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Portland
Wednesday afternoon
Portland State University’s Physics in Biomedicine is an undergraduate
upper-level physic course designed for a biology or pre-health major to
address the need for medically relevant situations to enhance students’
understanding of the physics application. To assess the effectiveness of the
instruction, a modified backwards design was used to create learning goals
for each individual module. Student understanding of the learning goals
was assessed through open response pre and post quizzes. These students’
quizzes were then summarized and categorized for emerging patterns of
student understanding. The goal of understanding this data is to determine
a student’s conceptual understanding of each module and overall inter-
pretation of physical phenomenon such as light absorption and emission,
atomic energy levels, and electromagnetism. This insight into student
thought is to help improve the development of the course and optimize
assessment questions.
GI05:
3:20-3:30 p.m. Learning How to Listen: The Interview
Project in LA Pedagogy*
Contributed– Eleanor W. Close, Texas State University-San Marcos, Depart-
ment of Physics, San Marcos, TX 78666;
Hunter G. Close, David Donnelly, Texas State University-San Marcos
Texas State University-San Marcos has recently begun implementation of
a Learning Assistant (LA) program in our introductory calculus-based
physics sequence. In addition to their teaching responsibilities, LAs enroll
in a course on Physics Cognition and Pedagogy (for upper-division physics
elective credit). A central theme of this course is learning both the nature
and the value of students’ existing ideas in physics. This is accomplished in
part through the Interview Project assignment, for which LAs conduct a
clinical interview of a non-physics student with the goal of listening to the
interviewee’ ideas about physics without attempting to change them - that
is, to ask questions to learn, without attempting to teach. We will present
evidence of the effect of this experience on LAs perceptions of the nature
of teaching and learning, the challenge of developing skills of listening for
alternative ideas, and the intellectual value of “incorrect” thinking.
*Supported in part by NSF DUE-1240036
GI06:
3:30-3:40 p.m. Embodied Physics Learning: Grasping
the Center of Gravity
Contributed – Daniel J. Lyons, University of Chicago, 5848 S. Univeristy Ave.,
Green Hall 317, Chicago, IL 60637;
Jason Sattizahn, Carly Kontra Sian Beilock, University of Chicago
Susan Fischer, DePaul University
Introductory physics students utilize the concept of “center of gravity”
when constructing free-body style diagrams. However, a formal definition
of center of gravity is typically introduced much later in the course than
Newton’s laws. In both instances, students regularly have difficulty abstract-
ing an extended (non-discrete) object to an equivalent discrete, or point-
like, representation. This study explores performance on a computer-based
center of gravity finding task. College students not enrolled in a physics
course located the centers of gravity of a series of two-dimensional shapes
that varied by symmetry and extension. Participants struggled when apply-
ing the center of gravity concept to extended objects in general and asym-
metric extended objects in particular. The distribution of responses for
extended-asymmetric objects closely resembles many of the errors made
by algebra-based physics students. An embodied learning intervention is
being piloted to facilitate the abstraction strategy of representing extended
objects using discrete points.
GI07:
3:40-3:50 p.m. Learning Outcomes in an Experimental
Course
Contributed – Deepak Iyer, Rutgers University, 136 Frelinghuysen Road,
Piscataway, NJ 08854;
Mary Emenike, Simon Knapen, Michael Manhart, Aatish Bhatia, Rutgers
University
We report on two surveys carried out at the end of a large enrollment (120
students) course, “Physics for Humanities.” The first survey is the Colorado
Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS-Phys), and the second is
a course specific survey designed by the authors. The surveys are intended
to study to what extent the learning goals of the course were achieved and
to measure the efficacy of the different pedagogical strategies implemented
in the course. Furthermore, CLASS-Phys data from this course will be
compared to previously published CLASS-Phys data from other institu-
tions.
GI08:
3:50-4 p.m. Team-based Assessment in a Flipped
Introductory Physics Class
Contributed – Junehee Yoo, Seoul National University, Kwanak ro 1, Kwanak
gu Seoul, MA 151742 Korea, Republic of;
Eric Mazur, Carolann Koleci, Brian Lukoff, Harvard University
In a flipped introductory physics class, teamwork is regarded as a core
competency and even reflected to assessment method. Reading Assurance
Assessments, the high stakes component of the course are performed by
team based rather than individually isolated. Three research questions; is
the team-based assessment methods fair, especially for the high achiev-
ers, can team-based assessments measure teamwork as it intended and
how can improve a teamwork are approached by analyzing 34 students’
individual and team scores longitudinally during one semester. As a result,
team-based assessments seemed to measure teamwork as it intended and
to be fair when we accept that teamwork is important as well as conceptual
mastery, even though the portions are not the same. Team composition for
effective teamwork will be discussed.
GI09:
4-4:10 p.m. Forced Vibration of Nonlinear Oscillator
System
Contributed – Zeyang Shen, Southeast University, No .2 Southeast University
Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211189 P. R. China;
Linear harmonic oscillator is a classical model for simple harmonic vibra-
tion. When applied by an external force with a stabilized frequency, the
closer the frequency of the external force comes to natural frequency of the
oscillator, the larger amplitude can be observed. For non-linear harmonic
oscillator system, numerical results show something distinguishing. The
ball, which is set between two springs, moves in a frequency identical to
the frequency of the external force applied to the system. By increasing the
frequency of the external force from very small, the ball vibrates with an
increasing magnitude of amplitude. When the frequency reaches a certain
level, a jump can be clearly seen on the amplitude of the ball. A realistic
experiment is being conducted to verify the results.
GI10:
4:10-4:20 p.m. Theoretical Calculation of a New Type
Superconductor
Contributed – Jingrong Ji, No.2 Southeast University Road, Nanjing, Ji-
angsu; 211189
Human beings have been exploring the superconductors with critical tem-
perature at room temperature since the discovery of the super-conduction
phenomenon about one hundred years ago. Although the superconductors
have some profound and lasting significance in many fields, there are still
various factors that will limit the superconductors from being widely used
in our daily life in each period of the research process. This thesis is based
on the pre-existing superconductivity theories and improves the calcula-
tion formula about the transition temperature about the superconductors
and puts forward a new type superconductor: metal-copper-based-iron-
based superconductor material and calculates the formula and simulates
the molecular structure of this kind of superconductor material with these
theories so that we can get a special kind of the superconductor with the
critical temperature at the even higher temperature. We hope this research
can broaden our train of thought of discovering this potential material and
help us find the superconductors that can be widely used in our daily life.
GI11:
4:20-4:30 p.m. Introduction and Research on Touch
Screen Technology
Contributed – Yupeng Wang, Southeast Universit,y No. 2 Southeast Univer-
sity Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211189 P. R. China[
