, other sciences, and math to reflect on how their LA experience has affected them, through interviews with fellow LAs and free-response surveys. We analyze these qualitative data to identify emerging themes. LAs found that their LA experiences had impacts on their conceptual understanding, metacognition, time management, confidence about public speaking and working with fellow students, and relationships with professors.

  • • The teaching of Newton's second law through philosophical reflection Abstract

    • PS-B.10
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Wilder Guerrero, Gilberto Castrejón

    • Type: Poster
    • The results of an investigation that seeks to investigate the effects of philosophical reflection on the teaching of the concept of force in Newton's second law at the university level are presented, under the focus of conceptual change. This research has been carried out in Honduras with students of the General Physics course at the National University of Agriculture. A pre / post instrument was designed to evaluate as a didactic sequence guided by philosophical reflection and, methodologically, a mixed design has been used. In the quantitative scope, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was made, and the preliminary results show a significantly higher performance in the experimental group. The above is supported by a qualitative analysis that shows an overcoming of the alternative conceptions of the concept of force, as well as an improvement in the students' arguments.

  • • The mediating role of personality and self-efficacy in academic achievement

    • PS-B.10
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Dona Hewagallage, John Stewart

    • Type: Poster
    • This study explored the mediational relationship between personality, self-efficacy, and academic achievement in university physics and mathematics classes. The sample consisted of 9684 students primarily pursuing engineering majors at a large eastern land-grant university in the US. Data were collected from both physics and calculus classes. The five-factor model of personality was measured with the Big Five Inventory. This model characterizes personality with five facets: agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness. Significant differences in personality and self-efficacy between men and women were identified. The neuroticism facet mediated the relationship between self-efficacy and gender. Self-efficacy mediated the relationship between the course grade and conscientiousness.

  • • Comparing Physics and Math Anxiety in Science Majors at University

    • PS-B.10
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Justin Hustoft
    • Type: Poster
    • Engaging college students who are not primarily studying physics and increasing their awareness of physics-related concepts is especially important to support the decision-making processes in society. Science-major students in a general physics course onclassical mechanics were given the Physics Goal Orientation Survey concurrently with the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale as pre- and post-course surveys. One goal was to determine how the students viewed physics and mathematics as related but separate fields. Data on physics attitudes and mathematics anxiety will establish a baseline against which future student learning outcomes and attitudes can be compared when curriculum changes in physics are implemented, such as an energy-first approach as reported in LeGresley, et al., 2019. Initial results of surveys will be presented at the summer meeting.

  • • Superhero Physics as a Teaching Tool in Introductory Physics

    • PS-B.10
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Jasmine Jackson, Deepika Menon, James Overduin

    • Type: Poster
    • General introductory physics classes are at times challenging for instructors to motivate students to continue their studies in physics. This course often tends to weed out prospective physics majors—even those who were previously passionate about pursuing it. The methods and strategies that are utilized to teach physics play an essential role in the success rate of the course. The purpose of this project is to introduce a new approach to teaching physics using comics as a motivational tool, given that young students spend much of their time interacting with popular culture. With a multitude of physics topics to explore, comic books serve as a great avenue for engaging young students by presenting science topics within the context of pop culture and mainstream media. Within this study, we will analyze the effectiveness of comic books and superhero media in increasing student understanding of physics topics and student engagement in problem-solving.

  • • How different lab settings affect students' attitude towards the labs

    • PS-B.10
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Anna Karelina, Eugenia Etkina, Peter Bohacek, Matthew Vonk, David Brookes

    • Type: Poster
    • This poster shows the results of our investigation of students’ mental states during different labs. The students studied physics in an algebra-based introductory course with the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) approach. In one set of labs students had to design and conduct experiments with real apparatus, while in the other type of labs students had to analyze videos with pre-recorded experiments. We collected and analyzed students’ responses to a Likert scale survey with 7 questions related to the conditions of flow. We studied differences and common features of students’ responses after apparatus-based labs and after video-based labs.

  • • A Community of Practice Approach to Identity Formation

    • PS-B.10
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Claire Mullen, Brean Prefontaine, Kathleen Hinko, Claudia Fracchiolla

    • Type: Poster
    • In the last few years many studies have looked at understanding the main factors that influence discipline-based identity formation. A large number of these studies focus on identity formation from the standpoint of the individual, however research showsthat identity is a social construct that is highly dependent on the environment we are emerged in. In this study, we present an operationalization of the Community of Practice framework that can be used to study identity from the collective perspective. The different elements of the framework allow us to establish the individual’s positionality within the Community of Practice and the mechanisms within that community that help the individual become a more central member of the community and therefore develop a community identity. To demonstrate the use of the framework, we present findings of a study focused on the understanding of physics identity development of university students who facilitate informal physics programs.

  • • Investigating research themes, partnerships, and funding for the Physics Education Research community

    • PS-B.10
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Rebecca Rosenblatt, Michael Rook

    • Type: Poster
    • This study will inform the Physics Education Research community about patterns of research topics, partnerships between researchers, and funding sources for the PER community over the last ten years. The study involves a textual analysis of all PERC proceedings between 2010 to 2019 to identify funding sources and determine patterns. PERC proceedings were selected given the central role of the Physics Education Research Conference to the PER community. PERC proceedings represent the community across scope of project from small to large, across stage of project from beginning to finished, and from new researchers to those established in the field. Findings are contrasted with those from the Learning Sciences community to provide context for understanding the significance of patterns. The goal of this work is to provide insight into the community’s history and ten-year trajectory so that the community can consider how to move the field forward in new directions.

  • • Ground Verification of NASA's GPM Project- Citizen Science

    • PS-B.10
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Karen Williams
    • Type: Poster
    • NASA and JAXA have been predicting precipitation falling on the Earth for several years through the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) project. They are doing so by using satellites equipped with global microwave imagers as well as dual frequency radar. The satellites can sweep the planet in ninety-three minutes. This poster will show where teachers can get information about the GPM project and how they may access the data (and much more) through Giovanni software. I have done verification studies comparing their predictions to my CoCoRaHS station data. Verification of their predictions is being done by many groups. How 5G cell service will affect this project is still being argued. Students could download local data and learn about the analysis of data and how technologies are developed and tested. This could be used for outreach and to motivate students and interest the community as people of all ages are interested in the weather.

• SPS Undergraduate Poster Session  

  • • Project Based Learning: Physics-I with MatLab

    • SPS
    • Sun 07/19, 2:30PM - 3:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Yara Abazah, Leyki Reynoso, Kalani Hettiarachchilage, Neel Haldolaarachchige

    • Type: Poster
    • Kinematic concepts are simulated with MatLab. Project-based assignments are done as the class progresses throughout the semester. Assignment per chapter is given with a few selected and challenging questions. Questions are first solved analytically then computationally simulated to get the behavior of practically relevant variables. Many body problems with kinematics, dynamics, energy conservation, rotational motion, gravitation, and simple-harmonic-motion have been solved. The main focus is given to simulate practically relevant problems, in which some problems are not possible to solve analytically. Solving selected problems analytically helped students to get deeper understating of the concept whereas simulating analytically-difficult problems with MatLab helped them to learn and use scientific programming for problem-solving and get a better understanding of the concepts. At the end of the semester group projects are done to simulate selected applications. The project results are presented and discussed in the class.

  • • A Tale of Two Sections: Work, Energy, and Different Systems

    • SPS
    • Sun 07/19, 2:30PM - 3:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Claire Allen, Brant Hinrichs

    • Type: Poster
    • It is well known that students struggle with thinking about work and energy in the context of different system choices. University Modeling Instruction (UMI) tries to address this by using the system schema representation (SS) and energy pie charts (EPC) An SS is a diagram that helps students explicitly identify which objects are inside their system and which are not. EPC are diagrams that explicitly help students track the relative amounts of different forms of energy inside their system, how they change over time, and whether energy is entering or leaving the system. We report the results of an exam problem based on the literature for a first semester algebra-based introductory physics class. There were two sections, with very similar student populations, taught by the same instructor, using the same materials, yet one section was much more successful than the other. We compare these results to results from the literature.

  • • A Novel Method of Measuring Airplane Thrust

    • SPS
    • Sun 07/19, 2:30PM - 3:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Margaret Capalbo
    • Type: Poster
    • Airplane thrust is currently measured using a complex equation that requires many thermodynamic measurements, such as air pressures, mass flow rates, and air velocities. To provide a new, more direct method of thrust measurement and a cross check for pilots, a device that is attached to the engine mounts that can measure force or a compressive load is needed. Annular piezoelectric washers have been studied to understand their properties, such as resolution and linearity. Sample piezoelectric sensors were calibrated on an in-lab test stand according to various torques Calibrated piezoelectric sensors were installed and tested on a PT6 engine test stand within the aviation department and showed a correlation between frequency and thrust measurement.

  • • Project-Based Learning: Designing New Lab Setup

    • SPS
    • Sun 07/19, 2:30PM - 3:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Lucus Cordova, Avee Patel, Kalani Hettiarachchilage, Neel Haldolaarachchige

    • Type: Poster
    • Home built, easy use and low-cost freefall apparatus is reported. It has two important sections: photogate timer with two photogates and electromagnet with clicker switch. We select a very small electromagnet that works with 12 V DC and can hold a maximum weight of 20 pounds. All the clamps are designed and 3D printed. There are two different types of clamps; one for photogate and the other for cylindrical shape electromagnet. Assembly of the complete system will take only a few minutes and in general classroom, every two or four-member student group can do the experiment independently. A small electromagnet is set up at the top of the regular lab stand with a metal rod. Two photogates are set below the lab stand. Any object with a metal tip can be attached to the electromagnet. Times between photogates are taken with increasing distance between photogates. The gravitational constant is confirmed within one percent error.

  • • On Chemical Potential of Phonons in Einstein Solid Model

    • SPS
    • Sun 07/19, 2:30PM - 3:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Jixuan Hou
    • Type: Poster
    • Thermodynamic quantities of the Einstein solid model are studied via the microcanonical approach. We point out that the number of phonos in Einstein solid model cannot be defined independently and thus the chemical potential of phonos cannot be defined in the microcanonical ensemble. The chemical potential of phonos can be calculated only if the number of phonons can fluctuate. And we prove that the chemical potential of phonos in Einstein solid model strictly equals to zero in other ensembles.

  • • Assessing Shifts in Lab Assistant Attitudes

    • SPS
    • Sun 07/19, 2:30PM - 3:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Jessica Martin, Nathan Powers*

    • Type: Poster
    • Many of the physics lab courses at BYU have shifted their focus from highly structured, concept-reinforcement to a more open-ended project-based approach to exploration and investigation. This new approach to labs requires a change in the role of lab assistants, which is often at odds with what new lab assistants expect their role to be. Even after training, they can revert back to concept-focused behavior. We investigate how a new training process involving targeted training meetings, peer observations assessments, self-evaluations, and reflection tools, impacts the lab assistant perception attitudes in three main areas--leadership, knowledge construction, and technical skills. We use a codified system to analyze responses from the lab assistants to determine if their attitudes have solidified.

  • • iTEBD method for ground state properties computation

    • SPS
    • Sun 07/19, 2:30PM - 3:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Zhiyao Ning, Daoxin Yao* , Guangyi Liang

    • Type: Poster
    • The study on physical quantities in ground state quantum multi-body system can get not only the statics properties but also the dynamical properties of the system. We use infinite time-evolving block decimation (iTEBD) to compute the n particles 1-D Ising spin chain with periodic boundary condition and get the normalization ground state in expression of matrix product state (MPS). After contract the MPS we get the reduced density matrix of the ground state system, applying physical operators on which we can get the physical quantities we need. The ground state energy is compared with the exact diagonalization result and show pinpoint accuracy. For further research, we are embarking on improving the algorithm to computing the imaginary time correlation function of the system.

  • • Silicon Nitride Metalenses for Polarization-depended and Multi-wavelength Imaging

    • SPS
    • Sun 07/19, 2:30PM - 3:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Jianwei Qin
    • Type: Poster
    • As one of the emerging semiconductor materials, SiN’s excellent dielectric properties, high material stability, and dispersion controllability make it widely used in both linear and nonlinear all-optical integrated devices. Here, we designed a single-layer metasurface using silicon nitride posts and realized high-transmittance metalens. Existing solutions for multi-wavelength meta-optics inevitably increase the device thickness and system complexity, whereas the refractive and diffractive counterparts also limit the polarization-sensitive lenses with a small numerical aperture(NA). By creating a single-layer array of SiN elliptical posts with different sizes and orientations, we introduced a modulation scheme to design multi-wavelength metalens which can work on different orthogonal polarizations. Our approach realized a polarization-depended achromatic metalens with large NA.

  • • Thematic analysis of student manipulations of the PhET simulation “Fluid Pressure and Flow”

    • SPS
    • Sun 07/19, 2:30PM - 3:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Jeffrey Rosauer, Andrew Princer, Justin Szela, Grant Kaufman, Rebecca Rosenblatt

    • Type: Poster
    • Student difficulties with fluid statics and dynamics concepts often persist with conventional instruction. A curriculum was developed using a simulation to improve student understanding of fluid statics and dynamics taught in an introductory algebra-based physics courses for life science students. Screen capture videos were made of students completing a 20-minute guided inquiry tutorial that used the PhET simulation “Fluid Pressure and Flow”. These videos were studied using qualitative thematic analysis to identify common actions and patterns of actions as students worked through the curriculum. Patterns observed from this analysis are compared and contrasted with the patterns made by experts working with the simulation. Additionally, pre- and post-activity assessments of student knowledge of fluid speed and pressure in pipes were made. These data were examined to establish what connections exist between actions made while working with the simulation and changes in students conceptual understanding of fluids.

  • • Conceptions of Community Among Physics Majors and Learning Assistants

    • SPS
    • Sun 07/19, 2:30PM - 3:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Jason Starita*, Gary White

    • Type: Poster
    • In this study, the experiences of students in the Physics LA program are compared to the experiences of those who study physics but have not participated in the program at the George Washington University. We are interested in how participation in the LA program influences physics identity and how the students conceptualize the physics community. We analyze 15 interviews conducted by students belonging to three different populations (five from each population): LAs who are not physics majors, LAs who are physics majors, and physics majors who are not LAs. By analyzing the coded language used by interviewees, we hope to better understand how participation in the LA program effects beliefs of community. The results of this study will be used to identify critical elements of LA program structure that influence physics identity and inform how beliefs of community influences both LAs and physics majors in their physics identity development

  • • How Force And Energy Notation Affects The Way Students Say It

    • SPS
    • Sun 07/19, 2:30PM - 3:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Dayna Swanson, Brant Hinrichs

    • Type: Poster
    • To facilitate learning in the physics classroom, University Modeling Instruction uses a consistent symbol pattern within each concept. For example, the symbol is Ek for kinetic energy, Eint for internal energy, etc. and ?????????? for gravitational force by Earth on Ball, ?????????? for contact force by Rope on Sled, etc. For energy, we find that although the subscript appears on the right-hand side, no students ever say “energy kinetic” or “energy internal”. They say what we expect – “kinetic energy” and “internal energy”. In contrast, for force, with the super-script on the right-hand side, 40% of the time students say “force gravity” for ?????????? and “force contact” for ??????????, while with the super-script on the left-hand side (i.e. ??? ??????? and ??? ??????? ), use of “force gravity” and “force contact” drops to less than 2%. We discuss some initial ideas for why students might say the symbols differently.

  • • Electrostatics and Riemann Surfaces

    • SPS
    • Sun 07/19, 2:30PM - 3:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Spencer Tamagni, Costas Efthimiou

    • Type: Poster
    • Using techniques from geometry and complex analysis in their simplest form, we present a derivation of electric fields on surfaces with non-trivial topology. A byproduct of this analysis is an intuitive visualization of elliptic functions when their argument is complex-valued. The underlying connections between these techniques and the theory of Riemann surfaces are also explained.

  • • Trajectory of Flying Card

    • SPS
    • Sun 07/19, 2:30PM - 3:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Yanbo Wang, Shidong Zhu, Donghao Wu

    • Type: Poster
    • A card with an initial velocity and initial angular velocity can fly in the air for a while, and finally it will fall on the ground. During the flying process, the air friction and viscous resistance act on the card continuously so that the kinestate of the card changes all the time. This makes the trajectory of a flying card look like a question mark. We first use kinetic equation to analyze the trajectory and make an assumption. Then, we use camera to collect necessary statistics of a flying card to explore the real trajectory and check the assumption we have put forward before. Our experimental and theoretical results match well.

  • • Precise analysis of a particle’s motion on an elliptical track

    • SPS
    • Sun 07/19, 2:30PM - 3:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Kai Yan
    • Type: Poster
    • Particles’ motion on a circular track is commonly discussed in elementary Physics. This paper extends the precise analysis to the elliptical condition and friction is considered. The link between the velocity of a particle and its position on an elliptical track with friction is accurately established, essentially based on the transformation of angels through analytical geometry. After identifying conditions in which the particle won’t fall, the whole process of the motion is depicted.

  • • Dynamic Analysis of the Falling Process of Disc Tower

    • SPS
    • Sun 07/19, 2:30PM - 3:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Shidong Zhu
    • Type: Poster
    • Identical discs are stacked one on top of another to form a freestanding tower, if the bottom one gets pulled out, the upper ones will stagger a distance from each other. From the slow motion it can be found that the disks will not stagger before fallingon the ground. The reason for the stagger is the tower’s rotation around the center of mass. And we work out the condition that the tower does not collapse in the first order approximation. Our experimental results coincide the graph very well.

• Technologies  

  • • Visualizing Ddifferences in Simple Circuits Using a Computer Simulation

    • PS-A.09
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Jan-Philipp Burde, Arthur Kronenberger

    • Type: Poster
    • Understanding the basic concepts of electricity represents a major challenge to most students in K-12 education. In particular, most learners do not succeed in developing a robust understanding of potential and potential difference and instead tend to reason exclusively with current and resistance. These conceptual difficulties can be partly explained by the fact that potential differences cannot directly be perceived and are hence hard to imagine for students. To make potential differences and electric circuits in general more accessible to students, a new interactive computer simulation was developed. One of its key features is not only that any simple circuit can be simulated, but that it also supports different model representations of potential differences (e.g. a water flow model). On the poster, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the different model representations from a PER perspective and highlight some of the features of the freely available simulation.

  • • Teaching a blended course with TopHat

    • PS-A.09
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Andrew Duffy
    • Type: Poster
    • TopHat is a platform known for in-class quizzing, with students using their phones to respond to questions. However, in our two-semester introductory algebra-based physics sequence, we are leveraging the TopHat platform to do significantly more than that. In addition to the in-class clicker feature, we are using TopHat for (1) pre-class preparation, with quizzes that include videos, content, and feedback from the students to the instructor; (2) online homework; (3) quizzes that are automatically graded; (4) an interactive e-book, with a significant number of embedded simulations. In this talk, I will provide some details about these four different uses, and show examples of each. The vast majority of the material we use was created by us, with a goal of making high-quality content available to the students for a reasonable cost.

  • • PICUP: The Partnership for Integration of Computation into Undergraduate Physics

    • PS-A.09
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Engelhardt Engelhardt, Danny Caballero, Marie Lopez del Peurto, Kelly Roos, Bob Hilborn

    • Type: Poster
    • We will provide an update on the status of “PICUP” the “Partnership for Integration of Computation into Undergraduate Physics”. This will include the growth of the PICUP community (of physics teachers like yourself), as well as the resources that PICUP has to offer you. This work is funded by the National Science Foundation under DUE IUSE grants 1524128, 1524493, 1524963, 1525062, and 1525525.

  • • Teaching 3D Physics Concepts with Augmented Reality

    • PS-A.09
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Nick Giordano, Michele McColgan, Graziano Vernizzi

    • Type: Poster
    • Students find difficulty visualizing 3D concepts in our physics courses. In our introductory calculus-based physics and upper-level electricity and magnetism courses, students struggle to visualize electric and magnetic fields, electric flux, Gauss’s law, electromagnetic induction, three-dimensional integration, and the divergence theorem, to name a few of the E&M topics that are well suited for visualization using augmented reality. For example, when teaching Gauss’s law, the mathematical formalism tends to hide the geometrical meaning of Gauss’s law, more than explain it. Therefore, an AR hands-on visual representation can greatly help in rendering the concepts of flux through a surface or charge density in a given volume, so as to help students understand the physics behind it. In this poster presentation, we will demonstrate the AR applications and activities that we’ve developed and plan to use in our courses.

  • • Teaching Introductory Physics Courses with Interactive Activities & Personalized Support

    • PS-A.09
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Priya Jamkhedkar, Ralf Widenhorn, Theodore Stenmark, Chuck Faber, Misty Hamideh

    • Type: Poster
    • This poster summarizes the development of interactive courses with personalized support for algebra-based and calculus-based introductory physics courses taught at Portland State University. Teaching introductory physics courses to large classes with students with diverse skills in math, problem-solving, conceptual reasoning, and learning preferences is challenging. Providing interactive activities such as simulations, concept questions and problems with scaffolding questions along with support for students with different learning preferences and skill levels has the potential to promote active and engaged learning to have a long-lasting impact on the students’ educational experience. We conclude the poster with early results and insights for the future improvements to these courses.

  • • Teaching Elementary School Teachers How To Teach Math and Science

    • PS-A.09
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Jennifer Kirkey
    • Type: Poster
    • The MSTE or Mathematics and Science Teaching Graduate Diploma is for working elementary or middle-school teachers. Designed to help teachers get comfortable with the new mathematics curriculum, rediscover chemistry, biology, physics and earth science and connect with other teachers in a positive and friendly environment. This poster will present the lessons learned from the four cohorts that have been offered at Douglas College, New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. https://www.douglascollege.ca/programs-courses/catalogue/programs/PDMSCT This is one of the few programs of its type in Canada. This poster will present the lessons learned when science teachers work with teachers who have been working in their field for years. The program is offered in a hybrid format, so this poster will also highlight ways to connect with elementary school teachers in an online format.

  • • Affordances and Strategies for Teaching introductory Circuits to Blind Children

    • PS-A.09
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Dan MacIsaac, Kathleen Falconer, Manuela Welzel-Breuer, Pamela Detrois

    • Type: Poster
    • We describe affordances – simple modifications to equipment and procedures, and interventions for teaching an introductory lesson showing the classic one bulb in a circuit, two bulbs in series, then two in parallel sequence. Affordances for partially sighted, visually impaired students are straightforward, with slight but important adaptations to apparatus, lesson flow and timing. Affordances for profoundly blind students include using circuit representations on raised plastic or paper (swell paper) with and without Braille, and rigidly supported concrete circuits created with “Snap Circuits” TM apparatus. Given a second or two for thermal stabilization, sightless students can discriminate by touch between dark, partially lit and brightly lit incandescent sub-miniature bulbs for the traditional comparisons. We also discuss the need to establish trust and safety for blind children in handling simple circuit elements.

  • • A simple determination of Planck's constant with a smartphone.

    • PS-A.09
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Martín Monteiro
    • Type: Poster
    • In this work we propose a simple experiment with thermal radiation to analyze Planck's radiation law, that allows us to obtain an accurate value of Planck's constant. A tungsten filament bulb is used as a source of thermal radiation. The temperature of the filament is changed using a variable DC supply. By means of a voltmeter and an ammeter, the resistance of the filament is obtained and hence, its temperature. The intensity of the light emitted by the bulb is measured by the ambient light sensor of a smartphone. Thanks to the narrow spectral response of this sensor, a relationship between temperature and spectral radiance for a fixed frequency is obtained, which is in good agreement with Planck's law.

  • • The smartphone as a hydrophone

    • PS-A.09
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Martín Monteiro, Arturo Martí

    • Type: Poster
    • Several models of smartphones are currently submersible, and the performance of their microphones underwater is good enough to be used as true hydrophones capable of conducting physics experiments. A very elementary application of the hydrophone, suitable for a basic physics course, is to use it to determine the speed of sound in water. Here we present two related activities, one is to measure the speed of sound in water from the time difference of two signals and the speed of sound in air. The other problem-activity consists in determining the distance of a sound source from the delay between two signals, one that travels through the air and another that travels through the water.

  • • Student Learning Outcomes with Hybrid Computer Simulations and Hands-On Labs

    • PS-A.09
    • Tue 07/21, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Sheila Sagear, Emily Allen, Manher Jariwala, Andrew Duffy

    • Type: Poster
    • Computer simulations for physics labs may be combined with hands-on lab equipment to boost student understanding and make labs more accessible. Hybrid labs of HTML5-based computer simulations and hands-on lab equipment for topics in mechanics were investigated in a large, algebra-based, studio physics course for life science students at a private, research-intensive institution. Computer simulations were combined with hands-on equipment and compared to traditional hands-on labs alone using an A/B testing protocol. Learning outcomes were measured for the specific topic of momentum conservation by comparing student scores on post-lab exercises, related quiz and exam questions, and a subset of questions on the Energy and Momentum Conceptual Survey (EMCS) administered before and after instruction for both groups. We will present our findings of this study in the context of previous work and discuss the larger implications of the use of simulations in physics education.

• Tools for Teaching Computation in Physics  

  • • Navigating computational thinking practices for high school physics curricula

    • PAR-D.10
    • Mon 07/20, 2:30PM - 3:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Theodore Bott, Daniel Weller, Paul Irving, Marcos Caballero

    • Type: Poster
    • Within the last 15 years, computational thinking (CT) has emerged as a focal point of K-12 education. Numerous frameworks have outlined the practices involved when students and teachers engage in CT. These frameworks discuss how CT practices should be understood, implemented, and assessed in the classroom. While curricular expectations around this topic are becoming clearer, teachers (especially high school STEM instructors) still express a significant need for assessment strategies in the classroom. In light of this, we have begun to develop an assessment that will measure high school and early college instructors’ perspectives on CT practices. Currently, we are constructing an open-ended pilot survey that will help us understand which practices are relevant to teachers and how familiar teachers are with these practices. Once we have identified the CT practices that teachers are interested in evaluating, we will move to the next step of the assessment development: creating an open-ended free-response questionnaire to administer to students.

  • • Accessible Computation: Teaching Computation In Physics Through Browser-Based Platforms

    • PAR-D.10
    • Mon 07/20, 2:30PM - 3:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Merideth Frey
    • Type: Poster
    • Computational skills are a necessity in the modern workforce. However, determining how to teach these skills in a way that can be easily accessible for all students is a daunting challenge. As a one-person physics department in a small, liberal arts institution, I have aimed to build up the physics curriculum with an emphasis on transferrable experimental and computational skills, all while being accessible to as many students as possible. This work includes computation-based introductory physics laboratories, computational assignments in a non-major course on chaos, and computational essays in an intermediate lab-based class on resonance. Each course primarily uses a different browser-based platform (spreadsheets, Glowscript, Google Colaboratory) that was chosen for its accessibility and ease-of-use. I will discuss the various successes and challenges I have encountered teaching with these different computational tools, and I look forward to receiving feedback and ideas for future iterations of this ongoing project.

  • • Simulated Annealing with the POV-RAY ray-tracing program: Photo-realistic crystal growth

    • PAR-D.10
    • Mon 07/20, 2:30PM - 3:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by John Walkup
    • Type: Poster
    • The Persistence of Vision Raytracer (POV-Ray) is a free software tool for creating photo-realistic, three-dimensional graphics. Using a simple -- albeit capable -- programming syntax, POV-ray offers a fun way for students to develop basic programming skills such as the use of random number generation, variable declarations, conditional statements, and loop structures. In this presentation, the presenter will describe how the animation capability of POV-ray can model Monte Carlo techniques such as Markov chains and the Metropolis algorithm to simulate the annealing process fundamental to crystal growth.

  • • Computational Toolkits in Quantum Mechanics

    • PAR-D.10
    • Mon 07/20, 2:30PM - 3:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Jay Wang, Trevor Robertson

    • Type: Poster
    • Computation has much to offer in terms of teaching quantum mechanics. In this presentation we give specific examples of use of computation in quantum mechanical problems. We also discuss standard toolkits either well-known, used in research or found in software libraries, and not-so-standard tools one can implement themselves. Examples utilizing numerical and visualization techniques for solving time-dependent and time-independent quantum systems will be discussed (see also http://www.faculty.umassd.edu/j.wang/) including superposition, scattering flux, eigenstates in periodic structures, evolution of uncertainties, and quantum dots.

  • • Video Analysis of Variation in Computational Thinking Practices in Physics

    • PAR-D.10
    • Mon 07/20, 2:30PM - 3:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Daniel Weller, Marcos Caballero, Paul Irving

    • Type: Poster
    • 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.

• Transforming Physics Curricula to Include Computation  

  • • Save the Earth: A Mechanics Thread That Introduces Computation

    • PAR-E.07
    • Tue 07/21, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Michael Burns-Kaurin
    • Type: Poster
    • I used the thread of saving the Earth from a collision with an asteroid to introduce several concepts in mechanics. Through successive approximations to the situation, students analyze situations involving constant velocity, conservation of momentum, constant acceleration, and kinetic energy as they try to determine how best to deflect the asteroid. The tools used include computer programming with the motivation of performing computations iteratively to determine closest approach

  • • Implementing and assessing computation across the curriculum at IUPUI

    • PAR-E.07
    • Tue 07/21, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Andrew Gavrin, Yogesh Joglekar, Gautam Vemuri

    • Type: Poster
    • Our goal as a department, set three years ago, is to “make computation normal.” That is, our students should consider computation to be a “normal” approach to problem solving, not a special method for a few distinct classes of problems. To this end, we are on track to having approximately 25% of all assignments be computational by 2023. This talk will describe our efforts to date, with particular attention to the development of a first assessment tool and early results from its use.

  • • Application of Secondary Physics Content through Modeling of Geoscience Data

    • PAR-E.07
    • Tue 07/21, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Susan Meabh Kelly
    • Type: Poster
    • Public access to archived geoscience databases and open source software programs provide opportunities for students to apply and expand conventional high school physics content in new contexts. These experiences invite opportunity for original science research projects that require nothing more than a computer with an internet connection. Examples from multiple geoscience fields of study will be outlined, with a focus on students' use of computation.

  • • A Portfolio of Data Analytics Classes at University of Oklahoma

    • PAR-E.07
    • Tue 07/21, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Karen Leighly, Collin Dabbieri, Alexander Kerr, Donald Terndrup

    • Type: Poster
    • We present the design and initial implementation of two data-driven Astronomy courses at the University of Oklahoma. Both courses focus on data analytics skills acquisition using the Python coding language and Jupyter notebooks, and are aimed at providing students with experiences and skills for a wide range of careers. Astronomy 3190 is a elective course for sophomores. The emphasis is on repeated exposure to the data life cycle: data wrangling, visualization, statistical thinking, modeling, computational thinking, and communication skills. Astronomy 5900 is a graduate course taken by upper-division undergraduates and graduate students. The course provides an ambitious romp through statistical inference, Markov Chain Monte Carlo, cluster analysis, regression, principal components analysis, classification, and time series. Both courses use freely available astronomical data from various sources including the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. A discussion of the learning goals and examples of specific activities will be included.

  • • Professional Development Pathways to Integrate Computing in Physics First

    • PAR-E.07
    • Tue 07/21, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Colleen Megowan Romanowicz, Rebecca Vieyra, Shriram Krishnamurthi, Kathi Fisler

    • Type: Poster
    • This poster presents an overview of an NSF-funded program to integrate Modeling Instruction for physics with Bootstrap for Algebra into Physics First courses. The program included a teacher-led developmental stage across two years, followed by a dissemination stage of three years that included 2-3 weeks of face-to-face workshops for some teachers, and a semester-long synchronous online course for others. This poster will include major program outcomes and design details, as well as reflections on essential elements for effective professional development in physics that integrates computing. Learn more about this project at https://aapt.org/K12/Computational-Modeling-in-Physics-First.cfm

  • • A Portfolio of Data Analytics Classes at Ohio State University

    • PAR-E.07
    • Tue 07/21, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Donald Terndrup, Em Sowles, Emily Griffith, Karen Leighly

    • Type: Poster
    • We present the design and initial implementation of two data-driven Astronomy courses at Ohio State. Both courses teach fundamental astrophysical and statistical concepts using the Python coding language. Astronomy 1221 is a general-education course for first-year students, about half of whom are majors in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Astronomy 3350 is a majors course for 3rd-year students. We review the main features of these courses and how they prepare students for sophomore- and senior-level astrophysics classes and for starting research in data-intensive projects. Especially in the first-year course, the design is intended to improve retention of female students, who leave the major more often than do male students despite having higher grades in their physics and math courses. Finally, we discuss how Astronomy 1221 will fit into a new general-education scheme at OSU, which will roll out starting in the 2021-2022 academic year.

  • • Program-level Scaffolding of Computation in Physics Curricula

    • PAR-E.07
    • Tue 07/21, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Jason Ybarra
    • Type: Poster
    • We discuss integration of computation at the program level to provide students with a solid foundation in programming and the ability to transfer these skills to multiple programming languages. The success of this program depends on scaffolding throughout the curriculum, with students taking courses that introduce computation in their first two years before they reach upper-level physics. We include examples of how computational skills learned in lower-level courses lead to more advanced computational assignments in upper-level courses.

• Upper Division and Graduate  

  • • An Application of the Physics of Viral Diffusion: COVID-19

    • PS-B.11
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Keith Andrew, Kristopher Andrew, Eric Steinfelds, Karla Andrew

    • Type: Poster
    • With the impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, students have asked if their expertise as physics majors could be used to help understand and play a societal role in looking at the virus’s impact. We explored a well-known coupled diffusion model to examine viral spread, exposure, infection, and recovery. We introduced time dependent spreading and diffusion terms that required the students to look at local data to determine parameters related to regional lockdown time, spreading rate with and without lockdown, social distancing, fraction and cultural impact for respect for obeying social distancing, diffusion constants for motorized travel, building activity and pedestrian travel, fractal dimension and anomalous diffusion. For a fixed point the system of PDEs become ODEs and when linearized near an equilibrium point the eigenvalues give a simplified algebraic expression for the reproduction number R, and herd immunity function H, to determine if the spreading is contained.

  • • Exploring Graduate Students' Understanding of Entropy

    • PS-B.11
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Nate Crossette, Michael Vignal, Bethany Wilcox

    • Type: Poster
    • As a first step in a larger study of student difficulties in upper-division thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, we present the results of think-aloud interviews with graduate students on a set of entropy related questions. The four interview questions were developed to probe student understanding of entropy as a pressure towards equilibrium, as a quantity maximized in equilibrium, as a connection between microstates and macrostates, and as a macroscopic state-function. Exploring graduate students' understanding entropy and their ability to solve problems and reason with entropic arguments will provide insights into how physicists develop a mature understanding of entropy as a physical quantity. Specifically, we hope to see if new conceptual difficulties emerge as students progress to graduate school, and whether difficulties seen in undergraduate courses persist, evolve, or cease to present issues in the graduate setting.

  • • Assessing Scientific Practices in an Upper-Division Thermal Physics Course

    • PS-B.11
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Amali Priyanka Jambuge, Katherine Rainey, Bethany Wilcox, James Laverty

    • Type: Poster
    • Blending Scientific Practices with Core Ideas and Crosscutting Concepts (aka three-dimensional learning) as emphasized in K-12 Framework for Science Education opens up the broader scientific community’s attention to bring those ideas into college courses. While these ideas are sometimes implemented in college-level classrooms as important aspects of students’ learning, aligning the assessments also plays a vital role in evaluating students’ understanding. Upper-division assessments largely evaluate students’ understanding of conceptual knowledge in physics. However, courses similar to thermal physics that have closer proximity to real-world applications provide an avenue to explore how students intertwine their knowledge with practices. In this poster, we examine students’ responses to assessment tasks developed to elicit students’ abilities in blending Scientific Practices with Core Ideas (along with Crosscutting concepts) in an upper-division thermal physics course. This work addresses modifying upper-division college-physics assessments to align with three-dimensional learning.

  • • Confessions of a Spark Plug - Sparking Children's Imagination

    • PS-B.11
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    
    • by Jennifer Kirkey
    • Type: Poster
    • Confessions of a Spark Plug - Sparking Children's Imagination. Thirty years of science outreach in Kindergarten to Grade Three age range has allowed me to workshop hands-on activities that manage to spark the imagination of this group, while helping to start them down the path of experimental science. A tribute to the biggest spark plug - Peter Hopkinson of the BC AAPT. This poster will present the details of what works well in my most requested presentation. Force and motion using magnets and static electricity also know as "start with a balloon". Having presented this online five times in the months of April - May - June, I will also share some tips on how to Zoom this particular topic.

  • • Developing and Evaluating Quantum Mechanics Formalism and Postulates Survey

    • PS-B.11
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Emily Marshman, Chandralekha Singh

    • Type: Poster
    • Development of multiple-choice tests related to a particular physics topic is important for designing research-based learning tools to reduce the difficulties related to the topic. We explore the difficulties that the advanced undergraduate and graduate students have with quantum mechanics formalism and postulates. We developed a research-based multiple-choice survey that targets these issues to obtain information about the common difficulties and administered it to undergraduate and graduate students. We find that the advanced undergraduate and graduate students have many common difficulties with these topics. The survey can be administered to assess the effectiveness of various instructional strategies. This work is supported by the National Science Foundation.

  • • Addressing Scientific Practices with Upper-Division Physics Assessment Items

    • PS-B.11
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Katherine Rainey, Amali Jambuge, James Laverty, Bethany Wilcox

    • Type: Poster
    • With the introduction of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in 2013, three dimensions of science learning have taken the forefront in K-12 science education: core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and scientific and engineering practices. In more recent years, researchers and educators have considered the integration of these NGSS ideas at the college level. With these three components of learning being of equal importance in these standards, it must also follow that they are equally prioritized within assessment. Scientific practices in particular can be challenging to address in assessment, as they describe what scientists actually do when they investigate the natural world (e.g., construct explanations). How can scientific practices be integrated into an upper-division college assessment that can be widely implemented and easily graded? In this presentation, we describe an initial effort in creating assessment items that address scientific practices for upper-division thermal physics students in a coupled, multiple response format.

  • • Qualitative Analysis of Students’ Epistemic Framing Surrounding Instructor’s Interaction.

    • PS-B.11
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Amogh Sirnoorkar, Christopher Hass, Qing Ryan, Alana Uriarte

    • Type: Poster
    • As part of a larger study into students solving upper division problems in small groups, we investigated how instructors influence students’ epistemic framing in an upper-division electromagnetism class. While existing literature indicates that instructors can influence student’s epistemic framing, we are interested in the mechanisms by which that influence occurs. We use the CAMP (Conceptual, Algorithmic, Mathematics and Physics) frames in investigating dynamics of students’ frames surrounding the instructor’s interaction, tracking frame triplets before, during, and after instructor’s intervention during tutorial sessions. We identify instructor behaviors which support students’ frames and behaviors which tip them into new frames, and show how the instructor’s supporting and tipping behaviors change over the course of the semester.

  • • Calculating Scientific Jargon*

    • PS-B.11
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Shannon Willoughby, Bryce Hughes, Jenny Green, Kent Davis, Leila Sterman

    • Type: Poster
    • When writing scientific content for a lay audience, the author must take care to limit the amount of jargon that is used, so that the message is understandable. Because it can be difficult to determine what words are jargon, we have developed an R scriptthat calculates the amount of jargon in a given piece of text. The script outputs a list of words that are likely scientific jargon, and creates a word cloud to display which words are used the most. The calculated value of jargon can be compared to benchmarked texts in order to gauge the overall difficulty versus that of ArXiv papers, classic texts, MSD sheets, abstracts of active NSF grants, and more. Frequently used jargon can be replaced or defined in order to increase readability. The R script can be downloaded from our website and can be used freely.

  • • The Physics GRE does not help “overlooked” applicants

    • PS-B.11
    • Wed 07/22, 12:30PM - 1:30PM (EDT)
    
    

    • by Nicholas Young, Marcos Caballero

    • Type: Poster
    • One argument for keeping the physics GRE is that it can help applicants who might otherwise be missed in the admissions process stand out. In this work, we evaluate whether this claim is supported by physics graduate school admissions decisions. We used admissions data from five PhD-granting physics departments over a 2-year period to see how the fraction of applicants admitted varied based on their physics GRE scores. We compared applicants with low GPAs to applicants with higher GPAs and applicants from large undergraduate universities to applicants from smaller undergraduate universities. We find that for applicants who might otherwise have been missed (e.g. have a low GPA or attended a small school) having a high physics GRE score did not seem to increase the applicant’s chances of being admitted to the schools. However, having a low physics GRE score seemed to penalize otherwise competitive applicants.